Louisiana capitolian., 1880-01-31
MYsTERIoUsLY MURDERED.
FINDING THE BONES OF OLD MAN TOM.
WHO DISAPPEARED TWO YEARS
AGO--A 10TH WARDTRAGEDY.
DonaldsOnvillc Chief.

TENTH WARD, Ascension, Jan. 8, 1880
Mr.. EDToR.-On the 22d day o
December last, as one of our most
industrious planters was Quietly riding
through the woods looking after his
stock, he came upon q bone. It was
evidently q skull-bone, but of q
different from those usually seen in
such localities-being neither the skull
Ola horse, COW, sheep or hog. He got
down to examine it-being Il keen old
hunter-but on the grinning teeth re-
vealing themselves lie dropped it
quickly, for at the instant there flashed
across his memory the mysterious
disappearance ofpoor "Old Tom" and
the suspicious circumstances connect
ed Herewith.
This "Old Tom" was colored man
who bore a general character of partial
moral obliquity regarding the distinc-
tlons pertaining to the law of ''mcun,
to tuum" in such slight matters as hog
and chicken property; in fact his
adventin this parish was anteceded by
his being run off from the ncighbrripg
one of East Baton Rouge, some Of
the sterner element of said parish
wholly failing to appreciate poor
Toms facetious manner of appropri
ating feathered stock.
Some time in the month Of March.
two years ago, the news spread that
Old Tom was missing, and suspicious
offoul play were freely inte,changcd
IN the community, for it was gener-
ally received opinion that the unfor-
tunate man had his little pile secreted
somewhere, all his purchases being
invariably paid for in casll-some Of
his payments for hogs amounting to
quite a little figure. Search was duly
instituted and a strict watch kept on
his shanty for some time, but moth
ing was ever learned of the fate of
poor Old Tom till on Monday, the
@nd of December last, the circum-
stance occurred with which | started
this communication. As soon as Mr..
b. bad made his discovery known, the
neighbors began to gather at the
grave; and after serious deliberation
and due consultation with Mr.. Brown.
our worthy Justice of the Peace.
there occurred little managing
characteristic of Ward 10 un.
der such circumstances. Perhaps al
most any other community would
have dug up the poor mans remains
and sent tor the Coroner, and held
post mortcm and tumbled and dlsar-
ranged the dilapidated old man badly.
but our citizens wisely concluded that
that was old Tom and that all he
wanted was burying a littler; so thew
plously gathered the old mans per-
luisites, consisting of his skull, one
)f his shoes, a protrudiny OR obtrud-
ng bone or two, and the cord with
which he had evidently been stran-
,led, and which was still hanging
rom limb overhead, arranged them
n the grave with the rest of him.
covered all decently, and left Old
Tom in peace.
Andnow, Mr.. Editor, excuse a word
# comment here l wellknow that in
section like this, where the majority !
# the inhabitants are struggling un.
Ter the disadvantages of poverty and !
he severe toll of clearing and fencing 6
md, the idea of sending to a distant !
own for the regular Coroner would 8
Q very inconvenient. and in some i
asses, owing to the decomposed state !
t the body, utterly impossible; still i
his cheerful spirit Of resignation, this !
'!letly picking up Of the remains from !;
here the murder had left them, Civ i
'gthem decent burial and going each !
ne to his own affairs, what effect is Il
lis to have on the impressible minds =
the rising generation growing up y