The Ouachita Herald

Hung himself in Fun.
A very sad affair transpired at Princeton, near our city, on Thursday last. A Mr. Daniel Elliott, who lives in Princeton, butchering beeves and selling them in the neighborhood, hung himself in his slaughter house. He was in an exceedingly good humor during the day and evening, and naturally of a playful disposition, gave vent to it by many playful things. He had bought some cattle, had extended his business, was doing well, and felt lively and encouraged. He so expressed himself to his wife and friends. Going from the house to his stable to feed his horse, and taking his little girl and a neighbor's little boy, some thirteen years old, he went on about twenty-five yards from his house to the slaughter house. Here was a machine for raising dead cattle - a rope with a large hook in it run over a large reel and attached to a windlass with a ratchet. Adjusting the rope in a noose around his neck, he playfully bid the little girl go tell her mother "somebody was hanging out there who looked like Dan Elliott." Then showing the boy exactly how many notches he bid him, still laughing, to draw him up. The boy did so, and drew him off his feet. Once up, he could not, because of the ratchet get him down again, and when in answer to the little girl's anxiety, Mrs. E. came out, her husband hung dead, his feet touching the floor, and the hook pressing hard against his jugular. From all the circumstances, it is not doubted that the act was done accidentally in a burst of playfulness. - Hamilton (Ohio) Intelligencer.