The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-05-29
AWSONYILLE'S SENSATION
BY WILLIAM RANDALL

ertheess the public proposed an inquest, and
Deacon spooner was brought to the front
After duly hopping his heated brow with
his well-known yellow silk handkerchief, he
said:
II don't know much about incuests. but
allus supposed that you had to have somethin'
to inquest But if the freemen of this glo-
rious community wish me to go ahead I'll do
so with the greatest of pleasure.
1t was not only apparent to the freemen
that there was no dead t'ody before them to
call for a verdict but that the squire was
aching to deliver a Fourth of July Grafton,
and the proposed inquest was therefore
choked off, Something was needed to replace
it, and that something was forthcoming before
the sun had reached high noon.
Joseph Taylor, the village carpenter, had q
wife named Polly He had gone over to Snow
Hill to work for d week, leaving Polly alone.
It was now suddenly discovered that her
house was shut up, and that she hadn't been
seen since the afternoon before. Here was
mystery No. 2. Deacon Soooner was still
itching to deliver that Fourth of july address,
so he remounted the horse block, called for
order in a loud voice and said:
t.Feller freemen, this ere case is as plain
AZ knot on a log-that is, it's plain to me-.
George Carter and Polly Taylor have eloped
together and scandalized the fair name Of q
town which never even had dog Tight before.
When that deoted band Of pilgrims left the
shores of old England to
But. he was choked off right there. Every
man and woman in the village was sure that
the key to the mystery had been found, and
what the pilgrim fathers did was of no con-
sequence How blind they were not to have
guessed the truth at the start. Polly lay
lor was good looking, smart and inclined 70
be frivolous, while her husband was SO seri"
Gus minded that he did not believe In husk-
ing bees. Before nightfall twenty dlnereM
people had remembered her saying that
George Carter was a good looking man and
of George Carter saying that he wished ne
had met her years before.
Things had been talked over so many
times before supper that it seemed as If there
was nothing more to say. But it was hardly
over b-fore the Methodist church bell rand
out q fire alarm. There was no fire. Deacon
Spooner had simply got a new idea and
wanted to submit it to the freemen of Raw
sonville. Once more he mounted the horse
block to indulge in a fervid address. This
time he meant to land the pilgrim fathers in
good shape, but he planned to blind his
audience by finst stating his belief that the
husband Of the heartless wife ought to be
communicated with at once.
His declaration was received with enthu-
siasm, and a boy was hired to ride over to
Snow Hill and tell Joe Taylor that he was
wifeless Bonires were lighted on the streets,
women gossiped at their gates and men
moved about with determined faces.
1t had come O'Clock when a thunderclap
shook the village-that is, Joe Taylor and his
wife appeared. She had gone over to Snow
Hill to see him about the contents of a let
ter that had arrived at the house, and he
had returned with her. Men and women
were still gasping for breath and wondering
what next, when George Carter came driving
into town. He had been over to Grafton to
see his brother, who had been accidentally
hurt. The news had come after the Widow
Brown had gone to bed
There was no failure, no suicide, elope
ment. Honest George Garter hadn't thought
of beating his creditors. and pretty Polly
Taylor hadn't thought of stealing away from
her husband. For the last time the deacon
mounted the horse block and began:
''Citizens of this great and glorious repub-
lie, we have assembled here this eyenin' for
the purpose Of
But they hadn't. The crowd dissolved like
a fog, for Rawsonvlle's sensation was over.