The Saint Paul globe., 1897-04-25

several moments gazing at the skele-
ton. for skeleton it proved to be. In
falling the trunk Of the tree had split
open, and some Of the bones had rolled
out on the ground After we had some
what regained our senses we tore off a
fragment of the trunk of the tree, and
the whole skeleton was exposed to
view. The clothing was rotten and
fell to pieces when touched, but there
was a gun and leather pouch by the
side of the bones that time had not
entirely destroyed. While some Of the
party were looking at the skeleton
others had examined the top of the
tree where we had seen the strange OBJ
ject when the tree was standing. There
was a great hole in the tree where the
trunk had been broken off many years
before. This was large enough to ad-
nit mans body, but there was not
the least evidence that the place had
been touched by human hands. The
bark was rough, and looked as If it had
not been disturbed. We looked for
human tracks, but found none. We
made the dogs smell of the place, and
tried to get them to find a trail They
acted with Indifference We looked
tremblingly about, expecting to see our
old man perched in some other tree
''Well," said Uncle Dave Smiley.
mo one will ever believe US, but as
long as I live l will at any time be
ready to swear that saw an old man
looking at me from that hole in that
tree" We returned to the skeleton,
and, after gathering all the bones to-
gether, we placed them in one Of our
vehicles and took them to town. The
gun and the contents of the shot pouch
enabled several citizens Of the county
to identify the skeleton and reveal the
strangest story that any mortal ever
recorded.
Just thirteen years ago David Mars
lin, who was a famous hunter in this
country, went out in the woods to hunt
deer one Saturday evening, and was
never seen or heard of afterward. The
people of the neighbOrhOod turned out
en- masse and searched for the man
for weeks without ever finding the
slightest clew to his mysterious disap-
pearance The great mystery was
solved yesterday, when his son and
many Of his neighbOrs identified the
gun and shot pouch found in the tree
as the property to David Marsltn.
That was not all. In a leather pocket
book in the shot pouch was found a
valuable deed so valuable that it
makes Marslin's children-a boy and q
girl-very rich young people. The chill
dren knew that their father owned and
had a bona fide deed to a league Of
land in Western Texas that is now
worth $10O,GOO, but they could never
find it. The children claimed the land,
but the law gave it to another in the
absence Of this deed. Thier title Is
now perfect, and lawyers tell them
they will have no trouble to establish
their title. The boy is working in an
oil mill, and the young lady, who is
very pretty and amiable, lives with
some of her relatives. OF course, moth
ing else is being talked Of in the town.
People who laugh, shake their heads
and declare that they do not believe
in ghosts, admit that this affair is be-
yond their comprehension, and alto
gether the strangest thing that they
ever heard of.
A large crowd went out to see the
tree, and some old hunters think they
have solved the problem as to the man
ner in which Marslin came to his death.
There is large leaning tree which al
most touches the tree in which the
skeleton was found. They think that
Marslin, either fleeing from or in pur-
suit of some animal, crawled up tho
leaning tree and stepped on the large
oak, where the two approached each
other. which is not far from the hole
from which the human-like head was
Seen Here, in a scramble with some
animal or by accident the hunter slip
ped into the hole in the tree and de-