Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1879-06-27
KATIE HANSON's FORTUNE.
twenty-five Years Away From Home---
Leaving Her Parents to Avoid n Dis.
sOlnte Lover.
New York Times.

Leaving Her Parents to Avoid n Dis.
sOlnte Lover.
New York Times.
Twenty-Five years ago Katie Hanson
disappeared from her home in Tioga
county, Pa. She was only 18 years of
age, and had grown up among the
lumber woods of Northern Pennsyl-
vania. She had prediction for mas.
culine ways. She was expert with the
rifle and fishing rod, and spent much of
her time in the woods. Her family
was highly respectable, and she was
more than usual intelligent. In spite
of her dislike for the pursuits Of her
own sex, she bore an unsullied reputa-
ton. 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 adver-
tised 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
had formed an attachment for a worth
less young man named Johnson, and
that her parents had positively forbid.
den her having anything to do with
him, many believed that she had run
away from home for that reason to
lead life of shame. Others held that
she had accidentally shot herself in the
woods, or had become lost and died in
some out-of-the-way part of the forest.
Her parents, after searching year or
two, gave her UP rs dead.
Colonel Grant Wilson, of Philadelphia,
was spending the winter in 1876 in
Cuba. During his stay there he met
Major James Hopkins, formerly of
Ohio, who served in General Thomas
division during the late war. Major
Hopkins owned fine plantation in the
interior of this island, and Colonel Will
son accepted his invitation to become
his guest during his stay in Cuba. The
Majors family consisted of handsome
and dignilied wife of about 40 and two
interesting children. When Colonel
Wilson left Cuba he was intrusted with
an errand IN this country by Mrs. Hop
kins. On arriving in New York he
started Mt once for Tioga county, Penn,
and found the family Of Elijah Hanson.
He caused great rejoicing by the an
noucement that he knew their longlost
daughter, Katie; that she was alive and
well, and preparing to pay the old
homestead II visit i'll the summer of the
present year. Katie Hanson 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
onel Wilson:
The young man Johnson referred to
above was in the habit of accompany
ing Katie Hanson on her hunting expe-
ditions, and, being an excellent woods
man and hunter was II most congenial
companion to her. His family was dis
solute and ignorant. When his father
ordered her to cease nssociatlng with
Johnson, Katie rebelled against the or
der for time. The last day she left
her house with her rifle she concluded
that the association was not u 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-
ated 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
i'll II 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
tho papers an advertisement Offering II
reward for any information of where
ton Of her. This alarmed her, for she
feared that she would be apprehonded
and returned home. On returning to
Detroit, she gave up her position and
went to Cincinnati. She found employ
mont on an Ohio river steamer. She
continued ON the steamer until the
breaking out Of the war. No one had
ever suspected her sex. Shedetermin-
ed to enlist. and joined an Ohio regi-
mcnt, and was in allof the engagements
of General Thomas division In 1868
she was promoted to sergeant in her
company. In 1864, her captain met
her one day NJ she was returning from
stationing II guard, He said to her that
he had long suspected that she was II
woman, and demanded to know if such
was the case. The charge was 30 sud
den and unexpected that she lost her
self-possession and convicted herself by
her reply. She begged the captain not
to reveal her secret, but he took her be-
fore General Thomas and made the
strange fact known to him.
Katie was mt once sent back To the
rear, and ordered to resume her proper
attire. She became nurse in the hos
pital, and soon had IN her care her
captain, he having been wounded i'll a
skirmish Between the captain and
the nurse, whom he had detected in the
ranks of his company, II strong alice
ton formed. AT the close of the war
they were married, the captain, mean
time, having been promoted to tho
rank of major. Major Hopkins fam
lily was one of the best i'll Ohio, and It
refused to recognize his wife. She had
5000, which she had saved from her
earnings on the steamers. This was III
Cincinnati bank. She drew it out,
and, with her husband, went to Cuba.
VI Al.