River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1875-03-19
The history Of Bessie Turner.
[lfrom the n. Y. Tribune

One OF the most interesting and re.
markable Of the side incidents brought
into view blythe suit of Mr.. Tilton against
Mr.. Beecher is the life Of the young wo.
man known as Bessie Turner. She for
many years was in the family Of Mr..
Tilton, and is now in Brooklyn waiting
to be called to testify in behalf Of the de.
fondant in the suit. Her name and birth
are a mystery; for, while she is best
known as Bessie Turner, she has been
called also Lizzie McDermott, and the
best endeavors of her friends have not dis.
covered which Of those names rightfully
belongs to hor. The young lady herself
is able to afford only a slight clue to her
parentage, and she only remembers that
when very young she was placed in an or
phan asylum in Brooklyn, with two bows
whom she understood to be her brothers.
She recalls the fact, however, that she
was called Lizzie McDermott at that time.
A young man named William McDermott,
who believes that in Miss Turner he has
found a lost sister, tells singular story
twenty-five years ago, tits stated, the
wife of Bartlett McDermott, of Sheffield,
lass, died, leaving two sons and little
daughter four years old. The daughter
is supposed to be Bessie Turner. Soon
after Mr.. McDermott's death the children
were placed in the orphan asylum in
Brooklyn, and the father did not visit
them for a considerable time. Having
married again, he went to the asylum to
secure his children, but found that the
boys had been bound out, and that the
girl had been taken for adoption by a
family in New York. Mr.. McDermott ad.
yertised Tor the children, he says, both at
that time and year later, in 1855, but
did not get upon the track Of either the
boys or girl. 1t wa not until year or
two after that Mr.. McDermott heard any
thing from the missing children. The
boys in the meantime had grown to man
hood, and when the rebellion
broke out they enlisted in
the union army. After the close Of the
war the youngest, William, went to
Orange county, in this State, and the
other, James, went to Bridgeport, Conn.
Both were naturally DESTROYS Of finding
their kinsfolk, and William McDermott,
hearing of family with his name in
Sheffield, Mass, wrote to one Of its mem.
bers. Bartlett McDermott, meanwhile.
had moved to Lee, in Massachusetts,, and
the person to whom young McDermott
wrote proved to be his own uncle, and it
was moi therefore long before the young
man found his father. But despite the
most thorough seach, William McDer-
mott was unable to find the sister with
whom he had been placed in the asylum
in Brooklyn.
The Beecher-Tilton scandal brought
Miss Turner's name into some notoriety,
and the fact that this young lady was also
known as Lizzie McDermott was made
public in one of Mr.. Tilton's statements.
This single leaf in Miss Turner'S history
came under the notice of William McDer-
mott, who was then and is now residing
at Long Branch, N. j. He caught at this
clew, and renewed the search for his sis.
ter, which he had almost hopelessly
abandoned. Bessie Turner proved to be
the Lizzie McDermott of his childhood,
bnt an unexpected obstacle stood in the
way of clear Identification of the young
woman as his sister. A Mrs. Frunke,
now a widow. was formerly the wife OF
Capt. Turner, from whom she was di.
vorced, and she claims now-and has so
claimed for many years-that Miss Tur-
ner Is her daughter. Mrs.
Frunke says that when the
young woman was mere babe,
on account of family troubles, the infant
was placed in the care of Mrs. McDer.
mott. When Mrs. McDermott died. as
before stated, the child was put in the
orphan asylum, and about the events of
Miss Turner's history that follow there
is no dispute. She was taken from the
asylum into the family Of . New York
York gentleman, but her home was
changed several times, and she finally
found her way into the family Of Mr..
Tilton, with whom she remained fourteen
or fifteen years. During this time she &C.
casionally heard from her supposed father,
Capt. Turner, who is now employed in
New York, and also from Mrs. Frunke,
who claims to be her mother.
At present the matter still has o mys-
terry about it, and although William Nc.
Dermott is endeavoring to clear away the
cloud, and the friends Of Miss Turner Tor
McDermott) are assisting him by all
means in their power, there seems yet no
clear way to establish the true parentage
Of the girl beyond doubt.