The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1889-04-13
LONG SEARCH FOR AN HEIREss.


Chase-She Refuses to
Take Her Own.
WHEELING. W. Va, April ga
strange story Of the misery caused
by ayarice comes from Wetzel coun-
ty. John Buckhannon was one OF
the early pioneers of Wetzel county
He settled along the valley of Fish
ing creek, in the early days, and
when he died he left 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. Buckhannon, who as boy and
man was never very bright intellec-
tually, and always had to be looked
after to greater or less extent
One of the farms was left in trust to
Van, il being tied up so that he
could never sell it, but at bis death
it was to go to his wife and children.
Owing principally to Vans mental
peculiarities, the farm left to him
turned out to be regular bone of
contention, and she property was
often before the court for a settle
ment Of matters brought up through
the attempts of avaricious claimants
10 get possession of the land. As
long as James Buckhannon, an older
brother, survived, he exercised 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 Wetzel from
time to time to keep things in shape.
THE HEIREss DISAPPEARS
About 10 years ago several par
ties were particularly active in their
efforts to get hold of the farm, and
about that time one Marshall White
man was living on the farm as a
tenant of the committee in charge.
Van had a daughter Martha, fine
looking girl, and she married a sort
of ne'er-do- well named Henry Nolan.
Three children were born to them
while they were living on the farm.
Along about 1880, one spring morn
ing, Whiteman went over to the
house occupied by Mrs. Nolan and
her children, she having separated
from her husband, and found the
three children sitting in bed crying.
Whiteman asked what was wrong,
and was told by the children that
their mother had been visited the
previous night by Nehemiah Yost,
that there had been quarrel and a
fight, and that their mother was
gone.
Search was made for the mother
high and low, but nothing could be
learned of her whereabouts, and it
came to be accepted by the public
generally that she had been murder
ed The children were taken charge
of by relatives, and the matter grad
ually faded from the recollection of
the citizens of the vicinity. A few
years later Van Buekhannon died,
and then the racket for the posses
sion OF his farm grew greater than
ever. Martha was regarded as dead,
and the courts were appealed to to
decide the matter, but nothing very
definite was ever done.
SEARCHING THE RIVER.
A few weeks ago party claiming
an interest in the farm learned that
there was probability that Martha
was still alive, and he, in company
with friend named Jonathan Coul-
ter, started in search of her. At
Gallipolis they found police officer
who said the woman would be found
in shanty boat somewhere along
the river, and the two men procured
skiff and started. They searched
every shanty boat along the river
from Gallipolis to Newport, KY, and
when at Dayton bar, at the upper
end Of Cincinnati, learned that Mar
tina had been there, but that the au-
thorities had compelled her to push
the boat off, and she had landed the
craft again at the mouth of Mill
creek. 1t was also learned that there
was man with her, who claimed to
be her husband, but who was very
ill. The searchers FASTENED to Mill
creek, where there were so or 75
shanty boats moored, and there
learned, from conversations with
some Of the tenants, that the couple
they wanted had gone to the Mayor
of the city to procure pass to
Huntington, w. Va. They went to
the City Hall, only to learn that the
Mayor had sent the couple to the
Home for the Friendless, and inquiry
at that institution revealed the fact
that the husband had been sent to
hospital, as he was in bad shape.
At the hospital it was found the
man was dead, and that the woman
had gone to the Cincinnati wharf
boat to go up the river.
FOUND AT LAST.
At the wharf boat it was found
that Martha had taken the steamer
Bostonia for Huntington. The two
pursuers took the Sciota Valley
Railroad and FASTENED to Hunting
ton, where it was learned she had
arrived, but had disappeared again.
A ferryman said he handled some
of her packages, and that the woman
had gone to keep house for his
brother in Kentucky, about eight or
ten miles back of Ashland. The two
men went to Ashland, and there
found the woman on the farm.
She was told she had considera-
Bile property interest in West yir-
ginia, and was asked to return to
Wetzel, but she declined firmly say
ing she had suffered so much from
persecution and threats against her
life that she had determined never
to return. She had been wandering
n