Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1885-03-26
A SAD HISTORY,
Capt. Smith Returns to East Ma.
chias. Demented, After
Many Years
Among Sioux, Indians aud Twelve
Years Hermit in Kentucky.

strange story of adventure, honest toll
gaining comparative afiuence, followed BY
ioss OF all humanity holds dear, and misery
ana suffering too great for words to portray.
was related "Wednesday in q Maine Central
nAiifead car, As it sped along on lie way
'o~ard the rising sun The story vas told
IN parts, one and another gathered . little.
and the whole terrible story. more startling
than any in fiction. is gathered together aud
gwen below. Seated in one Of the cars m
the afternoon train going toward Bangor,
were two gentlemen of medium size and or
binary appearance. At first glance, nothing
very peculiar would be noticed about them,
but a close observer would soon see that one
OF the twain was not exactly as others about
him. This was Captain Lowney Smith, whose
strange history We learn, partly from himself
partly from his companion and brother Mr.
ID. A. Smith Of East Machias.
As the train reached this citation q, o clock,
ne Razed from the car window in an expires
sionless manner, and muttered something
about home and friends. He wore a dark
scragey beard and hi. eyes were heavy.
fifty years ago, these two men were boys
together in Pictou. Nova Scotia As they
grew to manhood. to a greater or less degree,
they followed the sea, and Lowney Smith
anassed quite q competence for that section
OF the country, BY the time he was thirty five
years old. He also became interested in
numbering operationA, and to considerable
extent employed his time and capital. As q
sea faring man he had had command OF ves-
sells sailing to foreign ports and was man of
commanding presence and shrewd business
tact From his lumber operations in Nova
Scotia. he became convinced that q rich har-
vest awaited the man. who. upon large
scsle entered upon this business in the west
He accordingly, twenty years ago, took Ieave
Of his wife and children. and started tor Min
nesota, to engage with others in the lumber
| business. For tim. word came
regularly 10 his family and friends and
everything prosper.d finely at home and in
the lumber camp at the vest Then all news
of Capt. L"wney Smith ceased, nothing could
be heard from him, and his friends mourned
him as dead. The reason Of his sudden dis
appearance. will probably pever b. exactly
known, but from Capt. Smith. himself. hose
memory on many points is peri c., i. gather
ed that some sort of quarrr-l or mrtiny
arose in the camp, and durng II he received
terrible beating and was left for dead,
aud days aud weeks of torture followed. Ma
ture and death entered into struggle for the
mastery. His vigorous constitution prevailed
aud after l,yiU! tor lpng time in a death
like ,tupor, Il" g,adu'il, came to life, but not
to reason. Befors re.aining his strength, a
wandering tribe of the Sioux Indians came
along and camped where he was. They
nursed him to strength, but the injury to his
brain was beyond skill or remedy With
some way, as yet unaccounted for, he became
a member of Chippewa Indians camp
| He remained some two or three wears, being
treated sometimes we'll, more often ILL., How
! he came TO leave the Chippewa tribe, does
not appear, but probably he was sent down
the Chippews river, on one OF the great RATS
! of lumber foated down that stream from the
/ interior The sight OF the vessels and tugs on
the Mississippi, when that river was reached
stirred some chord OF memory apparently. for
he in some way got down the river a long
distance He wandered away after awhile
and brought up in town called Waco, in
Kentucky.
! Here he dug hole in the earth some six
! feet long by four wide, where he managed to
| live or exist tor twelve years. suhsis'ing on
! berries, fruit and Ash. Finally n year since
the inhabitants OF the city in the vicinity OF
his cave became acquainted with the poor
man, and the story reached the daily papers.
From one description a neice thought she
recognized the peculiarities Of her long lost
uncle. Inquiry deepened her Impressions,
and finally Capt. Smiths brother went to
identify him IL possible. He recognized him
st once and presented undisputabla proofs of
his ability to prove the hermit to be his long
lost brother The capta.n's condition was
horrible beyond description, but BY degrees
he has told his story so far rs his memory
admits. Up to the time Of the mutiny in the
csmp his memory Is clear and also in regard
to the last year or two of his life in Ken
! tucky, but the intervening time he can give
no connected history Of. Before another
sun ha. set Capt. Smith will have arrived Al
his home in East Machiss and be again with
relatives and friends who have regarded him
a. dead for nearly quarter Of century.
Expert surgeons are to examine ms case ana
| if possible the whole of this sad history Is to
be made plain.