The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1890-02-08

tnntl i icufncu from Nual tht} nUtu
that they feared il, in that hot wealth
CIR, was left for longer time ex-
posed, decomposition would set in.
When they had already placed the
lid upon my coffin, my wife came
running in. ! learned that they had
come in her absence 60 shut me for
ever from her sight. They imagined
that II she were there she might OBJ
ject to what they did. Her appear
ance disconnected them. She made
them Immediately remove the lid,
and babe them withdraw from the
room, so that she might have final
solitary communion with her dead.
She knelt down by the side of my
coffin and prayed. She expressed
the most profound belief in the in
nocence of the man who had been
her husband for nearly 30 years;
and she besought the Most High
that He would expound that inno-
cence and make it clear to man.
Then she stood up and kissed me on
the lips-kissed me n last good-byl
Then she left me, to the full ms
broken-hearted as she herself, and the
undcrtaker's men returned and
screwed me down. They put the lid
upon my coffin. and shut me from the
blessed light; for no one had closed
my eyes. They had tried TO, but the
lids would not come down. | could
hear the tratflckers in death laughing
and testing as they drove the screws
we'll home. When they had done
their work. and gone, was prison
err indeed.
How long | remained in that box,
screwed down, never knew. Itseemed
to me n hundred years. A dreadful
thought came TO me, not once, but
again and again, with recurring force.
Suppose that l indeed was dead?
Who knows the mysteries
of death? Is il not con-
ceivable that when the body dies, the
mind which has been mysterious
affinity with the soul, may live? If
| were dead, and my shame should
livel Was it possible that through
the long cycle of years, the cous,
which were still TO come, my mind
should be and be dead?
ltisnot strange that my pen should
tremble as recall the thoughts which
racked me then, tracked me with such
intensity that, even in my state of
death, ieare,l / should go mad.
And then? What then? Mad through
the cons in the womb of
timel Even dead, / thought my
brain would burst. tried to scream
i struggled as if with the issues life
and death for the power to give ex-
pressions to the great agony OF my
fear and pain.
And then? What happened then?
To this hour cannot precisely say.
know that while, mentally, stray
gled with inconceivable eagerness to
cry out, / suddenly awoke. / know
no other word TO use. know was
alive-alive, and prisoned in that
boxl And | do believe that for
the first few moments of my
resurrection-what was it else?--I
struggled like mailman too--strug-
gled to be free-and with such
strength that / burst the box, forced
the collins sides, and was q prisoner
no more.
stood upon my feet. As | did so
/ discovered that my display of
strength must have been sort of
frenzy, for indeed was so weak that
at first / could not stand. sank
back upon the bed. But only for n
moment. There was that within me
which gave me strength. i was filed
with IN overmastering desire TO pro-
claim my innocence and bring home
To the criminal his crime. Wholly
regardless of che clothes / wore. for
getful of them even, / went down the
stairs into the street, and ran To Mr..
Burton's as certainly | never run
before.
/ must have cut a pretty figure rs
run, but Mr.. Buttons great house
was within couple ofhundred yards
of my more modest residence. the
hour was late, and | never met n
creature on the way.
was we'll acquainted both with the
bankers habits and his house. l
knew that often, when the rest of his
household was FIST asleep, Mr.. Bur-
ton would sit for hours writing in
the study which opened on to the
lawn at the back. To this room |
fastened IL was MS / supposed.
There was a bright light within. l
turned the handle OF the French win.
dow; IL yielded Co my touch. With
out pausing for an instant to re-
fleet on what the consequences OF my
act might be, burst into the room.