The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-09-02
A PETRITIED PARENT.
A Fierce Battle For Possession of IT..

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From the New York World.
A fierce battle for a petrided parent took
Mace In Nortberr North nai,oto nam ,ba
-.
-H"iiVopa llle' some tthe ago between
young man. who claimed to be a son of
the Individual who had turned into stone
ana bis cr,aras a., a., .,,o a., .,,.,,.,i
-.
museum Specui''ors' WHO were Trying TO
get away.with the adamantine human, on
the other.
The fight happened on the Orinotok pla-
teau, on the edge Of cliff. The petrihed
man had been concealed at the base Of the
canyon. While the spectators were at
work laboriously hauling the remarkable
curiosity to the top, the son and his sup
porters We're seen across the raVine gal
Looping furiously towards them.
When the son caught sight of the spec
ulators he opened fire, The distance was
too great however, for the shot to take
effect The spectators redoubled their
efforts, while the party on the other side
of the canyon kept up a steady fire.
The petrihei man was hauled TO the
top before anyone was shot, and then,
lying behind the mass of stone, they re-
turned the fire with repeating rifles.
The chasm was too great to be jumped
on horses, and is about seven miles long.
Finally the son and his friends went
away, evidently intending to come around
on the other side. Before they had time
to do this, however, the petrifed man
had been safely carried away into Man
itoha, ana soon after it was placed on
exhibition In large cities and towns In
the northwest.
From attempting to recover his pet
rhed parent by force of arms the son
has now turned to legal proceedings. In
almost every city he has attached the
stone man, and as a result the curiosity
has been kept most of the time in ja.ls
awaiting the. decision of the courts. In
every instance the spectators have won.
There is no precedent in law to determine
what evidence 1t is necessary for son
to produce in order to prove that
petrihed man is simply his parent turned
to stone and so the western Judges have
dismissed the suits.
The petrihed man was found on the farm
Of George McPherran in Marshall county,
Minnesota, by a farm hand. II
represents perfectly man about
six feet high. A few inches be-
low the heart is a hole which Is
supposed to be the mark OF bullet HIS
limbs were perfectly straight, with the
exception of the left arm, and his eyes
were closed. His mouth was part way
open. The teeth are still in good condi-
tion and shine like ivory. The lips are
shriVeled SO that the teeth are displayed
more wildly. There were few hairs on
his eyebrows and on the front part OF his
skull one or the toes on his left foot was
broken off.
A resident Of Minnesota, after seeing.
an account of the petrihcation, said he
thought he knew the history Of the man.
Before he saw the stone he SAID: II II Is
the man that l think IT Is there VIII be a
bullet hole I'm the center of his breast
After visiting the petrihed man he said
that he was satisfied that it was the body
Of lie Count. a Frenchman, and that son
of the deceased was living at Louisville,
MINI.
lie Count was Canadian voyageur and
guide. He married a half-breed, and to-
gether with her and his two boys set out
from the city Of st. Paul to guide party
of three Englishmen to Fort Pembina and
return. When they reached a point on
their return journey, which was on the
prairie along the Pembina trail. In which
is now Marshall county. Minnesota, they
made camp for the night
One of the Englishmen had acted very
aueerly for some days and suddenly be-
came In sane that very night
Early i'm the morning, before the rest of
the party arose lie Count went outside OF
the tent where he was met by the insane
Enelishman. who. without the least warn
ING nIcked mn q rifle and shot LIE Count
in The breast
THE family Of the dead man dug n rude