Daily Yellowstone journal., 1891-03-12
LIE FUNERAL Man.
Uncanny DelusiOn of a Curious Charae-
ter Who Follows the HeaHse.

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Uacanny DeIusiOn OF a Curious charae-
ter who Follows the HeaEse.
Afuneral procession wound tsgioomy
way down Mission street. The car
riages rolled heavily Over the pave
ment.
The hearse was a white one, and the
little coffin inside was covered with
flowers.
An old man passing along stopped
and raised his hat as the hearse passed
him, and n groupof noisy street gamins
stopped their play a moment. As the
last carriage turned the corne a strange
figure s'ambled into sight-a weird
figure that seemed to loom suddenly
out Of the mist like a specter-the figure
Of a tall old man running.
He was running as fast as ne could,
with a sort Of halting limp that brought
him every minute nearer the last car
rage. He stumbled painfully over q
stone in the street, but he never paused.
He limped breathlessly on, his wild
eyes glowing with an eager light. He
was a thin. gaunt old man with a bag.
gard face and jaws hat moved hOrri-
bly,.
Just as the procession stopped at the
church the strange figure stumbled for
ward.
When the little coffin was lifted ten.
derby from the white hearse the figure
pushed eagerly up to the steps. The
~pallbearers walked carefully up the
stairs To the door.
On the topmost step stood the tall
man. lie was still. His lean arm wa
stretched out in a stately gesture. His
wild eyes were alight with a fanatics
enthusiasm.
When the coffin passed him he waved
his stick with a kingly dignity. He
Inuttered something 10 himself. A po
liceman took him by the arm.
Move on" he said.
The tall man started suddenly. The
light faded from his face. He limped
silently away. A little child standing
neal the steps clutched her mother.
oh" she said. terrified. there is
the funeral man"
AhG AAAAlAaA hAAAA - a wei WI
character. All the undertakes know
him. All the sections know him, but
no one knows where he lives.
Some horrid intuition seems TO tell
him where the unbuned dead are ly-
ing. He haunts the afflicted neighbor
hood until the funeral procession forms.
Then he hurTies behind the carriages
and always manages to reach the church
in time to meet the coffin as it Is borne
10 the church. Sometimes a cortege
starts without his haunting shape, but
he always starts into sight somewhere
and hurries, limping, after the last a
rage. 49,
He is vefTtdf thin. His
gaunt figure is incased in q tight fitting
frock coat, which is shiny and thread.
bare, but scrupulOnsly neat. His head
is covered by a gray cap and he carries
in his hand a long stick. He never
speaks TO any one nor does he reply
when one addresses him.
No one ever sees him except at a
funeral. He seems TO think it his mis-
sion to mutter his mysterious words
over the bodies of the dead. Whether
they be curses or blessings no one can
guess. There is scarcely a church in
the city upon whose steps he has not
stood and waved his gaunt arm in mys-
terious greeting to a silent figure in the
coffin.
The drivers Of the heanes know
him, and look back eIpectantly at the
sound Of his stumbling limp.
The little children OF the poor, who
wander aimlessly in the wake of any
procession, know him, and shrink away
frightened at his approach. Yet he has
never harmed them. He sees nothing
but the nodding of the mourning
plumes. He listens only 10 the rumble
of the heavy wheels Of a heare.
No one knows his name or how he
lives. He issimply the Funeral Man"
To what strange happening he owe
this ghoulish fancy who say-San
Francisco Examiner.