Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1899-06-08
KEPT THE SKELETON,
QUEER REVENGE OF A MAN WHOSE
FRIEND WAS MURDERED.

1 Morning, colonel.
| "Morning, sir, - replied the man who
was leaning over the fence.
| He was a short, thickset man, with
clear and piercing eye, his face shaved
smooth. with not the suggestion of g
wrinkle; yet his hair was as white as
snow. He had slight southern accent,
and his hearty manner of inviting the
visitors in and his cordial hospitality
Were wholly southern. One of the visit
ors knew him and had told the other
that there was a man with a bona fide
skeleton in his closet and that the skele-
ton had a story. 1t did not require any
persuasion to obtain a glimpse of the
skeleton. The owner presently led the
way to an clubhouse, and, opening the
door, displayed the skeleton of a man,
badly fastened together and hanging
TO the wall by the neck. The Missourian
did not object TO telling the story.
THAT fellow" he said, motioning
with his thumb to the skeleton, Twas
once an acquaintance of mine, and
liked him so well''-this with laugh
THAT 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 acquaintance
During the war / lived in one of the
1 southern states, where / was about the
| only northern man They took nearly
1 everything that / had as time went on,
| killed my stock, killed some of my peo-
l pie and finally announced that they
| were going to kill me. Nearly all the
| country was terroriZed at that time by
good for nothing chap whom we viii
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 system Of looting and killing
1 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 n tree in the yard l sent word
back that L was ready for him. We
heard of him all around-men shot,
niggers killed, houses burned-so that
the name of Jim Conner became a thing
to scare children, not to speak of men
I was always trying TO help northern
men, and one time had two or three
with me. passing them on as occasion
offered.
81 had not heard from Conner or his
raids for some weeks, when one day he
rode into the yard and swore that he
was going to burn the house We had
no means of protecting ourselves ex-
cept by using rifle. and with that 1
tried to pick him off from the top story;
but he had picked up one of my friends
who had been in the field. and they put
him on horse and stood behind him and
shot at the windows of the house, at
the same time gathering brush with
which, they said. TO burn the house.
But no one dared to approach the
house. as was sure shot. ! supposed
that they would wait until night and
then creep up and burn me out. l kept
out of sight and could not believe that
they would murder man in cold blood.
But, hearing shout, / glanced through
bullet hole in the shutter and saw
them driving my friends horse up to a
tree-a fine old tree that had planted
as boy. One of the limbs crossed the
drive. and to this they fastened the
rope and drove the horse away, leaving
my friend dangling there, and 1 watch
ing the operat ton totally helpless, while
they were looking on.
"Some United States troops finally
came along and drove them off and cut
the body down. and we Joined in the
chase. 1 hunted the gang for weeks.
then gave it up, as it was evident that
they had given rs the slip. After the
war / moved to California and came
here l soon heard of curious char
acter who lived up in one of the can
yons the life of a hermit. l never con-
nected his name with Conner, it being
more or less common. But when he
died one day the story was that he had
had bad record back in Missouri; that
he had been murderer, etc. and it
occurred to me that it might be my old
enemy, the man had been after for so
many years.
II can't say that have particu-
larly revengeful disposition, said the
skeleton owner, ''but he had murdered
my friend, and / had never given up
the hope of finding him and was always
on the lookout. The old fellow was
alone and homeless. it seems. with no
friends, and they had buried him by the
side of his hut. l heard of it few days
later and employed some men to aid
me in the investigation.
Conner had a bad saber wound
across the face, by which no one could
ever fail to recognize him. and when /!
we opened the grave there was the
man. while papers which he left showed
that he was Conner. / had found him
too late to turn him over to the law
So 1 proposed to hang him where 1
could keep an eye on him for the rest |
of my life. and in my Will propose TO |
leave Instructions that he shall be left !
hanging. dangling in the wind. just |
as he had hanged my friend 1 had his !
skeleton prepared. as no one claimed |
him. and hung him up as a warning TO |
sny of his seed that might follow in his !
footsteps. Chicago Inter Ocean.
How He Explained.