The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1883-12-05

Y
Truth is stranger than fiction" is an
axiom as old as the hills, and yet it is as true
to-day as at any period in the worlds his
| tory. Time and again it has been reiterated
| that it is not necessary to draw upon the i'm
| agination of writer for romances of any
| kind, but that events transporting in every
| day life are abundant in remarkable occur
rences that far surpass anything in the
realms OF fiction. The Commercial Gazette
representative was led to these reflections by
| having related to him a few evenings ago
romance in real life, though,
perhaps, no more remarkable than
is often seen in print. Yet it is a true
| story, and will probably interest a circle OF
readers who viii take the trouble to peruse
| it, The story, as given below, was related
by one of the principal parties while seated
around a coy fire in the ladies' salon OF one
| of the magnificent steamers that ply the
! waters of the Upper Ohio. and is given just
as told without any embellishments what
ever.
Twenty-one years ago, III a beautiful val
ley OF Greenbrier County, West Virginia, at
the foot of the Cumberland Mountains, in
that loveliest of picturesque regions, the
headquarters of the Great Kanawha, there
lived young farmer named Goodman. He
was born and had grown TO manhood in that
region, and had. by his indomitable industry
and energy, acquired the title to as fine a
| farm as any that dotted the little valley.
Some two years previous to the opening of
| the story he had married buxom mountain
| lassie, and settled down to enjoy the hap
pineSs of married life.
Time passed on, and baby son came to
| increase their happiness With the birth of
| the child came the news that Fort Sumter
| had fallen, and the tocsin of Civil War had
| been sounded. Although Southern born,
Goodman was bitter opponent of slavery,
| and it had been said of him that he had indi-
| YIdually aided many runaway slave to
| heaven of refuge over the mysterious "Under-
| around Railway" When the first rumor of
| war reached the quiet valley, Goodman babe
| farewell 10 his family. and, accompanied
| with four of his neighbors whose sympathies
| were with the cause of the Union, they
| secretly left the valley that same
| night and rode northward They
l proceeded to Cincinnati by boat where
| they enlisted, and in the course of time were
| transferred to the Army of the Cumberland.
| In the dark days of September, 1863, after the
| battle of Chickamauga, and in the retreat to
| Chattanooga in one of the innumberable
| skirmishes during the retreat Goodman was
4 captured and shortly after ward sent to An
dersonvlle Prison. Through comrade came
| few brief lines to the mountain home in
i Virginia. that Goodman had been captured
/ and sent South, and few hours later came
i the sad intelligence that he had died ling
l ering death in the Southern Prison pen.
| Close upon the heels of the awful news came
| the awakening on a dark night with the roof
of her home ablaze by the incendiary's torch,
i applied by marauding band of Conferer-
/ ates to more than the Union home in the
| hitherto peaceful valley. Crushed by
| the double loss, and having no relatives near
to whom She could apply for refuge Mrs
| Goodman made her way to Cincinnati, where
| she expected to find home with al uncle,
| whom she had visited once in childhood, but
upon reaching the city her hopes were
| doomed to disappointment as he had left for
| the West some years before and his present
1 residence was unknown. Her limited sup
i ply OF money becoming rapidly reduced. she
| was forced to place her child in an Orphan
| Asylum, and through an advertisement IN a
/ daily paper she obtained employment in
| great establishment on Fourth street that
had a contract for furnishing uniforms for
| the Federal troops. She was thus employed
for nearly year, receiving bare pittance
that scarcely kept soul and body together,
but through the influence of physician
/ who attended her during serious illness,
| she obtained position as nurse in the Gin
| cinnati Hospital at more remunerative
i wages.
The report of Goodman's death at Ander-
| sonville proved to be false, and after weary
| months of imprisonment he was exchanged
1 in the fall of 1864, with some 200 Others and
i sent North. He had heard no news from
| home in all that time, and the scene that
/ met his gaze after long and tiresome jour-
| ney was heartrending Ruin, desolation
i and woe on every hand, wife and child wan
| derers of the earth, was enough to crush
/ even stronger spirit than his, weakened by
/ long siege OF imprisonment. He heard
| that his wife had gone 10 Cincinnati and in
| few days he was in the city, but a thorough
/ search by detectives and repeated advertise
| ments in the daily papers failed to find any
trace of the loving object of his search. After
some weeks faithful and persistent inquiries,
i he was forced to the conclusion that his wife
and child were both dead.
/ At this time the silver excitement in Ne
/ vada was at it's highest, and having nothing
| to retard him, Goodman went West in the
hope of forgetting his great sorrow in the
/ dizzy whirl of the mining camp. He staked a
i claim, and being man OF energy and not
| addicted to the vices prevalent among
/ the miners he succeeded in a few months in
| amassing quite fortune. which he invested
1 in real estate in the then already tiourishing
town of Virginia City. Success crowned his
i every undertaking, and il was not long until
| Goodman was considered the wealthiest man
/ in all that region, where scores of men were
/ counted millionoires. In 1876 Goodman re-
| moved to San Francisco and became senior
partner in great banking firm. One morn
i ing in answer to an advertisement for
| book-keepers, young man presented himself
| in his private office, who, by his striking re-
sem blance to Goodman, led to inquiries and
| investigation. To make a long story short,
| the young man proved to be the long lost
| son of Goodman. He mad been adopted
from the Orphan Asylum at Cincinnati, by q
| wealthy and childless couple of DAYTON, o +,
raised in luxury and given good education.
Financial reverses and the death of both his
| benefactors threw the young man on his Own
resources, and he had finally drlfted to the
Far West. carried thither by the flattering
| reports of the new Eldorado. Henry, for
| such was the young mans name, was immed-
lately installed as junior partner OF the tirm.
In October last a gentleman named War
rem, an cid neighbor OF Goodman in his
Virginia home, and, by the way, one OF the
comrades that went out with him from the
quiet valley to battle in the War of the
Union, was in San Francisco; and, having a
draft to negotiate, he stepped into Good.
mans bank to transact his business. While
the money was being paid overto him by the
elder Goodman, Warren casually remarked
that he (Goodman) very much resembled an
| old friend whom he knew years ago in West
i VIRGINIA Goodman stated that q was from