"Dead Man" Greets Seekers For Body

1920

Explains Mystery That Saddened Neighbors

"You Will Find Me Dead" Inscription on Door Was Error, He Says

WILCOXIE, N. H. - Phil Magg of Baxter street is much alive. Phil says he is not dead, is not ready to die and he hopes that in the future his neighbors will use more discretion, and when they think he is dead to be sure of it before they make the announcement.

Magg lives alone. He works by the day and when he leaves his house he writes on a slate: "You will find me at John Smith's" or where he is working and hangs the slate on the outside of the door.

On a recent afternoon, Mrs. Joel Batterton went to the house to get Magg to beat a carpet for her. When she reached the door she saw the slate and read this inscription: "You will find me dead."

She Notified the Neighbors

Mrs. Batterton left the place in a hurry and stopped at every house in the street and notified the neighbors of her discovery. Soon the house was surrounded by people. Deputy Sheriff L. D. Frentz was notified of the discovery and hastened to the house.

The sheriff summoned Coroner Harry McGee. The men hastened to the place, read the writing on the slate and decided that Magg had committed suicide. They broke open the door of the kitchen, searched the house from cellar to garret but could not find the body. The coroner and sheriff secured a gang of men and started them out in all directions, searching for Magg.

The men searched through the woods for a radius of three miles of the village. Barns and other buildings were entered. They returned late at night, reporting that they had made no discovery.

Searched for His Body

The next morning the entire male population and a number of women joined in the search for Mr. Magg's body. All wells and cisterns in the village were examined, but they did not contain the body. Deep creek was dragged, but to no avail.

That afternoon newspapers announced that Mr. Magg had committed suicide. Then - -

The next morning Magg walked down Main street. He was approached by the Deputy Sheriff who informed him of the proceedings. Mr. Magg replied that he had read the account of his homicide in the newspapers while in Deadwood, a village near here. The Sheriff accompanied Magg to the house and showed him the slate.

Drops of Water Erased Slate?

Magg said he had written on the slate: "You will find me at Deadwood." Magg expressed the opinion that drops of water had fallen from the eaves of the house, had struck the words at and wood, erased them and made the notice read: "You will find me dead."

The villagers are divided in their opinion. A number of them believe that boys erased the words.

Magg said he went to Deadwood to visit his son, intending to remain a week, but that he decided he had better come home and show his neighbors that he is a very active dead man.

He says that hereafter he will write his absence notice on a sheet of paper, using pen and ink.