The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1912-05-22
And Carried 1t Two Miles
Back Home.
TRIED TO BRING IT TO LIFE
After Two Weeks Burial
Now He Is a Pitiful Raw
ing Maniac.
DEVOTION AND HORROR MIXED

Chicago, May 16.-There was {
weird Neutrality-suspicious. struggle t.
conquer death in the home of Chas
Hillegan, in Naperville, to-day.
1t was the struggle of Hillegar
to bring his wife, who died two
weeks ago, back to life. And when
it failed, the heart-broken mans
thread of reason snapped. He is
now a raving maniac in the jail at
Napervile.
The story of Hillegan's grewsome
| effort to bring his wife back from
the grave reads like a contribution
/ from the pen of Edgar Allen Poe.
His actions and his present condi-
ton prove that he is a victim of
the most crushing grief that a hui
man being could experience.
Mrs. Hillegan died while visiting
relatives in Seattle, two weeks ago.
When informed that his wife was
dead, Hillegan would not believe it.
Even when the body was brought
back to Naperville. he insisted that
a physician should be called and
that efforts be made to revive her.
IN the face of his obstinate asser-
tons, arguments were futile. He
said that his relatives, who refused
to call physicians, were robbing
him Of his wife.
During the funeral Sunday he
sobbed violently and collapsed
when the coffin, bearing the body
of his wife to the grave, was taken
from the house. 1t was necessary
to take him to bed and give him
medical attention.
AS soon as it was dark last
night, he armed himself with a
spade, a shotgun and an ak. Then
he went to the cemetery where his
wife had been buried and sought
out the fresh grave. He is so years
old and in frail condition, and it
took practically the entire night
for him to reach the box that held
the coffin. This he smashed with
the AK. The lid was removed from
the coffin in the same manner, but
more gently.
Hillegan lifted the body of his
wife tenderly from the coffin and,
staggering under his crushing bur-
den, both mental and physical, be-
gan the walk two miles to his
home. How he succeeded in max
ing this long trip. his relatives do
not know. They do know, howev-
err, that he trudged through the
gate and back to a shed in the rear
of his house shortly after sunrise.
He placed the body tenderly upon
a bench in the shed, raised the
head slightly with a pillow and
then went to the house for food
Relatives demonstrated with him,
but Hillegan sternly reproved
hem. He seized an old shotgun
and ordered them to leave him
alone with his wife.
You robbed me of her once be-
'ore. You can't do it now" he
said. He took food and a bottle of
'amphor to the shed and began the
work of trying to restore life in the
ifeless body. He rubbed camphor
lpon the cold brow, then offered
God to the lips that refused to
,pen.
This process he continued for
lours. Meanwhile word had gone
tut through the village that Hille-
IAN was trying to work a mira
lie" A crowd soon congregated
bout the ground, but nobody VEN
ured in. Hillegan made OCCASION
j trips to the fence, trained his
,un on the most curious and warn
ID them against interfering with
i'm. The warning was enough.
Nobody ventured in.
This evening, when he realized
hat his efforts were in vain, his 8
eason gave away. Officers remov-
d him to jail, and the body OF his
'ife was returned to the cemetery.