The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1904-04-08

Humphrey Ncb., April Spec
lal to The News: Mrs Il. O'Brien
If Minneapolis reached hero in the
night to identify the murdered man
as her SON He proved to be not her
son at ALL The body was at noon
today shipped to Lincoln under the
law which so provides, and he will
be used as a subject for the expert
mcntlng surgeons knife
Expecting to nnd that the young
man who was murdered near Hum
phrcy was no other than her own son.
! Mrs. E. O'Bricn of Minneapolis,
Mimi, arrived in Norfolk last night
and hurried on by driving until morn
| ing, in order to reach her dcstina-
lion. When the cover was lifted from
the pale cold face of the boy who
| won't to his death from n murderor's
| bullet that mother who had been
under one of the sCycrcst strains pos
sible since Wednesday, looked into
the eyes and realized with a terrible
feeling of relief that her alarms had
been without foundation--that some
other mothers son lay killed in
| strange land and that her boy Jimmie
was still alive somewhere.
Dramatic Story.
The story is dramatic one through
out-a tragedy in real life that Is
seldom seen enacted except upon a
theatrical stage.
Mrs IL. O'Brien lives at 403 Four
teonth avenue, Southeast Minneapo-
! lis. She is widow who has by hard
! labor reared family of young men
that she is justly proud of. On
! Wednesday afternoon of this week
! she sat in the window of her fiat,
trying to give comfort to son who
was ill., Toward evening the boys
with evening papers appeared and
cried out for the sale of their news.
The lonely widow held her head out
of the window and beckoned to the
urchin. He came to the door and she
bought a Tribune" the only paper
which contained the dispatch that
has caused so much worry and so
much untold and indescribable misery
since then,
Glancing down the telegraphic
news, Mrs. OBrien came to an AS
sociated Press dispatch from Nor
folk Nob., which gave an account of
the finding of a murdered man near
Humphrey the name William OBrien
on card that he carried and his age
at twenty-five years; the description
also stated that he was dark haired
and smooth shavdn. Mrs. OBrien
thought little of the incident until
the son who lay i'll, a man of twenty
nine, raised up in bed with a terrified
glance and suddenly exclaimed,
Mother! That is Jim!"
Mystery of Jim.
James ID. OBrion is a young man
| of twenty-five He has been on the
| Pacific coast all winter and went down
to the races at Oakland after a spell
OF illness. On March II he wrote a
letter that says, 81 am starting for
home today" Nothing since has
been heard of him, The letter bore
a San Francisco postmark. And
from the fact that the son had been
SO long enroute and that nothing had
been heard of him at all, fears grew
as to his safety and the finding of a
body murdered which had some con-
nection with the name of O'Brien and
which was about right in age, gave
the family fright that can never be
fully gotten over.
The more they figured the more
probable did it seem that this young
man might be the one who belonged
to them. In coming home the direct
route would be along the Union Pa
ciiic to Columbus, Neb., and thence
to Norfolk, via Humphrey.
1T may be that he has made an
enemy at the races" they figured.
And that enemy may have followed
the boy this far to kill him"
To learn more certainly, letter
was sent to the sheriff at Humphrey
enclosing a photograph of the young
man at home. IF this has any re-
semblance," they wrote, wire us at
once"
All of that long night until Thurs |
day morning the fearful mother and |
the other son were awake. thinking .
of the possibilities of the case and
imagining features of it that must
make it seem the more likely that
the dead man belonged To their house
hold
The Dispatch Came.
On Thursday the hours dragged
and even the minutes seemed like
days. They waited and watched for
the messenger boy or for perhaps the
arrival of Jimmie to shatter all of
their alarm. But neither came. They
ate bite of supper-they cared for
little in the way of food-and along
toward O'Clock, when the streets
were dark and the house was lone
4 Il.