Evening journal., 1902-10-11
PRANK UPSET
MINING CAMP
Resurrection of Supposed
Dead Man Surprise to the
Tcwn and to Victim


snow bound said prominent mining
man OF Chicago the other day. rs 4
drcary time, and men wiz DO anything
for the sake Of little amusement.
The story am going TO tell you actual
~ did occur, and at that time we all
welcomed the joke as godsend and
made hero of It's p2rpetrator.
"The winter Of 1893 rested an appall-
ingly heavy hand on the C1ur dAlene.
Buried many feet deep under a mass Of
heecy snow, thc country lay PROSTATE.
So intense was the cold and 50 heavy
the weight Of the snow that it was pos
sible To work none but the richest
claims. fngress TO and egress from
that bountifully rich territory was
feat that none but the hardest man
dared essay, for it was an even chance
that death from exposure might be the
1 lot of the one who attempted IT,
wallace at this time was thriving
/ busy. prosperous town where the arti-
/ fclal excitement Of mining boom ev-
erywhere betrayed itself The shutting
down OF many OF the mines had left
large number of men living in Wallace
I with nothing to do Time hung heav-
/ ily on their hands. and nothing was Of
: too small Importance to attract interest
provided it held out the hope Of killing
few hours OF the dreary time Of wait
ing.
"Just at this period the most promi-
nent young lawyer of the town fell ILL.,
There wasn't anything particular the
matter with him except n heavy cold
and impending fever; but, being some
what Of a hypochondriac. be at once
believed himself to be in n dangerous
condition. lie promptly took himself
to his bed in the rear Of his Office, de-
MED himself 10 ali but two or three of
his intimate fiiends. installed a nurse
to look after his wants and promptly
gave himself over to that luxury of be-
leving himself to be really i'll which is
so dear to the hypochondriac's heart.
"The three men who were his friends
and who were admitted to his apart
ment took advantage Of the conditions
surrounding him to perpetrate n prac-
, teal joke that has since become IA.
nous in the northwest They gave ont
TIE news that the lawyer. one Jach
Greene. had died. and as his mourning
friends they received the camp, which
. called in a body to express its regret.
'In the meantime Greene, in the nexi
J room. heard nothing. the visitors being
6 naturally quiet in the presence o.
b death. one Of his friends went to ths
local undertaken and. informing hin
that Jack was dead. purchased cof
fin. Alleging the hard winter and con
se0uent hard times he beat the under
taker down one-half in his price. ThV
undertaken however, got even by sup
plying a plain pine box painted deei
black This was placed in Jacks Office
and in the dead of night lumber care
fully weighted to the weight C
! Greene's body was packed inside it b.
. the three conspirators The lid wa
= then screwed down. and the followin
day John Greene. followed by the en-
tire population Of the town OF Wallace
i, Ida. was laid away In the cold, col
]. glound.
l. about ten days later Jack. havin
/. entirely recovered his pristine healtl
= appeared upon the street TO say tha
his advent created n sensation is to pt
it mildly Three or four superstition
is miners. thinking it was his 'ha nj
IS straichtway took to their cabins on th
It hillside and 10 prayer and fastin
IS The only woman in the camp had
+ of Mysteries and tainted dead ava
10 Greene. however, stopped the gener
panic that his appearance was preci
itadng By stepping into the CTyst
- Palace saloon and there absorbing L
- four fingers Of red eye in a perfect
- natural and earthlike manner.
~ 1T was hard to tell whether the tow
n OF Wallace or Jack Greene was Il
eh more astonshed by the explanation
nd that there ensued. At length, WIT
ly those present had become convince
,i beyond cavil or doubt that it W
Greene in the flesh and not Greene
we the spirit-although by this time
Id, must be confessed that spirit in gre
~ plenty was in Grecac-they sent
the three corsprators.
"'NNhat did you do it forT was t
in question addressed in blunt and slnI
ed terms TO the ringleader.
OF "'Well. I'll tell you. You see
wanted to run Jack for n town off
and we thought in this way we col
ol get a line on how he stood with
~ ~ community. But-and here he slapp
~ 81 wad Of newspaper clippings do
on the bar in front Of the astonish
and aggrleved Greene, Jack, you wo
an do. just read those obituaries and
re what the people think of you. WI
srs after such send Off as that
lilt wouldn't dare to run you for the OF
of picking ieas off n yellow dog 4
was locked up on the town farm.
Af- -