The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-10-27

If It Had Not Been For His Feet thu
obsequies Would Have Been on.
Now York Times.

MY line OF business is not one that IS
productive of humorous incident re-
marked the undertaken, yet events -
shape themselves sometimes in the sad
scenes in which 1 am professionally
called TO play a part that comedy FORCES
q big. brawny. taciturn Irishman who
worked along shore called on me one DAY
and told me that his friend, Jim Clancy,
had been killed by the fall OF a Derrick
and that his body was at the morse H.
NV name Is Brady, said ne. rom
Brady. 1 was in the shift with ClahSy'
and 4 good man he Was. barring uis-
like Tor home connections and things
spiritual unless in the last case they
we're in a bottle. His only kin was a Sis
ter: she Is poorer than he was, ana ne
never saved a cent. but the poss WI.
pay your bill. so bring poor Ciahcy over
here. Fix him up, and We'll give MIN a
decent funeral from your little chapei
over the store. -,
Il sent for clancy's body. The man
had died as he had worked-uhsshav,esIli s
unkempt, and begrimed by toll. we
washed the body, shaved the lace.
combed the hair, put a burial SUIT on tne
corpse. and altogether made clancy IN
death very much more n.ep5s
than Clancy in life had ever been.
THE next day Clancy's friends, most
of them longshoremen like ne haa been,
gathered in my little chapel; clancy
Tom Brady. As soon as he had led ner 70
the casket he retired 10 corner, TOT ne
was a Quiet sort Of a man. The SISTER
looked down into the casket, turned
towards the company, snriekea' anu
Sure. that is not my brother. Jim
wen. would you believe it. more than
half Of that company of mourners, aitet
an had crowded around the casket.
agreed with her that the body was not
that of Jim Clancy, They had never seen
clancy before in a decent suit OF clothes,
with a clean shave. with his hair conipedd
and with the sign OF earthly toll removes
from his countenance, so their eyes de-
ceived them. / produced the morgue rec.
ords and tried 10 explain matters, put
thev would not be convinced. A small
riot threatened. but il was quelled py tne
stentorian veiee OF the taeiturh ION
Take off the cover of that coffin,
4 he reared and show me his feet.
''It was a command that NOBODY
1 seemed to question. The excited mourn
/ ers fell back. My men took off the cas-
/ lset cover and exposed the corpse, the
/ feet of which were bare. as Is the GUS
/ tom. Tom Brady STROBE TO the center
| looked closely at the feet OF the corpse
and shouted in voice that orooked nc
THAT Is Jim Clancy. AS a boy I
/ Trained shoeless with him over dear Ole
| Tipperary, and I could not be mis-
| taken.
..Bradys Identification seemed 10 sat
! isfy even the doubling sister, and th'
/ ceremonies over the departed Jim Clancy
proceeded. 1t puzzled me, though, *
| when Brady came 10 pay my bill, sale
| '''Teu me- Mr. Brady. how were yol
able TO identify claney's body so quickly
by his feetg a.. =.
! . sure. | never saw claney's teet be
fore in my life.' said Brady, with smile
| but Il was a critical moment. Some
| thing had to be done or the funeral ~oull
have been postponed for an Investigation
| and the boys would have lost anothe
| DAVIS work."