The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1885-01-01

Dish man, rose 70 point OF order.
sGentlemep," he remarked, in his
we'll known Irrational style, @your stories
have pleased me wonderfully, but |
think / can go you one better"
az cts have it" came the chorus.
well, gentlemen, want you to un-
derstand that am about to relate facts,
absolute facts.
~Of course, of course" they said, I'VE
know your name amt Ananias."
don't know the gentleman to whom
YOU refer, but suppose he is all right.
and will go ahead. About twenty.
five wears ago / was travelling in the
West. and one dismal evening / started
to walk six miles to catch midnight
train, that I was compelled to take.
lost my way, and at o'clock in the
morning 1 came to cabin in lone
some place, and seeing light in the
window, / made bold to knock. A
woman came to the door, and / asked
her If / could stay all night, as / was
weary and lost and wanted to rest until
daylight. She told me l could not
come in, as she was alone and did not
care to have a strange man under her
roof. / explained and coaxei, and she
finally told me her husband had died
that evening, and the body was lying
in the only room at her disposal, but il
1 cared to sleep on the floor there.
might do SO. gladly accepted
her offer, and in fifteen minutes
was stretched out on blanket, in
plain view of the sheeted corpse. 1
had just fixed myself comfortably for
q sleep, when saw the sheet over the
dead body move slightly. thought it
might be the work of the wind, which
had risen, and was singing requiem
down the chimney. Whatever it was,
I was at once wide awake, and for a
full half-hour watched the body closely,
and my attention was only drawn away
by the sound of wheels on the road
outside and q vehicle of some kind be-
ing driven up to the door. heard the
woman in the next room get up and go
out, and shortly afterward return, ac-
companied by man, whose voice /
could hear distinctly. Thinking it was
only some one come in to see her In her
trouble, turned again to the corpse,
and in minute there were unmistaka-
BILE signs that it was not the wind NOV
ing the sheet, for saw the hand move
cautiously underneath the cloth toward
the upper part of the body, and then
pull the covering away, q little at
time, and finally the corpse raised his
head and peered over at ne. Boys, 1
was scared, but didn't want to run
from dead man, so L waited, and pres
entity the corpse beckoned me to come
to him. l got up and went, shaking
worse than man in the ague district
of the Wabash, with no quinine in
sight.
"Hist!" he said, as reached his side;
didn't some one come in few moments
ago."
"Yes," / answered, with q SILVER.
Wasn't it man? 2" he asked again.
"The voice sounded that way" re.
sponded, frightened now almost out OF
my senses.
Il WAS right" he continued, $50
back and lie down. Keep still until
return or you may be sorry for it."
He arose slowly, as if stiff rather than
feeble, and went out of a side door,
returning In few moments with an AK.
he looked over at me In an uncomfort-
able way and passed on into the next
room, noiseless as a disembodied spirit,
but in fact most terrible reality. As
he opened the door i caught q glimpse
of a man and woman sitting very close
together with their backs toward their
hideous visitor, and then my view was
shut off. waited possibly ten seconds,
when L heard in rapid succession two
dull heavy blows, accompanied by
fearful crunching sound, a smothered
groan, and all was still. In an instant
l could feel every hair on my head
stiffen and stand up; my heart stopped
beating, and my blood went through
my veins like drafts of freezing air. ]
tried to scream, to move, to do any
thing to break that awful stiffness, but
1 was utterly helpless. Then the door
opened noiselessly again, and the
corpse came back to me with the bloody
ak in his hand.
IL thought so,' he said, addressing
me; that woman was my wife; the
man her lover; they thought me dead
and prepared the body for the grave;
but the poison is slow in It's work."
He clenched at his throat and gasped.
Yes, it is slow, but terrible; they have
killed me, but l."
The AK fell from his hand, and again
he clutched at his throat and tore the
grave clothes from his breast.
IL" he struggled to articulate,
"I-yes, they have taken my life, but I
take their guilty blood with me-
He stood straight before me for an
instant, rigid as iron, and then writhing
in fearful contortion of pain, he fell to
the floor, and with his frothing lips
pressed to the bloody ak, he died at my
feet.
1 don't know how long it was until
recovered sufficiently to move, but,
thank the Lord, did, and 1 fed as if
all the devils of earth and air were after
me, and when 1 found myself again,
was i'll hotel in the town had started
to reach afoot on that awful night, Just
getting over six weeks attack of brain
fever.
The gang had sat through the recital
of this strange story in brsathless silence.
and at its close, Pindell, Filler and
Houston got up, and going into the din
ing room, came back with cake two
feet across, and with tears in Their owes
handed it to Fiack, saying briefly and