The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-08-14
flesh had about all rotted from the bones,

remnants of clothing remained,-one
large and two small sleeve buttons, also a
ring (all gold, were found with the bones
The coroner was summoned and an in
quest was held. The surgeon in his evil
dence, stated that the find was half Of the
skeleton of man of large size and
weight,-that the division of the body had
been made longitudinally and with surgi-
cal exactness. The bones indicated a
burial of some 20 years. 1t was evident
ly case of felonious homicide attended
with unusual barbarity for the evident
purpose Of preventing Identification. No
clue to the perpetrators of the deed was
obtained, or to what had become of the
other half of the body. The coroner, after
examining into all the known facts, or
dered the remains and all attached to it,
to be securely boxed, marked and buried,
in the Washington pauper burial ground
at the public charge.
Could this find have any relation to
the missing Alexis Nevada? and was it
true that his disembodied spirit was
floating round the world?" unduried,
unwept, unhonored and unsung?
In the early spring of 1895, Mansfield,
small city in Richland county, Ohio, had
a sensational discovery paralleling that at
Washington. A suburban lot, upon which
was an old residence structure, contained
in the northwest corner, a we'll of water
which had been used for domestic pur-
poses up to the time of the introduction
of the Holley water-works, since when, it
had been abandoned and covered up For
many years, dating back for an uncertain
period, a strange superstition hung
around this we'll and the old house. 1t
was the old story of haunted house, so
charmingly lugubrious and vivid to
nebulous youth and senile old age. Chill
dren and grown up people told of strange
noises proceeding from the well,-a
medly of groans. and signs half articu-
lated,-wailings of infants,-cries of dis
tress in female voices,-oaths and curses
of men,-blue lights were seen dancing
and Pickering around it,-sheeted ghosts
were seen at the midnight hour; noted
Spiritua1iSt was consulted about the mat
ter, and her oracular utteranceS height
ened the excitement. A volunteer force
was suggested to tear up the old we'll,
and see what was at the bottom, but no
one volunteered. At length, three wild
young larks of Mansfield got together,
and privately agreed upon a night when
they would turn the old we'll inside out
Stripping for the work with picks and
spades, way was soon found to the bot
meath the accumulated rubbish, the low
cred lantern light brought to view long
sack filled with loose and yielding SUBJ
stance, securely bound-or had been
with half-inch rope. 1t was quickly
drawn up, and on being deposited on the
ground, a hurried examination showed
that it was part of a mutilated and
hacked human skeleton. The explorers
at once took to their heels, leaving coats,
hats and tools with the horrid find When
separating, they agreed to be up with the
dawn, and to watch the place until the
towns-people could be aroused. After
sleepless night, the trio met at the dawn
of day. Like the morning light, long be-
fore breakfast, the news flashed through
Mansfield, "a body has been found in the
haunted well, was cried on the streets,
reporters for the press gathered the
facts, and extras were issued from the
press and thrown broadcast; men, boys
and girls,-mOthers with -weeks-old
babes in their arms,--all focked to the
well. The mayor and the sheriff were
there,-the coroner came uninvited,-he
had job on his hands now. Coroners
are happy when stiffs turn up from I'M
seemly places at unseemly times,-at in
quests they put on a solemn face, but they
have no tears to spare over the dead sub
JeCt lying ION view" He promptly is
sued a veire facias, which was as prompt
ly returned served and the six men,
good and true were as promptly en-
pannelled and sworn to true inquiries
make etc. The sack and contents were
carefully carried into the old tenement
long since surrendered up to the we'll
ghost,-when a Mansfield surgeon being
sworn, the find was exposed to view. His
testimony, summarized, was, that the
sacks, (there were two coverings,) were
made of uncommouly strong material,
and the contents bound with half-inch
rope that wrapped up in stout paper,
copies of the Congressional Record, was
the skeleton remains Of the right-side
half of human being of the male variety,
that the severance from the other half
was horizontally with the body from the
division commencing below the termina-
ton of the spinal cord or marrow
(spinaiD; that the knife, saw or other
sharp instrument used to make the divis-
ion, was first applied to the fOramen oyaIe
near the tuberOSity of the ischium, and
taking the line of the nervous cephalospi-
nal centres, as stated, followed on, pierre
ing the cervicial vertebrae, dividing into
equal parts the lower and upper law.
| also the ossa nasi, and coming out at the
centre OF the os fronts. He said the half
In view was automatically the half of
human skeleton bereft of the viscera. He
thought the severance was made some
twenty years since,-would not GER
| tain. This diagnosis becomes important.
as bearing upon subsequent eXamina-
ton.
The owner of the property was sworn.
He said he abandoned the use of the
fnr 70 4
on account of the neighborhood talk
about ghosts being around,-that being
DESTROYS to sell the property, he had made
light of it, but that it had brought upon
his wife nervous condition which final
ly, he thought, terminated her life He
said he bought the place from John Sher-
man, soon thereafter moved in, and oc-
cupied 1t about two years. No one had
lived in it since
The mayor asked that Senator Sherman
be called, as he was in the CITY, The con-
stable started off with forthwith sub
poena. He soon returned, stating that
except as to a cOlOred servant, the Sher-
| man mansion was vacant. Fearing that
there was some mistake, as the senator
but the day before had informed the
mayor that he should be at home several
weeks, the servant was sent for She
stated that ''Massa Sherman and Missus
had taken the 10 o'clock morning train
going east-that they took baggage
| enough to float them around the world d.
| that Massa was always floatin, that
she did not know when they would return,
! she said she had been told to keep the
house locked on account of the "Coxey
! thieves who were floatin' round the
world too," and had been forbidden to
| leave the house. At this stage, discover