The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1904-04-19
STARTLED
THE CAMP
A Prank That Enlivened a
Snow Bound Mining
Town.
THE TRIcKSTERS SURPRISED

THE TRICKSTERS SURPRISED
"Iife II u iilin.As camp when it is
snow bcLnd." said a prominent mining
man of Chicago the other day, "is a
dIeary time, and men will do anything
for the sake of little amusement
i lie story am going to tell you actual
Is did cccar. and at that time we all
welcomed the joke as a godsend and
made hero CT its perpetrator.
II he winter of 1893 rested an appall-
ingly heavy hand OF the C9ui' Il .ilene.
Eurigd many feet deep under a mass Of
Gaecy snow. the country lay PROSTATE.
50 intense was the Geld and so heavy
TIE weight Of the snow thaSSt was pos
sill IL to work none but the richest
claims. Ingress to and egress from
that beautifully rich territory was a
feat that none but the hardest man
dared essay, for it was an even chance
that death from exposure might be the
lot of the one who attempted Il.
wallace al this time was 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
with nothing to do. Time hung heav-
lily on their hands. and nothing was of
too small Importance to attract interest
provided it held out the hope of killing
a 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 heavy cold
and impending fever; but. being some
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 to 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-
lieying himself to be really i'll which is
so dear to the hypochondriac' 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 prac
teal joke that has since become ia
nous in the northwest. They gave out
the news that the lawyer, one Jack
Greene. had died and as his mourning
friends they received the camp, which
called in Il body to express its regret.
In 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 wGs dead purchased q cof
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 Il plain pine box painted a deep
black. This was placed in Jacks Office
and in the dead of night lumber care
fully weighted to the weight of
tiipene's body was packed inside it by
the three coDSpirators 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. cold
ground.
about ten days later Jack, having
entirely recovered his pristine health
appeared upon the street. To say that
his advent created sensation is to put
it mildly. Three or four superstitious
mil. -, IL l.; ,t,.4T
straightway took to their cabins on the
hillside and TO prayer and fasting.
The only woman in the camp had fit
of Mysteries and tainted dead away
Greene. however. stopped the general
panic that his appearance was precip-
tating by stepping into the Crystal
Palace saloon and there absorbing his
four fingers of red eye in perfectly
natural and earthlike manner.
at was hard to tell whether the town
of Wallace or Jack Greene was the
more astonished by the explanations
that there ensued AT length. when
those present had become convinced
beyond cavil or doubt that it was
Greene in the flesh and not Greene in
the spirit although by this time it
must be confessed that spirit in great
plenty was in Greene-they sent for
the three conspiratOrs.
; "What did you do it for? was the
question addressed in blunt and simple
terms TO the ringleader.
"'Well, I'll tell you You see we
wanted to run Jack for a town office
and we thought in this way we could
get a line on how he stood with the
community. But'-and here he slapped
a wad of newspaper clippings down
on the bar in front of the astonished
and aggrieved Greene. Jack, you won't
do. lust read those obituaries and see
what the people think of you. Why.
after such send off as that we
wouldn't dare to run you for the office
of picking tleas off yellow dog that
was locked up on the town farm
Lucky Dog.
Briggs-The Dudleys seem to think
great deal of their dog.
GriCgs-Naturally he is something