The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1897-05-14
DEAD. BUT YET ALIVE.


There are quite number of people
:. town who will remember w. A.
rsnfman, having left here about five
ve.rs ago going to Mankato. While
hare Mr.. Laufman was employed as
travelling salesman for q harvester
oomnany, and for atime occupied apart.
ments with his wife at the home of L.
Beckwith. A very interesting story
ras published in the Minneapolis Times
wednesday concerning his presumed
doath and his return to life. The story
is too long topublish in detail and ex-
tracts are made OF the interesting mar
ratiye. The Times says:
w. A. Laufman, one OF the best
known travelling men in the northwest
Who is making this city his headquar-
,ers for the present, says he is one
risen from the dead. Mr.. Laufmsn
claims to have died at III o'clock a. M,
December 2b, 1896, in Omaha, Neb., of
beart disease. He was pronounced
dead by the hospital physicians Of that
town and his body packed in ice for
shinment to his home in Mankato.
The circumstances leading up to MIR.
Laufman's death, as told by him, are
40 extraordinary that his story will
hardly be credited, but people who
know him have no doubt of its truth.
He is travelling salesman for Warder,
Bushnell q Glessner of Chicago, an
agricultural implement firm, and is
one of four brothers, all travelling men.
connected with similar concerns. To
~
stated that Mr.. Laufman's remarkable
story is strengthened by innum ,rable
letters and documents in his possession
which we're submitted to The Times
for inspection.
We will briefly mention the incidents
which lead up to Mr.. Laufmans pecu-
liar situation. From his statements
his wife had attempted to poison him
by slow process, using Indian hemp
for the purpose. This was while they
were living at Mankato after they left
here. Mr.. Laufman was quite sick
then and later they both went to Coun-
Gil Bluffs, where Mrs. Laufman admin
istered another dose of the poison. He
was not fully aware that an attempt
was being made to poison him and in
advertently accused his wife of the at,
tempt one night at Council Bluffs
Picking up the thread of the story as
published in the Times Mr.. Laufmar
talked as follows concerning the Incl
dent on the fatal night leading up tc
his presumed death:
ha oxyt
Light, when l came home very late, and
asked her if she had saved lunch fol
me. She said she had. and when I sal
down to the table and glanced over the
food, something prompted me to say
"You haven't doped this, have you, EN-
MAJ" She did not reply but arose
hastily and left the room, with looA
shall never forget. [ repeat, l dom
know what made me make the remark
for | declare that [ had no suspicion
that was being poisoned. l though
the doctors were crazy, and told then
so. I have never been addicted to the
use of drugs or liquor, and my letter.
of recommendation will vouch for my
temperate habits. You see l was ava,
agreat deal OF the time, and during
the last two years or more of my mar
ried life, my wife was in business il
Mankato, and did not accompany me OF
my trips. The poison which was ad
ministered to me was not in sufficien
quantities to kill me outright, but wa
given to me, as believe, to produc
heart disease. My experiences wer'
particularly interesting. could no
sleep, and suffered great nervousness
but have an iron constitution and i
was not in the stars that [ should di
by poisoning.
That night in Council Bluffs was ~,
last with my wife. After we had re
tired, she was terribly wrought Vi
over something, and, suffering from
heavy dose of the drug, 1 was in ba.
shape myself. She was very restles
and moaned and cried and was at time
very hysterical. I tried to comfor
her, but she only shrieked and declared
that she did not know what was tn,
matter. When | awoke the next morn
ing, she was gone. The neigbors toll
me she had left for Chicago, and 1 tol,
them-to divert their suspicions-tha
she had gone to her old home in Lo
gansport, Ind, and that I knew al
about it.
II took sick and was removed to tn
hospital in Omaha. There I had an ex
perlence which few men have lived T.
tell about Under the influence of tn
drug sank into q condition which wa
called death by the physicians. Thi
was on Dec. Goth, 1896, at II o'clock il
the morning. The doctors pronouncet
me dead and my body was turned owe
to M. Maul's undertaking establish
ment. 1t was given out that 1 hat
died OF heart disease. My brother, G
h: Laufman, of Des Moines, Iowa wa
telegraphed for and came on to TAX
charge of my remains.
My experience at the time of m.
oeath have never been told except t
me physicians who published an &C
count OF them in one of the medica
Journals. On that fatal morning wa
suddenly aware of an indescribabl
sensation, beginning at my feet an
swapping clear through my frame an
out at the top OF my head. I was the
conscious of something like ball {
COTTON released and snreadinc out i