The sun., 1899-04-16
A SKELETON IN A CLOSET.
Revenge of n Californian, One of Whose
Friends Was Murdered in War Times.

Revenge of a Californian, One of whose
Friends Was Murdered in War Times.
AVALON. Cal. April s." Morning. Colonel"
Morning. SIR" replied the man who was
leaning over the fence.
He was a short. thickset man, with a clear
and piercing eye his face shaved smooth. with
not the suggestion OF a wrinkle; yet his hair
was as white as snow He had slight South
ern accent. and his hearty manner Of inviting
the visitors in and his cordial hospitality were
wholly Southern. One Of the visitors know
him. and had told the other that here was a
man with n bona -flde skeleton In his closet and
that the skeleton had story. 1t did not re-
quire any persuasion to obtain glimpse OF the
skeleton. The owner presently led the way to
an outhouse. and opening the door. display ed
the skeleton OF man. badly fastened together.
and hanging to the wall by the neck. The Mis-
sourian did not object to telling the story.
That fellow" he said. motioning with his
thumb to the skeleton. was once an acQuaint-
ance Of mine. and 1 liked him 30 well''-this
with laugh" that l have kept him by me
ever since. so that can come out and stir him
up whenever feel disposed" and he gave the
skeleton dig in the ribs. 1t was this way"
he continued. closing the door on his acquaint-
ance. During the war lived in one OF the
Southern States where / was about the only
that l had. as time went on; killed my stock.
killed some OF my people. and finally an
nounced that they were going to kill me.
Nearly all the country was terrorZed at that
time by a good -for-nothinR chan whom we will
call Jim Conner: that was not his name but it
will do-one name is as good as another now.
when the war broke out he started in as a
sort of independent guerrilla and began a sys-
TEN Of looting and killing. l knew him well.
and he sent me word that he was coming my
| way and was going to burn my house and hang
me to the trees in the yard / sent word back
that I was ready for him. We heard OF him
all around-men shot. niggers killed. houses
burned-so that the name Of Jim Conner
5penk 5en S%rtBrn Of was ond always trying
them @ ' ON as occasion CASTOR "frered fi had hddS'"s not
weeks when one day lie rode into the yard and
, sswore that he was going to burn the house.
cept by using a rife. and with that tried to
| nick him of from the top story: but no had
picked up one, Of my friends who had been In
stood s' behind him and shot at the windows ] d Of
the house, at the same time gathering brush
but no one dared to approach the house. as
lW was I sure % shot | SUPP supposed that they would
me out / kept out OF sight and could not be:
| lieve that they would murder man in cold
| blOod. But nearing ShOut. glanced through
| bullet hole N the shutter and saw them driv-
tree that had planted rs hoy. One OF the
! limbs crossed the drive and TO this they
| fastened the rope and and drove the horse
| away leaving my friend dangling there. and
| l watching the operation totally helpless,
| while they were looking on. Some United
| States troops finally came along and drove
| them of and cut the body down, and we joined
| then gave It up. as it was evident that they had
| given us the slip. After the war / moy ed to
| Cali orna and came here. Poon heard OF u
| curious character who lived up in one OF the
| cahons the life of hermit. nUvcr connected
his name with Conner. i being more or less
| was that he had had bad record back In Mis-
| sour-that he had been murderer. &c,-and
| II occurred to me hat it might be Inv old enemy,
| the man had been after for so many years.
| cant say that l have q purticula rly re-
| venGefu disposition" sa id the skeleton owner,
but he had murdered my friend. and | had
| never given up the hope OF finding him and
| alone and homeless. it seems. with 10 friends.
! and they had bu led him 10y the side OF his hut.
! | heard OF II Il few davs later and employed
| some men 10 aid me in the Investigation, Con-
| ner had bad sabre wound across the face. by
| which no one could ever fail To recognize him.
was the man, while papers which he
lett showed that h" was Conner. had
| found him too late to turn him over to the
| law. 80 proposed to hang him where could
| keep an eve on him for the rest NJ my life. and
| in my will propose to leave instructions that
| h" shall be left hanging. dangling in the wind
| JuSt as h" hung my friend. had his skeleton
! him up as u warning to any OF his seed that
| might follow in his fDDtStpDs -