Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1877-05-31

themselves Rev. Joseph Israel Lob
dell and wife appeared in the noun
tain Villages of the western part of
Monroe county, Pa. For two years
they roamed abou that region, liy-
ing in caves in the woods, and sul g
sisting on berries, roots and the
charity of the people, until they be-
cdflfc so-gSaat nuisance that they
were arrested in Jackson township
and committed to Stroudsburg Jail.
While in Jail the discovery that Rev.
Mr.. Lobdell was a woman was
made and soon afterward q RATS
mar from this section chanced to be
in Stroudsburg and informed the au-
thorities that their prisoners were
the missing paupers from Delhi.
The Pennsylvania authoritiesreturn-
ed them to their old quarters In
Delhi forthw it'll. They remained
there sometime, when they again
ran away, and have since been
roaming about in Pennsylvania, liv-
ing in huts and caves and jails and
county-houses.
A gentleman from this place be-
ing in Aldenyille, Wayne county,
Pa, few days since, found the pair
domiciled in q bark hat near that
place, and known there rs man and
wife. When their indeutity became
known, the strange fact WAS dis
closed that lady who had been
particularly cha ritable to the couple
was years ago engaged to be mar
ried to Lucy Ann, the latter having
spent some months near Bethany
dressed as man. Her sex was dis
covered accidentally, and she had to
fly from the place in the night to
escape being tarved and feathered.
This was a short time before she en-
tered thepoorhouse at Delhi. There
is on record now in the courts of
Wayne county a document that was
drawn by Mrs. Wilson, the COM
panion of Lucy Ann, it being q Pc
titiOn for the releaS of her ''hus-
band Joseph l. Lobdell," from Jail
on account of "his failing health" z"
The pen used by tho writer was q
stick whitfield to q point and split,
the ink was pokeberry juice. The
writing is faultless, and the Ian
guage used model of clear, correct
and argumentative English-a real
ly superior piece of composition
showing that the writer, how vol
untary outcast and the associate of
an insane, foul and unsexed woman,
is highly educa ted aad capable of
adorning the best circles.
Mary Slater, the daughter of the
strange being whose history has
been briefly given, has not escaped
her share of misfortune. Growing to
attractive womanho ood in the family
of the kind farmer who rescued her
from the life of a pauper, she in
CURED the hatred of a young man
named Kent, who sought her hand
in marriage and was refused for an
other. In August, 1871, he planned
and accomplis he'd her abduction one
dark, stormy nj ght. She was drug
ged, grossly maltreated, and thrown
into the Delaware river near Cochec-
ton. She was washed ashore on an
island, where she was found in a
semi-conscious state by q river-man
the next day. Taken to his house.
she was restored to life, but not to
reason, and, unknown, she wander
ed into the WOODS, where she was
found raving maniac, and nearly
dead flOm hunger and exposure,
three days afterward, and restored |
to her friends. She in time recov-
cred her mental and bodily health, |
only to learn that the young man |
she was to marry was her half |
brother, being the illegitim1te son
of her father, Henry Slater, accord
ing to the te stimony of people who
prOfessed to know. Kent, the
tiendish abductor, although arrested
aud lodged in Jail, managed to es-
cape the justice he desc erved.
Y. Times.