St. Paul daily globe., 1894-02-05
TALES FROM A GRAVEYARD.
EXPERIENCES WITH AN UNCLE VINO
WAS A SEXTOE
mAN MOVED In HIS COFFIN.

Another Man Came TO Life in a
Vault - Novice Dug Large
Grave and Buried Three
COrpses in 1t, Then Made Two
Extra Mounds, on Which
Friends Planted Flowers.
1t was the hotel clerks night off. He
heaved a sigh of relief as he realized
that for one night at least no one would
register complaint because cold water
came from the hot water faucet. He
felt ray of comfort, too. when he real
lied that the star boarder would not
kick up row because some one had
forgotten to turn on the steam in his
room. The hotel clerks mind was in
reminiscent mood. and the hotel re-
porter was decidedly ''short' on any
matter of interest. 1t was happy COM
bination-a decided streak of luck-that
these two came together as they did.
In lieu of something else to make up
into copy" the hotel reporter lent
ready ear to the tales of the hotel clerk.
The latter told several stories, but two
or three Of these were so gruesome that
the Faber-pusher took particular note
of them. MY uncle had charge of
cemetery" said the clerk. Il was an
orphan, and he brought me up in the
business. The old man used to do a
little undertaking work 'on the side
as it were. to kind of help along. He
used to tell me tales about dead
men that caused my hair to
stand on end, and before l got
through with him, had some weird
experience of my own. The old man
was so accustomed to the companion
ship of 'stiffs' that he thought little of
them. He did. however, have an ex-
perience that greatly perturbed him.
One day stranger fell dead in the
streets. At least two wise old doctors
said he was dead. My uncle
was called on to take charge
of the body. The weather was
warm. and he was afraid the body
might not keep. To make sure, he laid
the fellow out, entirely nude, on mar
BILE slab and put plenty of ice around
him. About midnight the old man
thought he would clothe the body, lay it
out and get it ready for the
potters' field. There were half a
dozen other corpseS in the rooms,
also awaiting this ceremony. The
old gentleman lighted tallow dip. and
went into the chamber OF death. The
candle did not illuminate the room to
any great extent, and helped to add a
ghastliness to the scene. He had not
proceeded far among the rigid forms
before he saw spectacle that made
him pale. There was the stranger, sup.
posed to be dead, sitting bolt
upright on the marble slab. with
the white sheet wound tightly
about him. His teeth were chattering,
and his eyes protruded in most horri-
flying way. My uncle gazed at the un-
wonted spectacle fully five minutes, and
at last the apparition spoke. Where
am I?' he asked. The old man told him
he had been declared dead. and that he
ought to be buried. The man then
carefully examined his surroundings.
He found the ice, and insisted that OF
all the buffets of fortune that had 81 far
fallen to his lot this was the coldeSt
deal he ever had. 1t turned out, of
course, that the man had been in a
trance, and it was the Ice that had
brought him around"
The scribe lit his pipe to brace up hin
nervous system. and the hotel man
started in on another story.
Zone time," said he, ''n the dead of
winter three corpses from a smallpox
pest house were turned over to me for
burial. | was green iii the grave-dig-
ging business then. The ground was
frozen as hard as flint. l took an AK
and chopped out a big place. Then
shoveled out the earth and built fire
in the hole. This thawed out the frost
and made eXcavating an easier job. |
started to dig, and l soon found out that
l had too big grave for one corpse, and
realized that l would not get time
that night to dig three separate graves,
so kept on digging. l soon had large
hole, and in this placed all three of
the bodies. l covered them up, ahad
a lot of extra dirt left over. A happy
thought struck lDe. | Scraped the snow
away clear to the earth. and here l
piled up the extra dirt. [ patted it all
down nicely with my shovel, and made
what appeared to be three graves. In
the spring the relatives of the dead men
came and planted forget-me-nots and
daisies on the false graves and never
knew the difference"
The newspaper man gasped little at
the weird recital, but the hotel clerk
started in again. Another time" he
said, Il had queer experience. 1t
was in May. dug grave and lowered
the coffin into it. l ha doniy thrown in a
Shovelful of earth when | heard three
loud raps from the coffin. was nearly
scared to death. l saw lady
near by watering some flowers on
her babY's grave, and [ called her
over. We stood still a minute, and we
both heard two more rapS from inside
the coffin. l ran after my uncle, and he
brought doctor. We raised the coffin
from the grave and opened it. The
HANDS of the inmate, which had rested
over his breast, were raised up above
his head. The doctor made a thorough
aynn,iDatioD of tha b0dv aDd