Alexandria Gazette

TALE OF A COFFIN.—As a policeman walked along the docks in New York the other day he saw a small coffin floating some distance out in the river. Securing a skiff, he brought it to the shore, when he found blood stains on it. Visions of a horrible crime loomed up instantly, the detectives were put to work, and for a time it looked as if a storm of excitement would sweep through the length and breadth of the city. The coffin appeared to be old and worn, which tended to increase the mystery. The officer in charge of the morgue was summoned and succeeded in explaining the whole affair satisfactorily. The coffin was one that had long been used by him for the reception of the bodies of children found dead. Having got a new and more stylish one, he threw the old one into the river. A boy fished it out and used it for a sled, to which he hitched a pair of goats. While loading rubbish in it he cut his finger, the blood dribbling over the sides of the box. His mother discovering the nature of the vehicle, made him go and throw it into the river again.