Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-09-20
A MARVELLOUS STORY
A Remarkable Romance in Real
life.
A Husband Supposed to be Dead
After Ten Years Returning 10
His Wife and Child.

OhN Va ~
which now and then make fiction seem
commonplace, came TO light some
months ago, and has been known for
some time to friends Of the parties
concerned. Recently it has become q
matter Of public gossip aud inaccurate
reports of it have been printed, so
that there is no longer reason why the
story should not be publicly told,
since the only reason for keeping 1t
quiet was the natural shrinking OF
private individuals from having their
affairs made a matter Of public gossip
and comment.
Fifteen years ago Mr.. I. J.. Patter-
son Of this city, a brother of John o.
Patterson, Esq, U. S. District Attor-
ney for Delaware, wooed, and after
the usual vicissitudes of courtship,
won Miss Kate, daughter Of Edward
l.. Rice, Esq, Of this city. The newly
married pair, after some time, moved
to Baltimore, where they lived an
ideally happy life for a few years,
during which a child was born unto
them. Unhappily, however, the con;
vivial customs of the Monumental
city developed in the husband a taste
which produced the habit Of dissipa-
tion, and after many resolutions briefly
kept and surely broken, Mr.. Patter-
son, one night about ten years ago, IN
desperation, kissed his wife and baby
and declared they should never see
him again until he was the master Of
himself and his habits, and able to
restore the happy home to which he
had first taken his bride. The almost
heartbroken wife came back to her
fathers home in Wilmington, bring
ing little Susie, her child, with her.
About a year after this there APP
peared in a Baltimore paper al account
of the death from an overdose OF
laudanum at a hotel In Erie, Pa, Of a
man, the description of whom tailed
SO closely with that Of the missing man
that friends in Baltimore sent it to
Mrs. Patterson in this city. 1t ap-
peared that the man, who gave his
name as Patterson, was broken down
in health and sleepless, probably from
drink, and that he had taken the drug
to quiet his nerV es and give him sleep.
Mrs. Patterson was nearly wild with
grief to think that her husband might
thus have miserablyp unknown
amongst strangers, and insisted on an
immediate investigation.
Mr.. Samuel Patterson, another
brother accordingly went to Erie and
registered at the hotel where the
tragedy had occurred. He almost i'm
mediately overheard one OF the attend.
ants remark to another on his resem-
blance to the man who recently died
there. BE afterwards showed them Q
photograph Of his missing brother and
asked them if they had ever seen the
man. They at once answered him in
tho affirmative, declaring that he had
died there but a short time before.
lMr. Patterson told them his interest
in the matter and how important il
was that there should be no mistake
They then sent for a servant who had
specially waited on the deceased ant
he instantly identified the photograph
as that Of the man who had died there
Further investigation but confirmed
the belief which had by this TIM
become fixed in Mr.. Samuel Patter
sons mind. His brother Tom, while
boy. had pricked with India ink OF
his arm the letters T. l.. p. On tn,
arm OF the deceased we're the letter.
L. P, and the inference was draw
that, in accordance with his declared
, determination that no one should eve.
: again hear from him that Mr.. Patter
: son had endeavored to obliterate hi
identifying mark, and had succeeded
=, in destroying the first letter. Tn
evidence Of identity was cumulative
and conclusive, and the remains wer
. disinterred from the strangers graV
by the side Of the lake and brought o.
I to Wilmington and deposited in tn
family vault in the Wilmington an.
81 Brandywine cemetery, where the
still remain. Mrs. Patterson ha
since lived as a widow at her father
! house, devoted to the memory Of on
. she mourned all the more deeply be
cause Of the sadness and despair i
! which he parted from her, only to fin
l death among strangers.
= Last November a gentleman in thi
: city, an intimate friend of all th
J parties, received with amazement
: letter from I. L. Patterson, askin
I him for information of his wife an
child.
: There was no doubt in the gentle
mans mind that this was a letter frol
( his friend Tom Patterson, whose n
: mains he had supposed he once 70
lowed to the grave, but before con
municating the startling ipformatio
: to Mrs. Patterson he wrote back giV
: ing her husband the information h
sought and asking him to write MOI
{ fully. This Mr.. Patterson prompt
did, enclosing q long letter to his wifi
describing his life during his self-in
{ posed exile.
On leaving Baltimore he had gor
to Texas and engaged in cattle raj,
: ing, in which he ultimately, after SON
! years, became quite successful. II
sold out Of this business and engage
, 10 teaming across New Mexico,
which he also prOspered, until he fe
!, that he had recuperated in health an
fortune sufficiently to enable him
once more claim his wife and chill,
! and he thereupon wrote to them, gil
! ing the letter to a messenger to carr
: to the nearest postofice, which was
no small distance. For some reasC
!. that letter was never mailed, or
a least never received, and his anxiol
waiting for q reply was unrewarded.
"a Shortly after that the Indians mac
\; a raid, carried Mr.. Patterson of as
prisoner aud took every dollars worI
Of his property. He finally escape
from them, walking forty miles to Il
nearest settlement, returning to civil
SO zation penniless, disappointed al
broken in health and spirits, and
r. course less ready than ever before
nj undertake the support Of a wife al
child, and hence unwilling to folio
up his unanswered letter by anothc
In some way he worked his way
is the home Of old friends in Wisconsi
es on the shore Of Lake Superior, al
ID was warmly received and tender
he cared for, and with restored heal