The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1912-07-04
TOOK HER FROM GRAVE.
But Husband Failed to Revive Corpse
of His Wife.

Naperville, ILL.,, June 25.-One of
the weirdest struggles against death
that the world has record of oc-
Cured at Naperville, this week; the
24-hour struggle of Charles Hillegan
to bring his wife, who died, back
to life. And when it failed the
heart broken mans thread Of reason
snapped. He is now a raving ma
MAC in the Jail at Naperville, the
victim of the most crushing grief
that human being can experience.
The pen of Edgar Allen Poe never
wrote anything more appealingly pa
thetic than the simple story of Chas.
Hillegan.
Mrs. Hillegan died while visiting
relatives in Seattle, Wash, two
weeks ago. When informed that his
wife was dead Hillegan would not
believe it. Even when the body was
taken from the baggage car at Ma
perville, he insisted that a physician
should be called and efforts made
to revive her During the funeral SER
vices in the simple home he sobbed
violently and completely collapsed
when the coffin bearing the body OF
his wife to the grave, was carried
from the house. 1t was necessary to
take him to bed and give him medi-
cal assistance.
He remained in bed the following
day until nightfan. AS soon as It
began to get dark, he stealthlly
crawled out, hastily dressed himself
and, armed with shotgun, an axe
and spade, he crept through the
shadows to the silent cemetery.
There he sought out the freshly
made grave, laid the axe and shot
gun at the head, and began to dig.
HilIegan is so years old and in
frail condition, and it took practl-
cally the entire night for him to
reach the box that held the coffin.
This he smashed with the axe. The
lid was removed from the coffin IN
the same manner, but more gently.
Hillegan then tenderly lifted the
body of his wife from the coffin and
out of the grave, and, struggling un-
der his crushing burden, both men
tai and physical, began the two-mile
walk to his nome. How he sue
ceeded in making this long trip his
relatives do not know and he prob
ably will never be able to tell. But
he made it, trudging through the
gate and back to shop in the rear
of his home shortly after sunrise. He
placed the body tenderly upon
bench in the shed, raised the head
slightly with a pillow and armed
with his shotgun, then went to
the house for food. Relatives re-
monstrated with him, but Hillegan
sternly reproved them. Waving his
shotgun, he ordered them to leave
him alone with his wife.
"You robbed me of her once be-
FORE" he said. "You can't do 1t
now"
He took food and a little bottle
of camphor to the shed and began
the work of trying to restore life in
the body of his loved one. He rub
bed camphor upon the cold brow,
then offered food to the lips that re-
fused to open.
This process he continued for
hours. Meanwhile word had gone
out through the village that Hille-
gan was trying to work miracle.
A crowd soon congregated about the
ground, but nobody ventured inside
the enclosure Hillegan made occa-
sional trips to the fence, trained his
shotgun on the most curious and
warned them against interfering
with him.
All day long Hillegan worked in
the little shed, his eyes growing wild
er in their look and his movements
more uncertain each hour. Then the
sun went down and evening descend
ed, and with the shadows came the
realization that his work was in vain.
The tears began running down his
cheeks. His emotion continued to
grow until, after one exceptionally
bitter outburst his reason gave way
and he became a raving maniac. Of
ficers removed him to Jail, and rela-
tives tenderly returned the body OF