Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1896-02-06

ern where the postoffice was q par
Of the business. After she had
, talked with the man in authority 8
while he called together the com.
mittee which had buried the dead
and said that the 'lady had read the
piece in the paper as to the deceas.
ed and she would like to see him.
The committee took her mp to the
grave on the side of the mountain
and dug up the corpse.
One of them said to her: 'You
mayn't know him when you see
him. cause we didn't have no store
tciothes to put on him. Where.
upon the lady replied that she
reckoned she wouldn't know him in
new suit, as 'her man, never had
but one suit to his back. When
the body was exhumed the commit
tee withdrew a respectable distance
while the lady satisfied herself.
She called them and informed them
that 1T was the same and spoke
of certain Identification marks,
VIII ich the committee verified. She
returned to the camp and had an
other conference with the man in
authority.
That night a mass meeting was
held, at which the man in author
ity told the people that the widow
of the deceased was present in the
flesh,' and that she had news. He
introduced her and she told how
the man had wronged her after she
had been sick so long, and that he
had been in the habit when he
would leave camp of taking quartz
to the big town, where he sold it.
This quartz was the property of the
camp. She declared she had no in
tention of speaking i'll of the dead,
but she had understood that he had
died q natural death while playin'
false and that the camp had actu-
ally buried him, which was contra
~ to the custom in such cases.
After she had quit talking the
man IN authority stood up and
asked: what is the pleasure of the
widder of the diseased?'
She said she wasn't there to say
anything 'evil' of the dead. She
protested she did not come to create
any disturbance, but she said in
just so many words that the dis
eased had fooled the community in
which he lived
The man in authority stood up
on a cracker box in one corner of
the room, and the committee and
the widow listened most respect
fully. The speaker was just as
they saw him every day il the
camp.
You heard what the lady said
about him. He played it low down
on her, and he fooled us by his
bein' so quiet. We give him the
best buryin' We could, and more,
fer a head piece was struck in the
ground showin' which way he was
layin'. 1t amt every man that gifts
that
There was an intimation of a de-
monstration of approval of the
speakers remarks, but he checked
it. This amt no Fourth of July
business he said, and it tain't no
meetin' to open up a new mine.
We are here for solemner things
than that. | will ask the lady to
step out for few minutes
The 'lady' was accompanied with
out by one of the committee, who
was instructed to remain with her,
'to keep her company Then the
speaker resumed:
It's a sign when a man is buried
here the same as if he was in the
States that he were squar', and it's
notice to the Recording Angel that
he's fitten to pass in. But when he
is buried on a limb, or left in the
gulch with shot in him, it's a sign
that he wasn't in good standing in
the community whar he lived, and
likewise is a warning to them that's
like him to number thar days. It's
the 'pinion of this court that the
committee that buried him take
him up and do to him what they
orter to have done to him in the
first place. Is the court backed?'
There was low murmur of con-
sent. The speaker continued:
you've still got sand. But the
widder Of the diseased amt to know
nothing about it, fer wimmen allus
ferpiyes a man at the last mint,