The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1906-03-16
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS!
THE CASE OF S0REN QvIST :


The most Striking Case oi crcuh
stantial evidence in which the testi-
mony against the accused was alto
gether fabricated by the accuser. is
one taken from the Danish records,
and which, from it's impressiveness,
has made the subject of remark by
both Danish and German writer's. The
unhappy fate of the Clergyman, Soren
Qvist, is familiar to his countrymen,
though many generations have passed
away since the events which are about
to be related.
Soren was the pastor of the little
village Of veilby, situated few miles
from Grenaee, in the Jutland PENN
sula. He was a man of excellent NOR
al character, generous, hospitable, and
diligent in the performance of his sa-
cred duties; but he was also man OF
constitutionally violent temper, which
he lacked the ability to restrain, and
was consequently subject at times to
fierce outbreaks of wrath, which were
a scrouge to his household when they
occurred, and a humiliation to him
self. Like most Danish clergymen of
that day, he was tiller of the soil,
as we'll as a preacher of the word;
and from the produce Of his tithes,
and the cultivation of his farm. real
lied a comfortable competence. He
was a widower with two children-a
daughter who kept house for him. and
a SON holding an officers commission
In the army. At Ingvorstrup. a viii
lage not far from veilby, dwelt cat
tie farmer, one Morten Burns. who, by
means anything but honest and hon
orable, had acquired considerable pro-
perty, and who was In i'll repute as
a reckless self-seeker, and oppressor
Of the poor. This man Morten thought
fit to pay court to the pastors daugh-
ter, but his suit was rejected by both
parent and child; and either the refu-
sal, or the manner Of it, so irritated
the sutton that he swore sec 81. to
be revenged on both.
Some months later when the short
lived suit had been forgotten. the pas
tor, being in want Of farm servant
engaged Niels Burns, poor brother
of the Rich Morten, the discarded low
err Niels soon showed himself to be
an utterly worthless fellow, lazy, i'm
pudent, and overbearing; and the re-
suit was a constant recurrence of
quarrels and mutual determinations
between him and his master. Soren
on more than one occasion gave the
fellow a thrashing, which did not at
all tend to improve the relations be-
tween them. These relations, however,
were destined TO come to a speedy
close. The pastor had set Niels TO
dig a piece of ground in the garden,
but on coming out he found him not
spade and cracking nuts which he had
plucked, his work being left undone.
The pastor scolded him angrily; the
man retorted that it was no business
of his to dig in the Tarden. at which
Soren struck him twice in the face,
and the fellow. throwing down the
spade, retaliated with a volley of
abuse. Thereupon the old man lost
all self-control, and seizing the spade.
he dealt the fellow several blows with
1t. Niels fell to the earth like one
dead; but when his master in great
alarm raised him up he broke away.
leaped through the hedge, and made
off into the neighboring wood. From
that time he was seen no more, and
all inquiries after him proved vain.
The above was the pastors account of
the facts.
Ere long strange rumors began to
circulate in the neighborhood, and, as
a matter of course. they reached the
known to have said that che would
make the parson produce his brother
even if he had to dig him out of the
earth" Soren was intensely panied
at the calumny implied. and institute
ed at his own expense quiet search
after the missing mana search
which failed altogether. Even before
that failure was known, Morten Burns
in fulfillment of his threats, applied
to the district magistrate, taking with
him as witnesses one Larsen, cot
tager, and labover's widow and
daughter on the strength of whose
testimony he declared his suspicion
that the pastor had slain his broth
er. The magistrate represented to him
the risk he ran in making so serious
a charge against the clergyman, and
advised him TO weigh the matter well
before it was 100 late. But Morten
persisted in his design, and the state
ments of the witnesses were taken
down. The widow Karsten deposed,
that on the very day when Niels Burns
was said TO have fed from the par
SOnage she and her daughtar Elsa had