Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1897-02-27
CONTINUED next weekly
EMuLATEO RIP VAN WlNKLE.
How a Maine Man Disappeared from So
ciety and Rcappeared Afier Ten Years.

a faint suggestion of the story of Rip
Van Wrinkle attaches To thatH told of jim
Hayes, Il one-time resident of Il village
in western Maine, located near the
boundary line between that state and
New Hampshire.
While digging out his well enc morn
ing the walls cared in, burying him be-
meath the debris, in such IA manner,
however, that the stones, instead of
crushing him, formed an arch over his
PROSTATE body.
The brilliant idea occurred to jim,
whose aversion To work, bv the way,
was a n~eighborl,ood proverb, that rather
than subject himself To the labor of diw-
ging his way Ia the surface il would be
Il slrewd dodge foreman quietly where
he was and let the ucighbors dir MINI
self and incidentally his well out for
him.
What followed only goes to show that
a man may reckon without his neigh
bors.
The latter arriving upon the scene
after due d~eliberalion and a discussion
oi ways and means expressed their
unanimous opinion in the following un-
sentimental but practical syllogism:
That Jim was at once dead and bur-
led.
That n dead man ought TO be buried.
Conclusion-that the best thing to be
done vas TO do dothing- to-wit. leave
the well and Jim in such condition AS
found.
The general consensus of opinion was
that the late Jim had been Il law, good
for nothing, shiftless dog, who had con-
ierred "A greater benefit upon the village
by thus quietly dropping out of society
without putting his %ncighbors to the
trouble OF barying him, than he had
ever done while living,
Remarks TO this effect, and others
even less complimentary, being borne
vaguely 10 the ears Of the entombed
Jim, apprising hils of the worth inn
puted TO him by his fellow townsmen,
he then and there resolved 10 reform
and mend-his ways.
Realizing that Il return TO his old as
sOciate and associations would be n So
riouS bar to these good resolutions, the
now-reiormtd Jim set industriously To
work TO dig his way out; but instead OF
'''N''S 'p way "ildlHhN NlJNdlu IG
pursued, for Il rod or two, Il lateral
course, which eventually brought him
ont II few feet the other side of the state
boundary line into the state of New
Hampshire.
Here, it is averred, a steady adher.
euce 20 his "subterrantan resolutions
made Il new man Of him, so that he be.
came OF sufficient importance and prom.
inence to be made chairman of the
selectmen and Il member of the school
committee in Il little New Hampshire
town.
Upon returning 10 his native viilag;
alter a lapse of ten years he was greeted
with amazement by his old c~ronies, whC
had supposed him buried by an act o
providence. Such, however. was tn,
position he had acquired for HIMSELF il
society that any feelings of incredulit,
which the story he told may have ha(
aroused in their bosoms were suffered
to lie dormant and were given no out
ward expression.
Finally, it may be said to those who
have doubts concerning the truthfulnes,
OF the narrative that the foundation fol
it, lying, rs it does, at the bottom of 4,
well, should of itself serve to repel al
such %unfaVorable susIicion,