The daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Ind. Ter. [Okla.]) 1898-1902, 1900-06-13
ELLEN DUFFY's COSTLY WAKE
why a Chicago woman who Did
Not Die Is suing the city
for Damages.

4
ing to the Chicago Inter Ocean.
"D'ye tell me SOP" replied Madden,
with interest. "And what's tde mat
ter wild Ellen?"
"Oh, she has claim agln the city
for neglect O. duty o public officers
and for 5000 in money. IL dresses, six
petticoats and five pairs O. shoes taken
from her closet while she was In the
hospital lasht winter wild the rheuma-
tiz. Well, she was In the hospital about
a week whin wan O. thin orderlies
came downstairs wan day and told
the clerk that Ellen Duffy was dead.
What did the clerk do but sind postal
card to her cousin Katie, sayin' that
she was gone to Heaven. When Katie
rot the tears out of her eyes she
sinds word to the undertaken to go
afther Ellen's body, and thin she goes
out to find Elien's friends and relatives
to make ready for the wake. At ten
o'clock that night they all met, twin
ty O. thin, at the late lamented's
rooms, as they say in the church serv-
ice.
"They started rummagin' round the
place in the way women have. They
brought out all her dresses and laid
them on the table. There was dozen
o. thin, Madden, fine enough for amy
Teddy. Katie picked up wan O. thin
wild bows all over 1t, and she says, says
she:
"'Of course, girls, ye are sorry that
Ellen is gone-Heayen rest her soul!-
but she can't wear any O. these pret-
ty things, whatever she is. I'm think
in she's lookin' down from above in
glory where she is and thinlin' that
this dress would look well on me.
What dye say, girls?'
"Of course, all the womenlagreedw wild
Katie, and when they got through
sharin the clothes there were not
enough rags left in the house to cover
a sitJin' hen. Little Mary Duffy,
fourth cousin o. the dead woman,
picked up a petticoat lined with red
silk and says she: I'm sure she's in
paradise, but II she has the bad luck
to get in the other place I'm sure she
won't need this, and then they all
laughed. They took her shoes, her
stockings, her bonnets, the pictures
OF the wall, but there was devil of
fight over Ellen's watch. At two
o'clock in the mornin one o. them
found two bank books in the bottom
Of trunk, and canvas bag wild $3.50
in gold In it. There was a great rllc-
tion when the money was found. The
sight o. gold made them all crazy.
There would have been murder then,
only Katie made q motion that they
should spend the money on banquet
In the dead womans room, and give
her decent sepd-off wild tizz wather
ana bokays and finger bowls and all
them things, dye mind, Madden. So
the next morniR committee o the
Duffys rumberin' seven went to an IL
legent degracious eatin'-house and
they ordered dinner to be sent
around to Ellen's rooms for 30 Duffys
at six dollars pate, and wine extra.
They had piano h'isted in the windy
and carPet on the stairs, a. candle
labrum that looked like a house on
fire was hung over the table. While
they ate partridge and quail on toast
wild nagurs to wait on them dinlSy
little Dootchman was playin' the pi-
ano. They washed their ice cream
down with fzz water and what they
didn't spill they drank And when
they got down to the coffee the door
opened and in stepped little red
haired woman in waterproof wild an
umbrella in her hand
"pn bet it was Ellen" exclaimed
Madden.
"You'se right" said Rafferty,, "'twas
Ellen riz from the dead, only she was
never dead at all, bekase it was an
other Ellen Duffy that died in the
hospital. When Ellen came in there
was the devil to pay. A howl went
up that twas ghost they saw, and
half o. the women crawled under the
table. But Ellen went through the
place like the big wind in ireland. She
whacked the ould umbrella down on
the table, and every wback cost her
ten dollars. belTose the glasses and
bottles went dancin' jigs. She chased
every wan of her relatives down the
stairs and pelted them wild bottles
from the windy when they came out
on the sidewalk. They had to lock
her up for fear she'd commit muir
ther."
"But what is she suing the city
for?' asked Madden.
"Bekase she says twas the hospital