Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1900-12-07
COINCIDENCE.
TRAGEDY WHICH LINKED TO-
GETHER THE LIVES OF TWO
MEN TOLD BY JOE TAYLOR, THE
HISTORIAN

MEN TOLD BY JOE TAYLOR, THE
HISTORIAN.
Washburn Leader: It may have been
only a coincidence in everyday life
but the strangeness of the incident is
certainly inexplicable to the scribe in
the career of two men-one a man
noted only for his misdeeds the other
a man of great public character and of
whom this nation as a loss
just now-almost irreparable.
All this is brought to mind by and
with the .eatn of these men and of the
incidents which each played his part
in one of the tragic dramas in real life,
which now and again thrusts it's CORY
head before the %footlights and make
people shudder and wonder.
One of the principals-the obscure
one-died a few years ago at Dead
Mans Coulee, Painted Woods, and il
ever a mar diet unhonored if not un.
sung-surely it was that man. Left
to die almost unattended at the house
of a neighbor who had but little sym
pathy and less of respect for him
his own house the scene Of gaiety ant
revelry at the hour-yea the very min.
ute his %perturbed spirit took it's high,
to the realm of the unknown. His
corpse, stiffened and rigid by exposure
was dumped into a wagon box Uttered
by refuse hay-in the clothes he ha6
lived and died in-the corpse and its
closest intimate and companion tool
their last jaunt to Bismarck together
The silent trip gave no worry to the
driver, as he bumped and ratified his
silent companion along the rock 1ineG
highway. The dead man was re.
ceived and buried by the G. A. post
His wife, that was, refused to appear
at the funeral, and on the post officers
telegraphing to his well-to-do sisters
in Minnesota, what disposition tt
make of the body, received the laconit
reply-"bury it,"
Yet this fOrsaken dead man hat
started out in life full of promise
we'll educated, and once a reputable
physician in good standing-we are
told. Certain in 1866 as an U. S. ex.
hospital steward he gave as full prom.
Use of success in life as an ex-irst lieu.
tenant who had left the army from
broken health, and then a struggling
attorney in st. Paul, Mimi, with
reputation yet to come. Yet in his
death last week that struggling attor.
ney of 1866, died surrounded and as.
sisted by the best medical practitioners
in the land. With all the comfort
loving, family and friends could give OF
money could buy. A senator of the
first rank and the great republics
ablest diplomat. Yet the doctor above
mentioned had given this senate ani
diplomat his first score in his race fol
a successful public career. A muir.
der case in which ill the circum'
stances were against the prisoner, We
the prisoners attorney, Davis, handled
the case so skillfully that the verdic'
was acquittal-but it is safe to say
that every one outside of the jury, who
had followed the evidence-includins
the prisoners own mother believed
tnat Dr.. Van Solen murdered Dr.. Har
court in cold blood.
And the connecting incident-th,
mark-we have almost forgotten that
The death of Senator Davis, his phys
ician tells us, was traceable to a ret
mark, one of his little toes runnins
inward and upward, turning to bloot
poison. A red blotch ON the end O
his little finger running inward ant
downward, turning to blood poison
caused Van Solen's death. The i'm
of sickness in each case was abou
the same. ,
ELECTION.