The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1899-08-17
a STRANGE EXPERIENCES.
An Atlanta Drummer Acted as Pail.
Bearer at the Funeral OF n Man He

Bearer at the Funeral OF n Man He
Dfdn't Know.
Atlanta Constitution.
won't to q funeral the other day
and l can't get it out OF my head. ii
bothers me, and am not likely to for
got it,"
The speaker was q young and popular
Albanian whose business keeps him in
Savannah most OF the time. He was
:. here on u visit, and his friends were
greatly interested In the s.ory Of his
experience rs pallbearcr.
Yes" continued the young map.
went to q funeral in an accidental
way, and was q pallbcarer by chance.
81 didn't know tho dead man, and
the other pallbearcrs didn't know him.
1t beats anything in my experience.
ut happened in this way. entered
q business house to see some OF nv
customers, and after some general
talk, one OF tho partners asked me If |
had ANYTHING to do tor the next hour
or so. | told him that was not busy
and was ready for almost anything.
| ~ He said that l was the very man
for the occasion, and taking mo by the
arm escorted mo to u carriage in front
OF the store and got in with me.
After riding a little distance VIC
stopped and another man got In and
!
several squares and then picked up
another man, and finally fourth man
joined us.
They were all nice young men, and
worry pleasant company, but | began to
wonder why we wero in tho carriage
| and where we wero going.
" In the meantime we continued our
! journey, without any explanation from
| any body.
AT last brought tho matter up, |
told my friend who had invited me to
accompany him that had plenty of
time and was at his service, but had
some curiosity about our trip. Who're
were We going and for what purpose :?
My friend laughed and said that it
was oil right. We were on our way to
u funeral and were to act as pallb bear.
crS.
"This was unexpected, but | ac-
very naturally asked the name of the
person whose funeral we were to at
! tend.
My question seemed to surprise the
man who was responsible for my pres
encc there. l1o looked very thought
ful and scratched his head.
He had to give it up, and explained
that he had never heard the dead
mans name. The head of the firm
had requested him to attend the fun
eral as a pallbearer, q mark OF resDect
to one OF the former customers Of the
house.
He intimatCd that the other pail.
bears might be able to give tie desired
Information.
But they were in the same fix.
Their business associates had sent
them to the funeral.
They knew nothing beyond the fact
that they were to go to 81 certain house
on certain street, and then proceed
to the cemetery, acting rs pallbearcrs.
We felt somewhat ratified Was
seen him? Did he leave family? :?
How did he die? These and othcr
questions bothered us, but we could
learn nothing at that time.
The carriage stopped at q boarding
house, and we entered the place look.
ing rs we thought respectable palIh bear
crs ought to look.
" We looked sad because we felt sad.
We felt sorry for the corpse and sorry
for ourselves, and as we gazed in one
anOther's faces We did not put on any
airs or manifest any unseamy y pride
The fact is, we felt like set Of
dummies. There we were, the pui.
bears at a funeral, and not one Of Us
knew the dead mans name
The undertaken WAS there with his
assistant. Two Of the boardcrs APP
peared in the role Of mourners. These
were all, with the exception Of the pail
bearers and the minister.
We didn't know the mourncrs nor
the minister, and they showed no in.
tercst in us.
"The minister talked in low tones
to the undertaken, made Il few remarks
over the cotlin, and then We took it.
o!t to the hcarsc.
"lt was hard work, sQuct 4 ng
through narrow doors and turning cor
ners, INT in the course OF time we sue
cecded in gettinpssout Of the house, and
the coffin was placed in the hcar.c.
"Then we four bundled ourselves
into the carriage, and the two mourn
crs entered another carriage. The
minister rode with them.
Our little procession slowly made
It's way to the cemetery, distance Of
three or four miles, and there the ser
vices were brief and simple.
The minister had very little TO say,
and when he was through he said
something to the undertaken, who tola
us that wo could return to the city.
We pallbcarers got into our car
riage and gave the order to drive on.
The driver did not obey. We yelled
at him again, but he made no response.
zone OF our party got out and re-
ported that the driver appeared to be
asleep. We suggested h roic measures,
and the fellow was punched with an
umbrella.
" 1t was no use. He did not move.
| The undertaken came along and asked
| what was the trouble. We told him
and his eagle eye discovered the truth
of The situation. Our driver was
drunk
"The undertaken said that he would
fix him, and he did. Ho seized the
driver and hurled him to the ground.
Then he took his place and drove ns
back to town, leaving the driver at
tho cemetery to sleep on his booze.
Tho carriage left us at varions
places In tho city, and | did not find
out tho dead mans name until next
| raaralnu uiacn | reol ~ uccNunt OF Tho