The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1874-12-17
WAS HE, OR WAS HE NOT
A Strange Story that Comes to Us from tn
Everglades,

Aho luob bOIduB6 bbOIy COmeb IIOu
Florida. During the war Fred Halse-
mann left Tampa Bay and went into the
tangled reserves of the everglades. He
took with him his wife and their young
est child, boy FIVE years old. The
wife and mother got separated in some
way from the two others, and luckily
happened to wander back to her home.
Three years went by. The war was
over. The older sons had returned
from service in the army and were
working the plantation. During all
this time nothing had been heard of
the missing pair. They were mourned
for as dead. One day, in the spring of
1867, man, apparently about thirty
years old, leading by the hand boy
of five, ran joyously up to the verandah
of the plantation house, and began
series of violent kissings of the aged
mother. His demonstrations of affec-
ton were interrupted by the screams of
the old lady and the blows of the old
est son. Both struck the intruder pain
fully. He tried to speak, but was
obliged to devote all his energies to
the task of finding q soft spot to fall
upon. He rose, bewildered and
bruised, just in time TO be knocked
down again by younger song and ne
groes, whom the sound of the scuffle
had called to the spot. As ne fell,
something tumbled from the pocket of
his ragged coat. 1t was picture of the
widow. The dead planter had carried
it with him when he plunged into the
swamps.
There was general outcry, and n
= 81, N1,,, I'd,
of the newcomer was, in brief, this !:
He was Fred. Halsemann. In his
wanderings through his vast hiding.
place, he had fallen into foaming
spring. When he clambered ont, his
son ran away, as If in fright. He ran
after him with surprising speed. The
child, when caught, screamed for its
father. 1t was long before he could
be persuaded that the young, fresh,
vigorous man who climbed out of the
pool was the aged, decrepit, white
haired man who had fallen into it
moment before. The father himself
could not at first appreciate the change.
He saw that his bands were no longer
wrinkled, that his beard was brown in
stead Of gray, that his step was frmer
and his eye keener, but the suddenness
OF the transformation dizzied him. He
had fallen into tie Founrain of Youth
which Ponce De Leon sought in vain
amid the Florida swamps He hasten
ed back and plunged his son into the
spring. 1t was an unlucky deed. The
tradition about the fountain has al
ways been that its wonderful waters
changed age to vigorous manhood and
made already-existent youth immutable
SO long as life lasted. The tradition
proved true. He had become young.
The son stayed so. The boy was FIVE
years old when the potent water touch
ed him, and lie showed no signs of
growth beyond that age, in mind or
body, during the three years tley
spent lost in the labyrinth. They lived
mainly on alligators, which when
young are very good eating. When
they killed an old one it was their GUS
tom to plunge it, while a spark of life
was still left, into the Fountain Of
Youth, Thus it became young again,
and their fastidious palates were salts
fed. Finally after many vain attempts,
the two got out of the wilderness in
which they had been so long lost.
They happened to come out near the
old home, and hastened to it.
This was the mans story. It is not
to be wondered at, perhaps, that he
told it to circle of scOffers. The pic
ture was taken from him. His accurate
recollection of the life Of the missing
| planter was accounted for on the by
potbesis that he had met him in the
swamps and had heard the detail from
his lips. He was accused of stealing
the picture. 1t began to be whispered
that he had probably murdered Halse.
mann. He was told to go. He went,
taking the boy with him. He reap
peared, week afterward, at Tampa,
alone. The child, he said, had died Of
! fright and want. He began suit for the
possession OF the Halsemann planta-
ton. When the trial came off, he rest
ed his case on three points the resem-
blance of the boy to the child who had
disappeared in 1864; his own ready
recollection OF the ninutiOe Of Halse,
mann's life, and his ability to pilot
anybody to the Fountain of Ponce De
Leon. The first two points were ad.
mitted, but the resemblance was at.
tributed by the defense 10 chance CO.
incidence, and the knowledge OF the
past to presumed intimacy between
the planter and the pretender while
both were lost in the everglades. Wher
men meet each other under such cir.
cumstances, they tell everything. The
most trivial details are eagerly related
and heard for the sake of Willing away
the monotonOus hours. So the argu
ment ran, fairly enough. The thirt
point was fatty denied. Acting on
suggestion Of the court, the claiman
went with a large party IN search Of tht
miraculous spring. After some week.
OF wandering, they came back withou
having found it. Sill, this failure dit
not absolutely disprove the claim. Tht
most practiced woodsmen have oftel
gone astray il southern Florida. Whel
the case went to a jury, the latter dis
agreed. So did the next one impau
elea, and the next. The last of tn
three, however, came very near giving
verdict for the plaintiff. This wal
mainly due to the admirable manage
ment of his counsel. The claimant
gratitude to Henderson, his counsel
who was a candidate for Congress, wa
the indirect cause of his death. Thi
occurred on the 3dof November. Dur
ing a scuffie at the polls, where he wa
distributing ballots, he was sho
through the body. Somebody LITE,
his head. He gasped 81 am" ant
died. The present possessors of tn
estate, whose title has been settled b.
his death, aver that at the last momen
remorse overlook him, and he tried t.
say, 81 am not Halsemann," but wa
| too weelt tn finish tho caotanoa n,