Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-08-03

investigation, but what could he do wher
half of the villagers, not to saw ANYTHING
about Bess, were determined to open the
grave, The undertaken was uneasy, too.
Both men knew that Mark was lying upon
his face. What would be the result of such
revelation. Abe said Bess would 90 stark
mad. The undertaken began to look upon
himself as a murderer, although there
was no doubt that Mark was as dead as Alb
salon when he was cofined. Then. too, he
had been summoned by Bess to be at the
graveyard the next afternoon and unscrew
the lid of the coffin and attend to the rest of
the details of the re-interment. Abe could
stay at home on any kind of an excuse, but
If he, the undertaken, were to remain away
and the coffin should be opened. as it was
sure to he by somebody, the question of his
culpability would be far more pertinent than
If he made bold front and performed the
terrible work with an air of honesty and
candor.
There was a big crowd of villagers in the
graveyard on the afternoon the body was to
be disiuterred. All the stores in the town
closed their doors, and when school was out
the big-eyed country children tramped
through the burrying ground and peered
over the white-washed fence at the diggers,
who were hurriedly working their way to
the bottom of the sepulcher. When, at last
the bottom was reached, straps were placed
around it, and then a dozen pairs of arms
drew the coffin to the surface The under
taker was pale but steady. His screwdriver
twirled over the lid with dexterous rapldity
until the cover was removed. Then the gilt
tering blade went round and round over the
rusty screws of the casket Four screws
were taken out, and then, without looking
within the coffin, the undertaken threw back
the lid and walked away. For a moment
nobody dared peep through the glass. Then
Bess, staggering from fsintness, approached
the coffin, lifting her black veil as she did
so. The villagers removed their hats in
desultory way and sureed nearer the woman.
Bess pressed her face against the glass.
Then turning half round, with her hands
clutcbing her head, she gave shrek that
chilled the blood of those that heard it.
For an instant her eyes glared with
maniacal fire and then the black form ielI
heavily upon the grass and weeds.
Mark was still on his face. He had been
buried alive the villagers cried, as they
turned their white faces toward the under
taker, who was trying to talk despite his
excitement. Such a scene was never before
witnessed in any graveyard. There was the
unconscious woman in the weeds, and
grouped about the open grave were villagers
whose anger had crimsoned their faces and
drawn their fingers into the palms OF their
hands. If the creaking of the white-washed
fence had not broken the overpower-
ing stiffness, the undertaken might
well have sought safety in flight.
But just at that moment, when
it seemed as though the stiffness was
TO broken by some distressing demonstra-
tion a man, gray and grizzled. bareheaded
and defiant in his earuestness, climbed
laboriously over the ghostly barrier about
the village cemetery. Everybody there
knew him and honored him. 1t was old
Abe, stalking through the golden-rod, which
reached to his waist, the friend of the dead,
and of the living for that matter, never said
a word until he faced the villagers. He
comprehended the situation.
1t was his time to speak. With falter-
ing voice which soon grew SO pathetic In its
mellowness and earnestness, he told the
story of the eccentric request of old Mark
and of the faithful manner in which he had
honored 1t. If there was anybody to blame
it was he-not the pale undertaken over there
in the weeds nor the pallbearers who took
the body from the house. He knew Mark
was dead when the body was placed in the
coffin, for he had called to him and piuched
him and Mark, if alive, would surely have |
answered him. The villagers knew Marks |
eccentricities Abe's story removed the last |
suspicion in their breasts. With the sun |
sinking like a crimson world behind the |
hills, the body was re-interred without cere-
Inony and without moving it from its strange
position.
The vines of Northern Wisconsin are
strangling the little cottage and swallows
flv to and fro from the broken windows. The
place is deserted. But you could not help
pitying the poor creature whose scrawny
gray hair and glittering eyes greet you at
the door of one of the cells of the mad house
where Mark poor widow is confined. She |
has been there many years-ever since the |
day she saw the uncovered coffin in the viii |
iage cemetery. Abe is still hunting bear in |
the Tamarack but he has had no lnck. |
Even the undertaken got so poor that he |
had to!goraIting on the Chippewa.