Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1889-03-31
A WOMAN'S TROUBLES.
How Martha Nolan Became Hopeless
Wanderer,
ABANDONING HOME AND CHILDREN.
Supposed for Years to Have Been
Murdered.
HOW SHE Was DISCOVERED

AN Jill II ~ OASSO hAnDt
A strange and interesting story comes Up
the river from the vicinity of New Mar
tiusyille.
Itis 3 curious tale Of real life, the scene
of the events narrated being laid ia the
Ohio valley, betseen New MartinsVille
and Cincinnati, and the people who appear
in the various roles are all well known
down the river.
The circumstances to be here 1ecounted
are familiar to but few people, but they
are Of general interest, as illustrating the
ups and downs of terrestrial existence, and
in pointing out the lengths to which av-
arice and greed will induce people to 90,
upon the one hand, and the measures
which others will take, ard the bardships,
wrongs and sufferings which they Will
voluntarily undergo to escape persecution
and overcoming trouble.
John Buckhannon was enc Ot the early
pioneers OF Wetzel county. He settled
along the valley If Fisairg creek in the
early days, and when he died he left a
considerable estate, mainly consisting Of
several fine farms along the valley of that
stream. The pioneer left several children,
and among them was Van L. T. Buck
harmon, who as boy and man was never
very bright intellectually, aud always had
TO be looked after 20 greater or less ex-
! tent. One of the farms was left in trust
TO John, it being 20 tied up that he could
never sell it, but at his death il was to 20
20 his wife and children. OSing prilci-
pslly to Vans mental peculisTities, the
/ farm left TO him turned cut to be regu-
lar bore of contention, and the property
was often bsfore the Court for a settlement
of matters brought up through the attempts
of avaricious claimants to get possession Of
the land As long as James Buck
| hannon, an older brother, survived, he ex'
eIcised a general supervision over Van,
but when James died, Vans affairs be-
came more than ever muddled up, and
committees were appointed by the Circuit
Court of Wetzsl from time to time to keeI
things in shape
About ten years ago several parties were
particularly active in their efforts TO get
hold of the farm, and about that time one
Marshall Whileman was living on the farm
as a tenant of the committee in charge.
Van he'd a daughter Martha, fine looking
girl. and she married a sort of ne'er-do-
well named Henry Nolan. Three chill
dren we're born to them while they were
living on the farm. Along about 1880, OFT
spring morning, Whiteman went over &c
the house occupied by Mrs. Nolan and bel
children, she having separated from hel
husband, and found the three children sit
tirg in bsd crying. Whiteman asked what
was wrong, and was told by the children
that their mother had been visited the pre-
vious night by Nehemiah Yost, that Their
had been a quarrel and fight, and tina
their mother was gone.
Search was made for the mother higi
and low, but nothing could be learned o
/ her whereabouts, and II came to be accepted
by the public generally that she had beef
murdered. The children we're takel
charge of by relatives, and the matte
gradually faded from the recollection Of tn
citizens of The vicinity. A few years 10
ter Van Buckhanron died, and then tn
racket for the possession Of his farm grew
greater than ever. Martha was regarded
as dead, and the Courts were appealed e
TO decide the matter, but nothin very def
mite was ever done.
A few weeks ago party claiming an IN
terest in the farm learned that there was
probability that Martha was still alive, ant
he. in company with friend named iona
than Coulter. started in search of her. A
Gallipolis they found a police officer, Wh'
said the woman would be found IN shant.
boat somewhere along the river, and Tn
TWO men procured skiff and started
They searched every shanty boat along tn
river from Gallipoiis to Newport Ky.
and when at Dayton bar, at the uppe
end of Cincinnati, learned that Martha ha'
been there. bat that the authorities ha'
compelled her to push the boat of, and sh
hsd landed the craft sgain at the mouth
/ Mil Creek. 1t was also learned that ther
VISA msn with her, VINO claimed 70 be he
ausband. but who was very IL The search
pr. bss-ened 10 Mill Creek, where tber
were fifty or sew niy-fye shanty boat
moored, and there learned, from cony5rsa
tions with some eff the tenants, that th'
connie they wanted had gone to the Mayor
oftfe city to procure pass to Huntington
" Va. Trey went TO the City Hall, only tC
Iearn that the Mayor had sent the coupe L
the Home for the Frendless, aud inquiry
| at that institution revealed the fact thai
the husband had been sent to hospital
as he was in bad shape. At the hospital
/ il was found the man was dead and that
the woman had gone TO the Cincinnati
wharf-boat to go mp the river. At the
wharf. boat il was found Martha had taken
the Bostonia for HUNTINGTON. The two
pursuers took the Scioto Valley railroad,
ana fastened to Huntington, where 1t was
learned che had arrived, but had disap
pared again. A feTrymsn said he ban
dled some of her packages, and that the
woman had gone to keep house for mis-
brother, in Kentucky, about eight or tea
miles back of Ashland. The two men
went to Ashland, and tn re found TIE
woman on the farm.
She was told she had a considerable
nronertv interest in West Virginia, and
was asked to return to We'zel, but che de-
clired firmly, saying she had suffered so
much from persecution and threats against
her life that she rad determined never to
return. She had bsen wandering up and
down the river for nearly ten years, living
the life Of an outcast, while worth several
fbousand dollars. She said the night she
disappeared from her home she was in ter
ror OF her life, aud thought 1t better 10
abandon everything, even her children,
tbsn remain and he killed, as she firmly
believed she would be.
Finding it impossible to move her, MT.
Conlter and his companion returned,
bringing with them the news of the satety
Of the woman supposed TO have been muir
dered years ago, and since then the matter
hos been the talk OF 8 considerable circle
of people in the vicinity OF New Martins
vitle