Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1901-03-27
STARTLED THE CAMP
A PRANK THAT ENLlVENED A SNOW
BOUND MINING TOWN.

6OONO NllV'IH0 io"N.
h Resurrection of Il Supposed
Dead Lawyer Was n Mutual Sur
prise to the Community and to the
Victim of the Tricksters.
Life in a mining camp when it is
snow bound" said a prominent mining
man of Chicago the other day, sis a
dreary time, and men will do anything
for the sake of a little amusement
The story I am going to tell you actual
ly did, occur, and at that time we all
welcomed the joe as a godsend and
made a hero of its perpetrator.
1.-THE winter of 1893 rested an appall-
ingly heavy hand on the Occur d'Alene.
Buried many feet deep under a mass of
fleecy snow, the country lay PROSTATE.
So intense was the cold and so heavy
the weight of the snow that it al pos
sible to work none but the richest
claims. Ingress to and egress from
that bountifully rich territory was a
feat that none but the hardest man
dared essay, for it was an even chance
L1O cat 1SH SApooulS AhASAS w ~
lot of the one who attempted it.
"Wallace at this time was a thriving,
busy, prosperous town where the arti-
fetal excitement of a mining boom ev-
erywhere betrayed itself. The shutting
down of many Of the mines had left a
large number Of men living in Wallace
with nothing to do. Time hung heav-
f1v nm fhoir bonds an6 1othior We G IF
too small Importance to attract interest
provided it held out the hope of killing
q few hours of the dreary time of wait
ing.
"Just at this period the most promi-
nent young lawyer of the town fell i'll.
There wasn't anything particular the
matter with him except a heavy cold
what of a hypochondriac, he at once
believed himself to be in a dangerous
condition. He promptly took himself
to his bed in the rear Of his office, de-
MED himself 60 all but two or three of
his intimate friends. installed a nurse
to look after his wants and promptly
gave himself over to that luxury of be.
IICfluS llllliSSl1 " bS lSuliy III "AlCu 40
so dear to the hypochondriac's heart.
"The three men who were his friends
and who We're admitted to his apart
ment took advantage of the conditions
surrounding him to perpetrate a prac-
teal joke that has since become IA
o in the northwest. They gave out
the news that the lawyer. one Jack
H~oor1 I01 1;oI orI o.. J,;., ~ -,,,, -, ~
friends they received T. -. which
called in a body to exp": ) regret.
Gin the meantime Greene, in the next
room, heard nothing, the visitors being
naturally quiet in the presence of
death. One of his friends went to the
local undertaken and, informing him
that Jack was dead, purchased a cot.
fin. Alleging the hard winter and con
sequent hard times, he beat the under:
taker down one-half in his price. The
undertaken, however, got even by sup.
plying a plain pine box painted a deer
black. This was placed in Jacks Office
and in the dead of night lumber care
fully weighted to the weight Of
Greene's body was parked inside it by
the three c~onspirators. The lid was
then screwed down, and the following
day John Greene, followed by the en-
tire population of the town of Wallace
Ida, was laid away in the cold, colo
ground.
"About ten days later Jack, having
entirely recovered his pristine health
appeared upon the street. To say tina.
his advent created a sensation is to pu
it mildly. Three or four superstition
miners, thinking it was his 'ha'nt,
straightway took to their cabins on tn
hillside and to prayer and fasting
The only woman in the camp had a Fl
of Mysteries and tainted dead away
Greene, however, stopped the genera
panic that his appearance was precip
itating by stepping into the Crysta
Palace saloon and there absorbing hi
four fingers Of red eye in a perfect.
natural and earthlike manner
"It was hard to tell whether the tow
Of Wallace or JACK Greene was tn
I more astonished by the explanation
that there ensued. AT length. Whe
those present had become convince
: beyond cavil or doubt that 1t wa
Greene in the flesh and not Greene i
the spirit--aithough by this time
raust be confessed that spirit In grea