Lost Four Days in Woods.

1916

Dixville Notch, N. H., Sept. 24. — Lost for nearly four days in the wilderness of the northern foothills of the White mountains, Joseph A. Dennison, former assistant district attorney of Suffolk county, Mass., and his wife, were found early today. They had suffered greatly from lack of food and sleep, but it was not thought their hardships would cause permanent injury to their health.

The Dennisons were found in an abandoned logging camp on the shores of Dead Diamond stream in the Dartmouth college grant, a wild section of country near the hotel from which they had set out Wednesday afternoon on a walk which they expected to finish before dinner.

In seeking to return they had lost their bearings in the almost trackless woods, and for two days had wandered in quest of a habitation. Not until Friday did they find shelter in an old lumber shack, where they remained, too tired to go further, and not knowing which way to turn. The discovery was made by Earl Gould and Scott Copp, employes of the hotel, who will divide a reward of $1500, of which $1000 was offered by Daniel H. Coakley of Boston, brother of Mrs. Dennison, and $500 by Thomas G. Washburn of that city, a close friend of the former district attorney.

It was early this morning that the young men, who had been tramping the vicinity of Dead Diamond stream through the night in a heavy rain, came on the abandoned logging camp in which the Dennisons had taken refuge. After giving such help as was possible under the circumstances, one of the young men went to a farm at Wentworth's Location, several miles away, and from there telephoned.

Although it was 10 miles from Dixville Notch to the shack where the Dennisons were found, it was necessary to send a team 25 miles over back country roads to bring them back.

Both the attorney and his wife were so overcome at the sight of their rescuers that they broke down and cried.

That the Dennisons were not found sooner was due to a series of coincidences. During their stay at the hotel they had occasionally gone away on trips that took one or two days, and their absence Wednesday night aroused no comment.

—The Fryeburg Post, Fryeburg, Maine, Sept. 26, 1916, p. 2.

Russian Explorers Believed Lost

1916

OTTAWA, Ontario, Canada — Two small Russian expeditions which have been missing in polar regions have been given up as apparently lost by the Russian government. Canada has been asked by Russia to make public the fact that these two exploration parties, sent out by the Archangel Society in 1912 for the study of conditions in the Russian far north, have not been heard from in four years. The expeditions were headed by K. A. Russanoff and Lieutenant Brusiloff.

The Russanoff party left Spitzbergen in the motor boat Hercules for Nova Zembla in August, 1912. That headed by Brusiloff started north one month later. The latter expedition was not considered adequately equipped.

Hearing nothing from either explorer, the Russian government in March, 1914, dispatched the Norwegian ship Eclipse to the rescue. Eighteen months later the Eclipse returned to Christiania after having been icebound in the Arctic for many months and having learned nothing of the missing men.

Available records do not state the number of men who accompanied the Russanoff and Brusiloff expeditions. It is known Russanoff's party included the oceanographer Kutchin.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 5.

"Lost" Gems Are Recovered

1916

Package of Valuables Turns Up in St. Paul Postoffice.

ST. PAUL, Minnesota — A few days ago a St. Paul woman gave a Chicago hotel clerk an envelope containing jewels valued at $1,500, $200 in currency and a $50 draft to be placed in the hotel safe over night. The contents of the envelope have now been returned to the woman by Otto Raths, St. Paul postmaster.

When the valuables were called for at the Chicago hotel they could not be found. The clerk to whom they had been given had started on a two-weeks vacation. The woman stormed at the hotel management but didn't get any trace of her valuables. When she asked for her bill she found on it an item for "postage 4 cents."

The clerk had affixed the stamps and the valuables had been sent to St. Paul. The envelope was badly torn on its arrival here and postal clerks puzzled over the strange manner of shipping valuables until the woman appeared, claimed the shipment and explained its cause. Why they were sent here has not been explained.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 11.

Restitution After Thirty-One Years

1916

MAN REPAYS MONEY HE WRONGFULLY TOOK.

Aged and Needy Recipient Made Comfortable With $200 Gold and $400 as Interest.

SOMERSET, Pa. — William Speicher, of Kantner, a news agent on the Somerset & Cambria Branch Railroad, received a letter from an aged resident of Quemahoning Township, in which is told how a man with a troubled conscience returned, with interest, $200, the theft of which enabled him to grow well off while the owner of the money was made poor for life by the loss of it.

"On May 31st, thirty-one years ago," wrote the aged man, "I started for Stoyestown with a pocketbook containing $200 to make the first payment on a home that I had purchased. When I arrived there the package was missing. I returned home at once, but could find no trace of it. It was money that I had earned by hard labor. I was much broken up over the loss, ill health followed and I never had a home of my own.

"A few days ago there came a rap at my door. I opened it and a stranger stood there. I invited him in and he seated himself. He sized me up, but spoke but little. After inquiring about my identity he took from his pocket $200 in gold and counted it out to me. He said it was my money and asked me to accept it. 'I owe you interest on it for 31 years,' he went on. 'Here is $400 more to cover that. Thank God, I am free once more,' he said. I was amazed. I could not understand his actions and asked an explanation.

"'Thirty-one years ago,' he replied, 'I was on my way from a part of Somerset County to Johnstown to take a train for Kansas. I had but a few dollars in money. I was walking on the road behind you while you were driving to Stoyestown and saw you drop the money. I picked it up and stowed it away in my pocket. At the latter town I got your name and went out West. I took up land near Leavenworth, Kansas, and fortune came my way. I took up more land. Returning to my native county I got married. I grew wealthy and I can now count my wealth by many thousands of dollars, but having your money in my possession always worried me, so I decided to return it to you and confess that I took it.'

"He said that he found out that his conscience, was worth more to him than his wealth, then he bade me good-by."

From almost destitute circumstances at 75 years of age, the old man has been placed in comparative comfort.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 11.

Lost Trails

1920

A Department Devoted to Aiding Readers of the Blade in Finding Lost Relatives.

The Blade gladly will publish requests for information of the whereabouts of lost relatives, but cannot inquire for others. Address Lost Trails Editor, W. D. Boyce Company, [their address in 1920].

As soon as you find the person you inquire for, please notify us.

The following inquiries for long lost relatives have been received at the Blade office during the past week:

Mrs. Jane Movety, Shell Lake, Wis., seeks her son, Lloyd Crezo, last heard from in St. Paul, Minn., as a railway man four years ago.

Mrs. Ernest L. Hill, formerly of Hesper, N. D., but now living in Chester, Mont., wishes to learn the address of her son, Ralph Emerson Hill.

Mrs. E. W. Clark, West Huntsville, Ala., asks information concerning her husband, Ernest W. Clark, last heard from in Dallas, Texas, in 1917.

Anna E. Shepherd, box 207, Slovan, Pa., seeks her uncle, Jerry Burgess, who left for Cincinnati, Ohio, fifteen years ago and has never been heard from since.

Mrs. Lee Spain, Gen. Del., Yakima, Wash., seeks her brother and mother, lost from her when she was a little girl. Her mother was known as Sis Floyd and was last heard from near Dabney, Ky., twenty years ago. The writer's maiden name was Vera Floyd.

Brother and Sister Lost.

A. R. Halpainy, 35 St. Hedwigs avenue, Dunkirk, N. Y., is searching for his brother and sister, Raymond and Rose Halpainy. His mother died twenty-one years ago and he was adopted in New York, became separated from the rest of the family and has heard nothing from them since.

Mrs. Inez Allen, Xenia, Ohio, is anxious to learn the whereabouts of her brother, James Kingery, 40, last heard from in Cleveland, Ohio, fourteen years ago.

Mrs. Maggie Hemenway, Rush Center, Kan., would like to learn where her uncles, Ben and Hi Lansing, are located now. They were last heard from in Washington, D. C., forty years ago.

Mrs. Jack Conley, Gen. Del., Omaha, Neb., seeks her husband, Jack Conley, 21, formerly of the 18th M. G. Bn., 6th Division, who disappeared soon after his discharge from the Army in June.

Young Bride Loses Husband.

Mrs. William L. P. Baker, East Point, Ga., asks information concerning her husband, who left home on Nov. 24, 1919, with a promise to write next day, and has not been heard from since. The couple had been married but a year and had had a happy wedded life, and the young bride fears foul play, as her husband left home with a considerable sum of money. Can Blade readers give her information concerning her husband?

D. S. Hounshell, Crockett, Va., is trying to find his brother, Carroll L. Hounshell, last heard from in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1912.

Mrs. Flo Brand, R. F. D. 3, Millington, Mich., is endeavoring to learn the present location of her brother-in-law, Warren Arthur Swindler, last heard of about fifteen years ago at Huron, S. D.

Mrs. Charles Hanson, Rice Lake, Wis.. wants to find her sister, Mary Elf, last heard of at Woodstock, Ill., about sixteen years ago.

Miss Jennie Zackry, 503 Wafford street, Cartersville. Ga., is trying to find her father who left her when she was a little baby. His name is Thomas Zackry; last heard of in Little Rock, Ark.

Bert Siar, 733 Lincoln street, St. Marys, Pa., asks the Blade to help him find Clifford Siar, last heard of in Elkins, W. Va., nine years ago. He is a blacksmith. His mother, Mrs. Nanny Siar, is very anxious to hear from him.

Lost Ones Previously Mentioned.

Mike Bartos. Sought by Mike G. Korman of Sublet, Wyo., his brother-in-law.

Michael J. Dolan. Sought by Mrs M. J. Dolan. Friendship, N. Y., his wife.

Andrew Jackson O'Neal. Sought by Kizzie O'Neal, Quitman, Ga., his daughter.

Ward (full name not given). Sought by Gertrude Gunter, Middletown, Ohio, his sister.

Mrs. Ray Allison. Sought by Mrs. Grace McVey, Mt. Pulaski, Ill., her sister.

John W. Owenby. Sought by J. C. Holcomb, Greenville, Texas, his nephew.

Wade King. Sought by Miss Mary Margaret King, Wyandotte, Mich., his daughter.

Cook brothers, Nathan and Thomas. Sought by James Harrison Cook, Warrensburg, Ill. Mary Elizabeth, a sister, requested to respond.

James Biely, a mute. Sought by Miss Sophia Biely, Iron River, Mich., his daughter.

George N. Neckard. Sought by Mrs. Isaac Neckard, Lebanon, Pa., his mother.

John Eward Shannon. Sought by Mrs. Pete Sutton, Clinton, Ind., his mother.

Relatives of Mable Knox. Sought by Mrs. Mable Knox Bullard, Greensburg, Kan.

Fannie White, nee Loudermilk. Sought by Mrs. Mamie Bray, Sheldon Hotel, El Paso, Texas, her sister.

William Marks Arehart. Sought by Mrs. Effie Coons, Baxter Springs, Kan., his sister.

John C. Vuncanon. Sought by Miss Linnie Vuncanon, High Point, N. C., his sister.

Husband of Mrs. Ella Jones. Sought by Mrs. Ella Jones, Bokhoma, Okla.

Brother of Miss Elma Hornbuckle. Sought by Miss Emma Hornbuckle, Crossett, Ark.

Herman Wrought. Sought by Charles W. Wrought, Morris, Okla., his son.

J. E. Murphy. Sought by Mrs. Ella Hammer, Bowler, Wis., his sister.

Curtis Winn. Sought by Mrs. Moore, Long Pine, Neb., his cousin.

John Odgers. Sought by Mrs. Elizabeth Northley, Morhland, Utah, his sister.

James V. Lindsay. Sought by Laurie Nutt, Macon, Ga., his sister.

James William Studebaker. Sought by George W. Studebaker, Centropolis, Kan., a relative.

William Cotlin. Sought by Edward G. Paulsen, Swea City, Iowa, a relative.


HEARS FROM SON

Mother's Aching Heart Gladdened Thru Saturday Blade Efforts.

MY SON has been found — and all thru your excellent paper," writes Mrs. C. D. King, Lagrange, Ga., to the Lost Trails Editor of the Blade. "I might never have known he was even living if it had not been for your help, but I am now receiving letters from him every day.

"May I not thank you for helping to relieve a mother's breaking heart, as I had almost given up all hopes, until I learned of the wonderful results achieved thru The Saturday Blade."

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 12.

Note: I made a few corrections through the course of this article. But all the names and places were left the same.

A Lost Freight Car

1901

It Disappeared From the Middle of the Train

The mysterious disappearance of freight car No. 4849 from the center of a moving train between way stations on the Santa Fe road made a lot of trouble for two train crews in last March and puzzled the officials of the road not a little. The car was loaded with fruit for the eastern market and dropped out of sight midway on the journey without damage to the rest of the train and without any one having seen it go. Tracers were sent out, but the car was not to be found on siding or in depot yard.

The tracers' reports showed that the car had been loaded with select oranges on a spur leading to a well known fruit packer's establishment in the San Gabriel Valley, California. It was a new car, equipped with all the modern cold storage appliances. It was joined to a train of cars of the same class, all loaded with fruit and all destined for the same market.

The heavy train had wound its way without incident over the Sierra Madre and the Sierra Nevadas, up the gradual slopes, across the continental divide, through many villages and over sagebush plains and sandy deserts. It had toiled through eastern California, Arizona and a part of New Mexico, it had climbed the rugged steeps of the Rockies, plunged into and through the, great tunnel at the crest of that range and started on its downward flight to Trinidad.

That was as far as the tracers had been able to track it, for in Baton, a division station on the Santa Fe, No. 4849 had been noted in the conductor's report when the train was turned over to a new crew. Yet when the train reached Trinidad No. 4849 was missing, and no trace of it could be found between Trinidad and Baton. For all that the tracers knew, No. 4849 might have been whisked up into the air by balloon and transported to some foreign land.

A lot of discharges had been made out for the members of the two freight crews, and there was trouble in the air, threats of strikes and all that sort of thing because of the injustice done to the men, when suddenly the mystery was cleared up. A cowboy reported a strange find on his range, and it turned out to be the missing freight car. No. 4849 was lying at the base of a precipitous cliff in a thicket of underbrush, with its sides distended, its roof bulging and a confused mass of choice oranges appearing through the clefts of its wrecked outlines. The car was on its side, dismounted from its trucks, a mass of ruins, with its contents preserved by the crisp mountain air under a cloudless sky.

The train, in its rapid descent at sharp curve, had broken the flanges of a set of wheels, and the car was thrown from the track.

Bumping over the rough roadbed and ties had detached the couplings at either end, and the disabled car rolled down the stoop embankment to the valley, hundreds of feet below. The train being on the down grade, the rear section soon closed up the gap, and by means of the automatic couplers had again become attached to the front section, all unknown to the train crew. Thus No. 4849 dropped out of account, leaving its disappearance a deep mystery. — New York Press.

Bogged

1901

While traveling in Cornwall in 1891 Rev. S. Baring-Gould came near being overwhelmed in a bog. He and his companions got lost and at dusk found themselves in a bog called Redmire. Six bullocks had already been lost there that year. Mr. Baring-Gould's adventure is related in his "Book of the West."

"All at once I sank above my waist and was being sucked farther down. I cried to my companion, but in the darkness he could not see me, and had he seen me he could have done nothing for me. The water finally reached my armpits.

"Happily I had a stout bamboo some six feet long, and I placed this athwart the surface and held it with my arms as far expanded as possible. By jerks I succeeded in gradually lifting myself and throwing my body forward till finally I was able to cast myself at full length on the surface. The suction had been so great as to tear my leather gaiters off my legs.

"I lay at full length gasping for nearly a quarter of an hour before I had breath and strength to advance, and then wormed myself along on my breast till I reached dry land. My companion, it turned out, had had a similar experience."

False Teeth Missed After "Tonic" Spree

Feb. 1920

"Must Have Swallowed 'Em," Loser Tells Jailer

EAST POINT, Georgia — Tom Williams, a pencil peddler, who imbibed too freely of hair tonic and landed in the police barracks, reports to the turnkey that he is short a set of false teeth and that during his uncertain wanderings he must have swallowed them.

A diligent search of the station house and surrounding territory failed to reveal the missing molars, and it was finally decided to take Tom over to the Grady Hospital, where an X-ray picture might be taken, to find out whether the liquor he drank was strong enough to pull the teeth on down with it.

Tom was somewhat skeptical about the X-ray, but anxiety as to the whereabouts of the teeth finally led him to consent to the experiment, which will be made when his nerves have become more settled.


Dime Chick Gets Prize

CROOKSTON, Minnesota — Several weeks ago Arthur Kirsch of Crookston bought a tiny chicken at a local five and ten cent store for a dime. Recently he entered the chicken at the Pennington County poultry show. It was adjudged to be a full-blooded white Leghorn and carried off a blue ribbon with a score of 92 points.

The Wrong Coffin — His Mother-in-Law and The Admiral

1878

The Wrong Coffin

A gentleman, who had been spending the winter at a village between Perpignan and Toulon, France, started for Marseilles, having under his charge the remains of his wife's mother, who had expressed a desire to be buried in the family vault near the sea.

On arriving at Marseilles he went with the commissioner of police to receive the body from the railway officials, but noticed that the coffin was of a different shape and construction from that which he had brought from home. It turned out that the officials had sent on to Toulon the coffin containing his mother-in-law's body, believing that it held the remains of a deceased admiral, which were to be embarked for interment in Algeria, while the coffin awaiting delivery was the one which should have been sent on.

The mourner having requested the railway officials to communicate at once with Toulon by telegraph, proceeded thither himself with the coffin of the admiral, but the dispatch had arrived too late. He ascertained when he got there that the first coffin had been duly received, taken on board the State vessel which was waiting for it, and dispatched to Algeria.

He at once called upon the maritime prefect, and explained the circumstances of the case, but though a dispatch-boat was sent in pursuit, the other vessel was not overtaken.

Acting upon the principle that an admiral in hand is worth a mother-in-law in the bush, he declined to give up the remains then in his possession until the authorities should produce the other corpse. He consoled himself doubtless with the thought that full military and naval honors had been paid to his wife's mother, for the remains had gone out of harbor amid the thunder of fort and fleet. — New York Tribune.

Tries to End Life When She Loses $6

1920

Factory Girl Takes Poison Because She Couldn't Pay Debt

ST. LOUIS, Mo. — Six dollars may not seem like a lot of money to some folks, but to Beulah Ryan, a factory girl, it was a big sum. It represented exactly the amount she had borrowed from her step-father and which she had promised to pay back this week. And she had worked half a week for it.

Beulah was happy when she left the manufacturing company, and on the street car on the way to her home she hummed a little song. Now and then she peeped into her purse to see that the six paper dollars were secure.

Arriving home, she again looked into her purse. The $6 were gone.

Half an hour later the red-eyed girl retraced her steps to the spot where she had left the street car. But the money was not to be found.

Beulah stopped in a drugstore on her way back home. In her room she took the poison she had purchased there. But the doctors arrived in time and Beulah will recover.

Child Lost When Father Runs Errand

Pennsylvania, 1915

FORGOT HIS CHARGE

Child Lost when Father Goes on an Errand.

Ellis Hardman, 5 year old son of Charles Hardman, Liberty township, was lost for a time in Waynesboro on Saturday. His father took him along to that town and put him in the care of another man while he went on an errand. The other man forgot the child and walked away.

The little fellow wandered around in search of his father and when he could not find him he began to cry. Patrolman Rentzel found him near the public square, and after a hunt discovered his father.


UNIQUE SOCIETY

Meets Once a Year to Watch the Old Year Out.

Among the places at which "watch night" services will be held in this county is Arendtsville, where the exercises will be in charge of an organization formed in 1876 for this special purpose and meeting once every year thereafter. Since its organization 1168 persons have enrolled as members. It is known as the "Arendtsville Time Society". Its motto is "Watch and Pray".

—Adams County News, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, January 2, 1915, page 6.