Dead Men Can Make Wind in Their Caskets

I have to tell you a true story that I read.  Make note that this is a historical story, however the names of those who lived this event (or died) have escaped me at the moment.  This particular event took place in Arizona long ago back in the mid 1800's.  Those were tough times back then.  For a good temperature day was hard to come by and the liquor was bought and drank freely as a way to escape the heat and I'm sure many other difficulties as a result of hard living.  Back then, a town was made from the poor and the wealthy.  Not a lot of in between there.  You either had land and money or you made your money by working for those who had it.  The wealthy mainly had huge ranches.  One such man made quite a bit of money with his ranch and hired on several to assist him in managing it.  He was also the owner of the town liquor store.  He was a respected man because of these things.  I mean, money is power, right?

One hot, summer evening, as history tells it, the ranch owner was seen walking out from his liquor store.
It was reported that a man was waiting for the ranchers appearance.  When he caught sight of him walking down the street, the sun was just beginning to set.  This man had a bone to pick with the rancher.  Apparently, they had an arguement earlier that day in the liquor store over eight dollars.  The man felt like he had been stiffed out of his money which was a lot of cash for anyone who worked hard out in the desert sun.

The man pulled some thing from his waist pocket that caught the last rays of sunlight and sent a white flash to everyone who saw it.  Before the rancher knew what happened, he was lying still on the hard, dirt packed road.  He had been killed by a bullet from the man's gun.  It took only one shot to kill this rich landowner.

There were so many witnesses out that evening to testify against the murderer, that the townspeople decided against a trial.  They wanted to hang the murderer that very night.  The did too.  They strung him up and waited for his body to be quite still.  They cut him down eager to be done with the whole business of the murder and hanging.  Then, they placed his body in a wooden casket for the night, planning to bury him outside the town limits the following day.  His casket was left outside that night and as many a curious folk started to walk by and take a gander, a disturbing account of people hearing the body moving around inside that casket was reported.  In a hasty decision made by the sheriff of the town, they opened up that casket and strung up the murderer once again.  It was a ghastly night.  Many mistakes were made.  The biggest one of all, of course, must have been felt by the murderer of the wealthy rancher of Arizona.