The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1879-06-19
miscellaneous.
KATIE BANSON'S FORTUNE,
TRUTH STRANGER TRAN FICTION
TWENTY TWO YEARS AWAY
FROM HOME.
Usok, Rouaiabbui, soldier, and NuTss-BanylHg
thO Captain Of Hsr Company Prosperity In
ChInas a

llIuAs hNuhlhuuuia eNNANN AHN meAAWb
the Captain Of Hsr Company Prosperity In
+ China.
EImira, May ST. years
ago Katie Hanson dleapp iromflet
home in Tioga cpuul 8pe ipa only,
eighteen years ofaee hld QroWnlup
among the lumbey woods Il Northern
Pennsylvania. She had freailection
Tor masculine ways. Shswas expert
with the fishing rod andsrfei and spent
much Of her time in the woods. Her
family was highly respectable, and she
WSs very intelligent. In spite of her
dislike for the pursuits of her own sex,
she bore an unsullied reputation. She
left home one day with her rife, which
her father had given her. She never
came back. Nothing was ever heard Of
her. Her father advertised throughout
the country for traces Of her, and visited
all the large cities In the State seeking
for tidings Of her. 1t being known in
the neighborhood where the Hansons
lived that Katie bad formed an attach
ment for worthless youpg man named
Johneon, and that her father had posi-.
lively forbidden her having anything to
do with him, many believed she had run
away from home for that reason, to lead
q life Of shame. Others believed she had
either accidentally shot herself in the
woods or had become lost, and died in
some out.ol.the. way part of the forest.
Her parents, after searching year or
two, gave her up az dead.
Col. Grant Wilson, of Philadelphia,
was spending the winter, in 1876, in
Cuba. During his stay there he met Ma
ior James Hopkins, formerly of Ohio
who served in Gen. Thomas's division
during the late war. Major Hopkins
owned fine plantation in the interior
Of the island, and Col. Wilson accepted
his invitation to become bis guest during
his etay in Cuba. The Majors family
consisted of handsome and digni6ed
wife of about forty and two interesting
children. When Col. Wilson left Cuba
he was intrusted with an errand in this
country by Mrs. Hopkins. On arriving
in New York he started for Tioga Coun-
~, Penney lvania, and found the family
Of Elijah Hanson. He caused great re.
iOicing by the announcement that he
knew their long lost daughter Katie;'hat
she was alive and well, and preparing to
pay the old homestead a visit in the
simmer of the present year. Katie Han.
son and Mrs. Major Hopkins were one
and the same, and the following was the
strange story she told to the friend she
found in Col. Wilson.
The young man Johnson referred to
above was in the habit of accompanying
Katie Hanson on her hunting expedi.
tioDs, and being an excellent woodsnan
and hunter, was q most COngenial COM
panion to her. His family was dissolute
and ignorant. When her father
ordered her to cease associating
with Johnson, Katie rebelled against the
order for time. The last day she left
the house with the rife she concluded
that the association was not proper one
for her, but she could see no way for its
dissolution but by leaving home. She
passed that night in the woods, and the
next day went to the cabin of some
hunters in the vicinity. The hunters
were not in the cabin, but she appropri'
Rted a suit of their clothes, and disguis.
ed herself in them. Her features and
short hair favored the deception. She
reached Dunkirk, N Y, in her wander
ings. She secured the position of cook
in lake boat running between Detroit
and Buffalo. This position and life were
entirely to her liking.
One day in Buffalo she read in one of
the papers an advertisement, offering
reward for any information of where she
was, and giving a minute cription of
her. This alarmed her; for she feared
she would be apprehended and returned
home. On returning to Detroit she gave
up her position and went to Cincinnati,
She found employment on an Ohio river
steamer. She continued on the steamer
until the breaking out of the war. No
one had ever suspected her eek. She
determined to enlist, and joined an Ohio
regiment, and was in all the engage.
ments Ct Gen. Thomas's division. In
1858 she was promoted 10 Sergeant in her
company. In 1864 her Captain met her
one day as she was returning from sta
tioning q guard. He said to her that he
had long suspected that she was a wom-
an, and demanded to know if such was
the case. The charge was so sudden and
unexpected that she lost self possession
and convicted herself by her reply. She
begged the Captain not to reveal her se-
eret, but he took her before Gen. Thorn
Rs and made the strange fact known to
him.
Katie was al once sent to the rear and
ordered to resume her proper attire. She
became a nurse in the hospital, and soon
had in her care her Captain, he having
been wounded in a skirmish. Between
She Captain and the nurse, whom he had
detected in the ranks Of his company, a
strong affection formed. At the close of
she war they were married, the Captain,
meantime having been promoted to the
rank Of Msjor Major Hopkins's family
was one of the best in Ohio, and 1t refIis
ed to recognize bis wife, She had 5000, |
which she had saved from her earnings
ON the steamers. This was in a CinCin-
natl bank. She drew it out, and with |
her husband, went to Cuba. There they
prospered. and were found by Col. vii.
SON in 1875. Word has been received
from Mrs. Hopkins that she and her
husband and children will sail for New
York iu August, and visit the home she
20 mysteriously left nearly quarter of q
century ago.-Cor. ~ Y. Times. |