Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1886-03-17
An Innocent Mans story.

Z 4
Everybody looked at a man with a
broken nose, and he hitched around in
a nervous manner, and then began:
''Several years ago I was at work in
livery stable in a town in New Eng
land. While l don't claim that l be-
longed to the cream of society, I must
nevertheless bag you to believe that 1
was honest and upright, and paid my
pew rent in the Baptist Church with
sacred regularity. l have no doubt
that, had I been permitted to pursue
my occupation undisturbed, I should in
time have reached the top round of the
ladder, and been elected Mayor of the
town. But, in the language of the
poet, dark cloud lowered DER the
scene.
lone day as I was brushing off a
bob-tailed, cream-colored horse, a GER
tain town doctor slid in on me, and
anxiously inquired after the state of
of my health. My health was good.
He wanted to know if I had tender
heart. had. Then he took me to the
back end of the barn and related a sad
story. A citizen of the village had lost
his wife. This doctor fully believed
that she had been buried while In a
trance, and he looked upon it as
solemn duty to resurrect the body, re-
store life, and present the bereaved
husband with his own again. He
wanted my help to do all this, and, for
fear that l might be out of pocket in
the transaction, he promised me $25.
''Now, gents, my sole motive in 60
ing into the job was to restore the
woman to life and to her grieving hus-
band. The 1925 was an outside issue.
The doctor and l shook hands on it..
oud that night, just before midnlgnt. I
drove off to the graveyard in one
horse wagon.
The doctor was there before me, and,
for fear that some one might disturb
our operations, he watched while l at
tackled the grave. 1t took me couple
of hours to get the cadaver out and
into the wagon, for the doctor left it
all for me to do, and just as we were
ready to drive off he heard some sound
which caused him to skip. The under
standing vas that the body was to be
taken to certain college ten miles
away. The doctor was little pre-
vious in running off. No one came to
annoy me, and after bit l climbed
into the wagon and drove off for the
college. You'll naturally inquire if
didn't feel bit shaky, driving along
lonely highway in a lonely night, wi, h
a stiff so close behind me. In this
case l didn't. She was in trance,
and we were going to bring her back
to life.
We'll, bad logged along for about
i've miles when couple of trampS,
who were going my way, asked me- for
ride. | made some excuse, but they
wouldn't accept it, and as l whipped
up they caught the endboard of the
wagon and climbed in. In so doing
they pulled the blanket off the
cadaver, and the yell they set up
was my destruction. The horse
gave sudden jump, tliDging me off
the seat and over the wheel, and then
started off on a dead run. [ fell in
such way as to break my leg, and
couldn't move yard. Soon after
daylight gang Of excited citizens
pounced upon me and hauled me off to
Jail. The horse ran about mile after
throwing me out, and left wagon and
cadaver beside the highway. 1t was
no job at all to trace everything back
to me, and, as the doctor had skipped.
had to face the music alone. Gents.
my case is warning that the innocent
may suffer as we'll as the guilty. l lay
in Jail for several months, and was
then sent to prison for three years.