Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1893-12-26
THE SIGNAL he WAITED IOR

correspondent was told a most peculiar
and interesting story to-day BY q man
giving bis name as job Harris. lie
had been TO the Yew Mountains, IN
West Virginia. on a hunting expedition,
and came in on the Ohio River Railroad
with several trophies Of the chase, con-
sistlng OF a bear, three deer and hall a
dozen wild turkeys. While crossing
/ over to Pomeroy on the ferry-boat
| Champion on his way 70 his home IN
| Cleveland, Ohio, he was approached by
The Enquirer man ia regard to his sue
| cess In the mountains.
Harris gave his experience in cap
I turing the game, and after a moments
! silence said: 81 saw a little perform
ance that discounts a bear fight two 10
| one"
Being requested TO give the p%articu-
lars be went on substantially as follows:
About a month ago l went to the
Yew mountains in POcahontas county
on my annual hunting trip. made my
camp on Cranberry river, ten miles
above its confluence with the Gauley
/ river. One day after / had been there
some two weeks l went over on Cherry
river, ard the
DISTANCE BEING TOO GREAT
to return to camp that evening, 1 made
up my mind TO seek a suitable place and
J remain in the dense forest Of that re-
/ gion until the next morning. as went
on the darkness closed down before 1
/ found a shelter that suited me. At that
/ moment just ahead saw the gllmmer
/ Of a fire among the great tree trunks,
and when / drew nearer l saw an old
man roasting a piece OF venison by hold
/ ing &c over the fire by means OF u torked
/ stick. He had a nice camp and appeared
10 be comfortably situated.
ION stating my case, the old fellow
/ invited me 70 spend the night with him,
which invitation I gladly accepted.
I After a supper OF veniSOn, corn bread
and black coffee, we rolled ourselves in
our blankets and l was soon sound
asleep. About midnight / was aroused
suddenly by the sharp crack OF a rifle
not over fifty steps from the camp. My
| companion was on his feet in an instant,
and lighting a pine torch, be snat:hed
a hard wood shovel fro near the fire,
sPRANG OUT OF Il CAMP
and cried 70 me to follow. I did so, and
shortly came up with the old m1n, who
was feverishly digging in what ap-
peared 20 be a newly made grave. a
qua was one side, suspended on forks,
! with a string 70 the trigger and a large
piece OF bark as a shelter, The scene
was 50 wierd and uncanny that l could
hardly control my nerves. Finanally,
however, l asked for an explanation OF
the proceedings.
The old man, with the p~erspiration
streaming down his face as the result Of
his violent ex|ertions, told me q tale that
chilled my blood. be said that himself
and son, the latter aged 16 years, had
come there SIX weeks before from Pitts
burg 70 spend the winter away from
temptation. The old man frankly stated
that he was
AN OPIUM FIEND,
And that he had left civilization in an
| effort 10 get away from that habit. The
boy, his only known relative, had ac-
cOmpanied him, and had provided him
| self with a considerable amount OF the
drug TO be used in weaving his father
from his fatal appetite. Two weeks
after reaching the mountains the boy
fell over a cliff and injured himself in
such a way as to place him in a oma
tOSe state. He fingered In this cOndl-
tion for several days and then died.
I'm the meantime the old man had
found the opium and used Ii freely, with
the result that ne was labOrlng under a
ballucInatiOn. He did not believe the
boy was dead, but that IL was u case Of
| suspended animation, and that b. would
return 70 life in the course Of time.
There were no other persons within
miles and miles TO whom be could ap-
peal for assistance, so he was left 10 the
devices Of his diseased brain.
For a week he kept the body in
camp, but fearing that wild beasts
would mutilate IL in his absence in
search Of food, he concluded TO bury the
remains after a plan OF his own. He
dug a grave some four feet deep, Strew-
ed the bottom with leaves aud moss,
rolled the body in d heavy blanket ex-
cspt the face, and placed the dead boy
in the grave. Beside the body be placed
water and food, and two feet above he
constructed a platform Of small saplings
and twigS so as TO provide a cOnsidera-
BILE cavity when the earth was filled in.
UPRIGHT IN THE GRAVE
He fastened a hollow limb, reaching
from the cavity below TO the open air
for an air passage. Through this hOl-
low was placed q string, and attached
TO the trigger OF the loaded gun, as be-
fore mentioned, aud 70 the hand of the
corpse. The earth was then filled 10,
and the old man waited for the firing
Of the gun as a signal that life had re-
turned, believing that any movement Of
the hand would discharge the weapon.
He waited a week for the signal.
''This was the story told me as that
poor, deluded victim of a drugged intel
lect worked with all the power that was
In him, refusing any assistance from
me, except to hold the pine torch.
"I knew that jim wasn't dead" he
exclaimed, half frantically, throwing
out the loose earth. Hes aliyel He's
aliver
when the earth had been removed
the platform was rapidly torn away
AID the body exposed TO view. One
| glance convinced me that there was no
life there. IL wa plain 10 be seen,
even by the ftful glare Of the Sputter-
ing pine that decomposition was al
ready far advanced.
"For a moment the old man gazed
/ %speecblesSly into the face Of the dead,
then fell forward with a wall. A trem-
or shook his frame aud be was also a
/ corpse.
THE next day Preached Camden-on-
] aA-H k.aH- w-FaL -.
to bury the bodies. There were no pa
perS or other mean by which they
I could be Identified, so we buried them
both in the same grave, and l suppose
their friends, IL they had any, will never
l --- M