Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-07-04
A wOMAN's SAD JOURNEY.
The End Of . Dream Of Prosperity ON q
Arkansas Land Claim.

The End Of . Dream of Prosperity ON an
Arkansas Land Claim.
From the Kansas City Star
Yesterday afternoon q strange sight was wit
messed by passers along Main street. In the
middle Of the street was q long s.prairie
schooner" drawn by two lean Indian ponies
and on the drivers seat, holding knotted
clothes lines for reins. was a woman dressed in
faded calico, with face shielded by coarse
wide-brimmed straw hat. The woman inquired
Of policeman the way to the police headquar-
tiers, and there told Capt. Martin Moran q
strange story of destitutio1.
Nine years ago John Gibson, his young vito
and little three-yesr-old daughter left their
home in Des Moines. Iowa, for the south They
went to Benton county in Arkansas and home
steaded claim four miles from Nebo. The
ground produced the narrowest kind of razor
back hogs ever found in the state made famous
for this form Of creation, but it produced little
else
When April came last year John Gibson lay
down on his death bed in the rude little place
called home. The miasma had been too much
for him and consumption had put its stamp
upon him. On the night Of nearly the last dav
in the month he called his wife to his side
Work with the hoe and behind the pillow had
when she left her city home.
1t gave her, too, a sunbur ned face, but it did
not dull the expression of q keen brown eve.
To add to the very burden Of existence two
little girls and baby boy not year old had
been added to the family since the migration.
The dying man took his wife's hand and gave
her as his blessing the care Of the family and
the few acres Of almost barren land which he
had struggled over for nine years. Then to
his children he gave his horses, two Indian
,,<~xo - Ina uhsn
the result of many days Of sweat and toll
For q year Lydia Gibson. the widow, cared
for her children and 1.-The place." Then, on the
anniversary OF her husbands death, she gave
up the struggle for existence there.
She sold what little stuff she had under the
home roof and determined to come to her
brother. Edwin Misell, "Pennsylvania Dutch
man." living near st. Joseph, in this state.
She hitched the two ponies the children's
ponies to the long wagon, patched the mill
dewed canvas cover and stretched it over the
ribs. There were many days to be spent on
the road, 80 she put in all the bedding the lit
tie house contained. Then with the money
raised by the sale Of 1.-THE STUFF in the house
she bought some flour and sides OF salt meat.
The cellar was emptied Of everything eatable,
and the house door was nailed close. The four
fat little bacon consumers were put under the
canvas beside their mother, and the horses
heads turned away from lonesome grave un-
der the pines.
rainy days, but the resolute little woman jour
neyed on. Missouri roads are not the best in
the world, and when the wagon has no springs
and the horses must depend on the grass to be
had from grazing along the roadside, and the
rain has made deep mudholes, progress must
of necessity be slow.
81 could q sole the ponies'' she said, s.and
bought q railroad ticket, but he gave 'em to
the children an asst me to keep EN-"
Tuesday night the little family had no sup
per- The provisions had given out, for the
rain had caused much delay. The night was
passed in the road south OF Westport, near
some farm houses. Yesterday morning the
women from the houses interested themselves
in the wanderers and gave them some food and
directed them to police headquarters in this
city.
Mrs Gibaon has asked her way mile by mile
and has been told the road from here to st.
Joseph by way Of Kansas City, Kan, and Leav-
enworth, but 1t will take her four days to reach
her brother. When she told her story to Cap
tain of Police Moran he called. Policeman Nc
Millen Of the Humane Society,"
The woman did not want much, only some
bacon and -four. for she had Q skillet and knew
how TO cook, and these she was given, and she
began again the long ride.
The wagon, the horses the woman and chill
dren were characters such - those % aptly de-
scribed by Octave Thanet, and to make the
likeness complete there was asleep ON the bed
ding in the wagon little black dog.