The Press., 1893-03-23
LOCKED IN A TOMB.

 And then Darby was bit of doctor too. He could compound many vege- table panaceas; he knew how to dress and heal wounds, and with the diseases of animals he was familiar.
 And yet Darby Tibbs had one alarm ing fault-he was in the habit of get ting very drunk very often.
 Now the people were very anxious that Darby should reform. It was get ting so that there could be no depend ence placed upon him. He disappointed them when they most needed his assist ance. But all their efforts proved un- availing. He laughed and joked at their arguments and entreaties, and just so surely as he received serious overhauling for his fault would he go off and get helplessly drunk.
 One season MT. Dean, 8 leading citi- zen of the village, had engaged Darby to help him through having. He was to commence on the Monday next fol- lowing the Fourth of July. But an un- fortunate event interrupted the arrange ment. MT. Dean was taken sick, and on the 5th day of July he died. His funeral was on the very day which had been fixed upon for the commencement of having, so of course there was no work done upon the farm that day. In the morning Darby went forth with the intention of attending the funeral, but before the hour for the service had ar- rived he had .contrived to get very drunk. Some of his friends succeeded in getting him into a stable, where they left him apparently fast asleep.
 Toward the latter part of the day, when the funeral services had been per formed and the people had returned to their homes, two men went out to the stable for the purpose of arousing Darby, but no Darby was to be found on the premises. They supposed he must have got up and staggered home, so they gave themselves no uneasiness. Late in the evening, however, Mrs. Tibbs came down to the store to inquire for her husband. She had not seen him since morning. A general search was made, but he could not be found. "Never mind. said some ''he'n turn up in the morning." And they finally prevailed upon his wife to go home.
 Morning came, but Darby Tibbs did not turn up. By the middle of the fore noon his wife was down again, and when she learned that nothing had been seen of her husband she became alarmed They searched along the hedges and in the bushes, through every barn and shol and shed, and through the fields and the woods, but not sign of a Darby Tibbs could they find, and the only thing they could learn of him after his being Jeff in the stable upon the straw was from a boy who happened to be late at the flu neral. He said he saw Darby staggel across the road from the store, and that he left him trying to get over the fence, The boy offered to help him, but Darby didn't want any help. He said he was going to the funeral, and he'd like to sec anybody with wit enough to stop him.
 Night came again, and Darby was still missing. The pond was dragged by the light of lanterns, and parties fol lowed up and down the stream. Wednes day morning came, and when the variou, parties who had been engaged in tht search met at the store and compared notes the idea prevailed that Darby Tibbs had run away.
 He'll come back-never fear" they said to his sorrowing wife, "and whe1 he does come we'll bring him to you. And they made her up little purse and finally prevailed upon her to go tt her home and make the best of it.
 Early in the evening Sam Broughtor and Seth Garmon, who had been at work i'll the great meadow beyond tl., brook, came running into the store pale frightened and out of breath. Deacor Brown kept the only store in the village and it was also the only place of public resort, so that quite a congregation o1 citizens were to be found there, especially after the labors of the day were over.
 What is it?' asked the deacon after a dozen others had asked the same.
 "Oh!' gasped Sam Broughton.
 ''Some dead mans come to life or elst a ghost has broken loose!'
 Finally Seth made out to tell the story direct. He and Sam had taken thei way home from the meadow through the graveyard, which was the shortes route. They came along by the tomb which were built near the wall, ant when about midway of the range the. were startled by a succession of dee] groans which seemed to come from grave close by. They listened moment and then they started for the store.
 (Which tomb was it?'' asked Deacon Brown.
 But they could only tell that it wa about in the center of the row.
 'It must have been MT. Dean's tomb, added the deacon. That's nearly il the center, and is the only one whicl has been lately opened. Major Deal may have been buried alive!' Uncle Ben Moulton was the sexton and rush was at once made for hi house. The alarm spread like wildtire Major Dean had been buried alive! Men women and children hurried into tn street, and when the sexton finally mad his appearance. with his great bunch o duplicate keys, they gathered after hin and followed ir his lead. It was nov quite dark and several of the men pro vided themselves with lanterns, an, thus they took their way toward tn burying ground.
 At length the long of tombs wa reached, and above the dim of man, voices could be heard a deep groal from the sepulcher where the body o Major Dean had been placed. Many O the people shrank back in terror-nearl. all the women and children, and som, of the men-as though they expected t see a ghost. Uncle, Ben tremblet