Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1888-04-29
1bselins Reeister
TWO WAR STORIES.
STRANGE STORIES OF SOLDIERS ROBBED OF
MEMORY BY SUFFERING
Restored b lis Sisa Alsr More YhAa Twenty Tears
Il Ahsncs-GsnsrA crs Narrative
That Sheridan Listened 10

the bsrest facts OF aeurions accident Of the
wal Of which the particulars are striking
~ romantic.
John b Hotchkiss lived in Brooklyn
when be enlisted in 1861 lie saw a deal
Of hot service within the first SIX months
after he shonldertd his muskst, and then
he was taken prisoner. His fate took him
to A~ndsrsonyille, from which place his
psople in Brooklyn heard Of him onee OF
twice. until = doubtful report reached
home that he had escaped. II was only a
the close Of the war that . eomrade hunted
mp his people and told them how theyoung
man had borrowed his way ont. He bad
planned to escape by making his way TO
The sea6oard and thence 70 Caha IS a
sailor. He Wa never heard Of again until
q few weeks z he made his temperance
before his sister In Brooklyn, who alone of
sli the family had cherished the belief that
he would return.
His escape from Andersouville had been
more successful than his widest hopes,
but ID took him months Of tramping and
hiding 10 reach the seabOard. He kept
going south with the hope Of coming to
some pert where he could ship as q sailor
until be arrived at Jacksonville, Fla.
There he exposed himself too openly and
fell under suspicion. He had to take 10
take to the woods sgain, and, knowing
that there were ports on the gulf, he set
out in q blind way 10 hunt for them. In
his ignorance he went straight into q Of
the greatest swamps Of the peninsula.
From that time for an unknown period
certainly several years, he has no knowl-
edge of his doiDgs or his condition. In all
probability he contracted the swamp fever,
but how he recovered from il and escaped
to civilization Will never be known. Tbs
people of . little town on the Gulf, hun.
dreds Of miles south of Jacksonville, could
tell how one day q strange man with rest
less eyes, emaciated features, q long beard
and tattered clothes, appeared among
them He was almost incapable Of inter
ing 3 word, but one thing he made clear
he wanted to 60 TO sea. 1t did not seem K
matter much where he went or how, but
to get q boat and put off from shore wa
evidently adesire with him that amounted
TO 3 mania Two or three times he VS.
found hiding in the hold Of schooner
whose sole business was of-coast fishing
aud once he was detected in trying 10 stea
a eatboat.
He was so evidently insane thai he wa
not arrested, but he became q good dea
Of . nuisance TO the people Of The town
for they had no provision for,taking care o
unsound strangers. 50 they arranged 4
uok I'D ~ hf,. a~1 - . .k.~uow kNnw,
for the West Indies set sail they persuaded
the captain to take the man along. Thu
the responsibility Of caring for the unfo-tu
nate was shifted to another community
and that happened to be Key West, a
which port the schooner touched on 81
way to Havana.
II don't want him." said the captain
III he wants to 60 further, let sons othe
fellow take him"
Bat the stranger was perfectly satisfied
he had crossed n considerable stretch O
water, md, apparently, the fear that haI
been expressing him had gone. He acte,
more sensibly and was perfectly willing b
go to work. Some k~ind-hsarted South
eraer gave him q chance to earn his foo,
ami lodging by working with negroes il
the tobacco fields. As he could not tel
his name he was dubbed ''Schoone
John" As time passed he improved
wonderfully In physique aud ments
power, and before long was actu
ally earning money. He discovered
one day that he could read, ant
after 3 strange series Of strug
giles with q pen, she suddenly began t
write. Then he realized that something
unusual was the matter with him. Tn
Kew West people watched his develop
ment with growing astonishment an,
when he transposed the terms Of his nick
name and asked to be called "Johl
Schooner" everybody complied with hi
request. He became known as Mr.
Schooner, and gradually grew fairly pros
porous. One day be bought q small plan
tation aud worked with extraordlrar,
energy to develop It. His past was still
unknown to him, but rs he read am
heard Of the war he became convinced tina
he had taken some part in II, but on wha
side, or under what circumstances b.
could not remember.
HOW MEMORY WAS RESTORED.
One day, q short time ago, o Northern
newspaper fell into his hands. In it wa
an account Of an accident in Brooklyn
whereby q man had BEEN killed and hi
wife aud children left destitute. The re
porter had written q history Of the family
The wife had been a Miss Hotchkiss, anl
IL Was ted bow her brother had gone b
the wal and disappeared, and how she, o
all the family, had cherished q faith tina
he would return. This item proved to b
the touohstone that restored 'tSehooner's'
memory. He was John Is. Hotchkiss. Fo
several days his brain whirled under thu
influence of rapidly returning knowledge
Of himself Then, entirely convinced o
bis identity he sold his plantation, and
possessed Of q considerable fortune, cam,
North and looked up bis sister. He cam.
in tbs nick Of time, and the unfortunat,
family that had been left without means
Of support may now look forward to con-
Portable circumstances ~ long as Uncle
Johns money lasts. He is determined
that ID shall last fora long time, and IN:
made plans for going into q general to
blcco business, with which he has become
thoroughly familiar.
General Roger A. Pryor told 50 your cor
respondent . story OF . Confederate, whose
name he did not recall, who had wandered
fourteen years as q tramp, demented
enough to blot out his memory Of the past,
but not ensagh 10 make him dangerously
violent. At length he get into New York
city and met Pryor in the street. The
sight Of his former commander revived bis
recollection to such an extent that he
called him by name. described the com
pany in which he fought and thus in a
roundabout way Identified himself. He
was restored to his friends in Louisiana,
but remained . mild lunatic.
BY THE OLD WILLOW TREE.
When General Sherman was last In town
he sas ont an evening ut the Ohio Club
with q number Of war veterans. Stories
Of curio1sly wounded men were told, and
one Of these, by General Joseph Z. Carr,
Ex-AttorDsy Of State for New York, re-
lated to Henry Kenwsrd Allen, Of Lam
singburg, New York. Allen was q soldier
in the Second New York Volunteers, Of
which Carr was Colonel. Ia q battle q
pieco Of an exploded shell struck Allen
On the head and gave to him what
would ordinarily have proved . fatal
wound. lie lay inssnsible among the dead
for several hours nobody snpposiDg that
h proa aIiva Vhoao wko want IN him