Santa Fe daily New Mexican., 1897-10-25
A CELEBRATED CASE


Soren Qvist was the pastor of the little
village church of Vellby, in Jutland He
was man of excellent moral character
generous, hospitable and dillgeut in the
performance of his sacred duties. but he
was man of constitutiopally violent tenn.
leT-a scourge to his household and hui
initiation to himself.
He was a widower, with two children
daughter, who kept house for him, and
a son. holding an officers commission in
the army.
At Ingvorstrup, village not far from
Vellby, dwelt cattle farmer, Morten
Burns, who was in i'll repute with his
neighbors. The man paid court to the
PASTORS daughter, but his suit was reject.
ed by both parent and child.
Morten Burns had d poor brother named
Niels, who was shiftless and lazy fellow
and, withal, quarrelsome. Soren Qyist,
needing farmland, hired this soapegrace
brother of the man who hated him. Niels
Burns was constantly provoking the pas
tors naturally irritable temper by his in
dolence and impudence.
Their relations as master and servant
eliminated in the mysterious disappear.
ance which is the basis of q celebrated
tragedy. Niels had been sent to dig piece
of ground in the PASTORS garden, but the
pastor found him not digging, but leisure.
ly resting on his spade and cracking nuts
which he had plucked.
The pastor scolded him angrily The
man retorted that it was no business OF
his to dig in the garden, at which Soren
struck him twice in the face, and the man,
throwing down the spade, retaliated.
Thereupon the old pastor lost all self con.
troll, and, Selling the spade, he dealt the
farmland several blows with it.
Niels Burns fell to the earth like one
dead, but when his master, in great alarm,
raised him up, he broke away, leaped
through the garden hedge and made off
into the neighboring wood. From that
time he was seen no more.
Before long Morten Burns, the rich
brother of the missing farmland, was
limiting around the village that the parson
bad killed Niels and hidden his body
These rumors and insinuations passed
from mouth to mouth, and as the farm
hand had disappeared the suspicion began
to grow that the pastor had guilty knowl
edge of his end.
Finally Morten Burns appeared before
the district magistrate with three witnesses
and charged the pastor with the murder Of
his brother. Two of these were widow
named Karsten and her daughter Else, whd
had been witnesses of the final struggle
between the clergyman and the farmland.
The third witness was a cottager named
Larsen. On the night of the day following
Niels Burns disappearance he was return
ing home very late from Tolstrup and was
passing along the footpath which thanked
the pastors garden when he heard the
sound of some one digging.
Seeing that it was clear moonlight he
determined to find out who it was that was
working in the garden at that late hour.
He slipped off his wooden shoes, climbed
up the hedge and parted the tops of the
hazel bushes Then he saw the PASTOR in
green dressing gown and with white
nightcap on his head, busted in levelina
the earth with spade but more than this
he did not see, for the pastor turned sud
denly around, as if some sound had strucE
his ear, and Larsen, being afraid Of detec'
tion, let himself down and ran away.
Thereupon the PASTORS garden was
searched under the direction of the magis.
trate. The pastor welcomed the searching
party and called his farm servants to aid.
He was confident that they would find
nothing to confirm the accusation against
him. The man Larsen. was asked to point
cut the place where he had seen the pastor
digging in the moonlight. He pointed ia
heap of cabbage stalks and refuse.
They had not dug long when one Of
them cried out "Heaven preserve us!"
And, as all present crowded to look, hat
was visible above the earth.
''That ia Niels' hal" cried Morten. 81
know 1t we'll. Here Is security we shall
find him. Dig away!' he shouted with
energy, and was almost as eagerly obeyed.
Soon an arm appeared, and in few
minutes the entire corpse was disinterred.
There seemed to be mo doubt that it was
the missing man. The face could not ba
recognized, for the features had been de.
stroyed by blows, but all his clothes, even
unto his shirt, with his name on it, were
identified by his fellow servants.
There was no alternative but to arrest
the pastor on the spot. He most willing.
ly surrendered himself, merely protesting
his Innocence. Appearances are against
me-" he said "Surely this must be the
work Of satan and his ministry, but he
still lives who will at his pleasure make
my innocence manifest. Take me to pris.
on. In solitude and In chains Twill
await what he in his wisdom shall decree.
The pastor was arrested and taken to
Jail. Next day the preliminary judicial
examination was held. Two farm servants
and dairynaid, all in the employ of the
accused pastor, testified that on the day Of
the murder they had been sitting near the
open window In the servants room and
had heard the pastor and the man Niels
quarreling until they came to blows.
They added that they had twice before
heard the pastor threaten Niels with his
life. The dairymaid deposed that on the
night when Larsen saw the pastor In the
garden she was lying awake in bed and
heard the door leading from the passage
into the garden creak, and that when she
rose and peeped out she saw the pastor In
his dressing gown and nightcap go out
into the garden. What he did there she
saw not, but about an hour afterward she
again heard the creaking of the door.
When asked what he had to say In his
defense, the pastor replied solemnly: $50
help me God, will say nothing but the
truth. Istruok deceased with the spade,
but not otherwise than that he was able
to run away from me and out Of the gar
den. What became of him afterward or
how he came to be buried In my garden,
I know not.
"As for the evidence of Larsen and the
dairymaid, who say they saw me In the