The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1880-02-12

woe which l was utterly powerless to
relieve, I arose, and was about to leave
the room, when my eye was suddenly
arrested by figure, ragged, wild and
woe-begone, which crouched close up
by the window. Five minutes before. /
had seen this man crouched like o
stricken beast before the agent, his
skeleton hands outstretohed, his parchea
lips suing for mercy.
"For the love of God, Tony Mona
CHAN, niver be hard on a poor boy" he
said; "ali my potatoes had the black
disease this year, and they rotted in the
ground. My pig took the sickness and
died. I have two little children down
wild q fever, and if ye take away my
COW I'll have no dhrap of milk to give
them, and they'll del"
This appeal, eart-breaking as it was,
had met with the usual repulse:
"Don't bring yer lies to me. You'll
go before them as IL make ye payl"
So the man had crept back into the
shadow, and as I saw him orouched be-
side the window noticed that the pit
eous look of appeal had left his face
his features were strangely convulsed,
his wild eyes cleaned, and his hand
clenched and unclenched in nervous
dread; :.
as passed out into the street.
At 2 o'clock the tenants cases were
to be called on, and as the hands of the
clock approached that hour I made my
way through the crowded streets in the
direction of the court. The wind blew
bitterly, thin fakes of snow were fall
ing, and as walked I felt the ice crack
ling and breaking beneath my feet. I
noticed to my wonder that the streets
through which I passed were almost
deserted-presently a succession of
means and cries struck upon nv ear,
then I noticed that the people were
running excitedly, and, following the
direction which they took, at length
found myself on the outskirts of great
crowd which was collected in the prin-
cipal street, before the open door of the
court. Seeing my own servant among
the throng, I questioned him as to the
cause OF the excitement, for 1 noticed
that many of the people were wringing
their hands, others moaned feebly,
while others glared around them with
wild eyes, and then seemed to utter
sighs of relief. Instead Of replying to
my question, Shawn took me by the
shoulders, and gently propelled me in
to the middle of the throng.
There I saw the cause of the disturb.
ance.
Lying on the curbstone, his head
supported in the arms of a policeman,
his face open to the wondering gaze of
hundreds of eyes, was the agent, stone
dead. His body was surrounded by po-
licemen-warders of the court-nay, at
the cry of murder the very Judge upon
the bench had stopped the course of
justice and came forth.
Good God!" I exclaimed, recoiling
upon Shawn; show did this happen ?"
He was just walkin' along the street,
yer Honor" said Shawn, quietly, when
he fell, and laid his head down and
died"
"Murdered?"
ooh, God forbid! yer Honor; what
for should he be kilt, at all at all?"
Nevertheless, felt convinced that
my supposition was right; nay, more, I
believed that could point out the very
nlan who had done the deed.
That murder had actually been
committed could not be proved ca the
spot, but the manner of the mans death
was so peculiar as to call for Coroners
inquiry and post-mortem examination.
The body, therefore, was at once re-
moved to the inn, and several hours
after its removal the two principal
doctors of the town were on their way
armed with the implements necessary
for their work. On their arrival at the
inn a novel scene awaited them. The
people, having at length solved the
meaning of the awful words, "post-mor-
tenn examination" had risen up in arms
and declared that no such Dissertation
of the dead should be allowed. Before
Tony Monaghan became land agent he
had been one of themselves, and, though
he had been little hard on them of
late, there wasn't one man among them
but would raise his voice against having
the poor boys body cut up like a beasts.
The consequence was-a riot. The po-
lice were overpowered, the doctors sent
packing, the inn taken by storm. For
two nights the body lay in state, being
walked by it's wild comrades. At the end
of that time the authorities, only too
eager to bring matters to peaceful
issue, allowed it to be quietly buried.
AS the grave closed above it popular
excitement seemed to die away.
But if the people were satisfied, the
authorities were not. All believed
that murder had been committed, and
that the subsequent riot was only an
effort to prevent the discovery of the
murderer. No sooner, therefore, was
the unfortunate man buried than the
doctors received an order auth orizing
them to e1hume tho cody, and make
post-mOrtem examination in private.
One night, two nights after the funeral,
they set out on their mission with hope
full hearts. It was bitter winter wealth
er. The night was black dark; the
ground was frozen hard, and thickly
covered with snow. Making straight
for the graveyard, the doctors en-
ployed themselves in opening up thu
grave. For several hours they worked
with pickax and spade; at last they came
upon the coffin, raised it up and opened
the lid.
1t was emptyi
At this piece of audacity on the part
of some persons unknown, everybody
was more amazed than ever, and again
came the conviction, stronger than be-
fore, that murder had been done. But,
try as they would, they could discover
nothing. The whole country was
thrown into tumult, and popular ex-
element at its height, when I unwit-
tingly solved the terrible secret by
finding the body in the bog.
CHAPTER III.
Having sworn Shawn to secrecy, /
assisted him to reentcr the box, and
forthwith sent word of the discovery tc
the magistrate. The box was at once
removed, the post-mortem examination
concluded, and the discovery made
that the unfortunate man had died of
heart disease. Again everybody Was
or1 &h;c %:c,o III ~~2.,la. .~~o.