The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1889-03-14

Aouuu Iue un1OFGunaGo woman SGreCC0e0 on
her bed, white and rigid, her eyes wide open
and the pupils dilated.
"A lethargic attack" remarked Josias.
without the least emotion.
The advisability of calling in physician
was suggested, but Josias would not hear
of it.
mo, no! haven't any money to throw
away. She'll come to all right, as usual"
Three days later, when the body began to
decompose, he at last consented that doc
tor should be sent for. The latter said at
once that the woman was dead, which did
not seem remarkable considering the pre-
carious condition of her health.
month before-note this fact also-Frau
Joslas had fallen heir to quite a nice little
sum OF money and had at once willed it to
her husband. szaa's.sssS7tss sts<sss
You will no doubt ask, Herr Magistrate.
what connection there is between these
events and the mark in the Bible. Have
patience.
The Counselor stopped moment to en-
Joy the interest manifested by his auditor
IN the narrative, and then proceeded:
After the death Of his wife, Josias, rich
to the amount of several thousand thalers,
left us and set up on his own account in the
District of F.. We subsequently learned
oA0o All CuuO, 81 AOuk WAlGcu COuGlnu4O 10
smile upon him, and that he had become
burgomaster of his village.
He was never seen again at s.. and
never visited the burying- ground wher,
the body Of his wife rested
In fact, the burying-ground itself soon
disappeared. 1t was so damp that miasma
arose from it night and day, invading the
nelghborlng houses, and feeding the wan
dering fires that after dusk misled and
frlghted belated travellers. It was first or
dered to be closed, and ten years later was
altogether obliterated, q new strategic roo d
having boon surveyed across it.
In the month of July, 49,, the mattock
was first used, and some bones brought to
the surface. One morning when tho dig
gers were about getting to work they no.
ticed an old beggar woman who had got into
the graveyard through hole in the wall,
and was engaged in picking up the dead
branches OF trees, or worm eaten pieces
fallen from the wooden crosses that marked
the graves. Suddenly she spraug backward
in alright and gave terrible scream. They
ran up to and questioned her. She could
only succeed in making them understand
by gestures and a few disjointed sentences,
that she had seen skull moving along the
ground.
"Look, itmovesv' cried the terror-stricken
woman.
Every one started back instinctively.
True enough, on heap of human remains
and stones skull came bouncing along,
propelled by some strange energy.
One workman was of the opinion that the
rector should be notified. Another-a more
virile intellect-ran for a DOCTOR l was also
sent for, and reached the spot as soon as the
physician.
He first ridiculed the cowardly supersti-
tions Of the by-standers, then stopped down.
picked up the skull, and inside it found a
toad, that, having got into the cerebral cav
ity through narrow opening, was vainly
trying to get out of its prison.
You see," he said, laughing, "the~~-,"
But he did not finish the sentence A
second discovery checked the words on his
lips, and froze the smile on his face-a long
steel spike, slender as an upholsterer's
needle was imbedded in the occiput, and
must at some time have passed entirely
through the brain.
"Hoh! hohv' he exclaimed, "a clever as
sassin. that! Death instantaneous. no etfu-
sion of blood, and, thanks to the hair, no
visible trace. My predecessor no doubt at
tributed it to the rupture Of an aneurism."
How to find out the name OF the murderer
and That OF his victim!
In this portion of the cemetery the labor
ers had demolished four graves and thrown
the remains in a single heap. The tomb
stones were the only means of Identification
left. One of them bore the inscription:
'Here lies Cor,.elia Josias.''
How to find out, for find out I was re-
solved should!
Suddenly a thought flashed through my
brain like lightning. Two names stood be-
fore me as if printed in letters of fire. How
ever, it was only personal conviction !;
proofs were necessary.
Iran and shut myself up in my library
the very room in which we now are.
opened a book-this Bible
The proof was there. / no longer sas-
pected. [ no longer merely believed-I
knew.
The next day the represe natives of the
law presented themselves at the residence
of Josias, whom they found alone eating his
supper.
A police officer accosted him, placed his
hand on his head, on the very spot, in fact,
in which the nail had been driven through
his victims brain, and said:
'Josias, you have killed your wife,
The wretch shuddered, and with chatter
ing teeth replied:
Eyes, yes, God has avenged her-the
book-the book-I am choking-1' and fell
dead, struck by apoplexy.
And now, Herr Magistrate, open the Bible
at the place where opened it on my re-
turn from the cemetery-to the page that
Josias himself marked the day before the
crime Here-Judges, Chapter w., verse
21; read.
The Magistrate took the volume and read
as follows:
"Then Jael, Heber's wife, took a nail of
the tent, and took an hammer in her hand.
and went softly unto him, and smote the
nail into his temples, aud fastened it into
the ground, for he was fast asleep and
weary. So he died."-From the French of
A. Dorchain by J. Henry Hager, In the Cos
mopolitan.