The herald., 1894-02-16
SMOOTH COUPLE
Kate Clayton Howe and "Ned"
Howe in the East.
Vivid Sketch of People Well Known
/. in Los Angeles.
rhey Have Kept on w orking the
G. A. r. \Freely, But ''Nod" at
Last Broke Into Jail
r in Chicago.

Z, About 10 years ago there was in Los
Angeles a woman named Kate Clayton
Howe and civil engineer named Med"
powe, who were about as slick pair of
orators in special confidence lines as
csc latter days have'produced.
There are many people in Los Angeles
40 will remember both Of them. and
Irticnlsrly the members of the G. A.
!. to which body the woman's opera
ons were almost entirely confined.
Their career hes been an exceptionally
teresting one and is entertainingly
iven in the Boston Post as follows:
In connection with Edward R. Howe,
those story was published exclusively
in the Sunday Post, mention was made
of his wife, whom he had married in
California.
1t now appears that Kate Clayton
Howe, or Kate Scott Howe, whichever
she is pleased to call herself, has repu-
tation all to herself. And she is by no
means unknown TO the press, as at vari-
& ous times during the past 20 years has
.ehe been written up. Here is her his
! tory:
Martha E. Stiles, for such was her cor
'ect name, was born in Amherst, N. H.,
, 1848. Not much is known of her
lrly life up to the time that she turned
10 in California after the war. Her own
\ version of it was that, in 1862, at the age
OF a. che enlisted in the Twenty
seventh Massachusetts volunteers as a
n drummer boy, and served as such until
the battle of Lookout Mountain, in No
vember, 1868, when che was wounded
and her sex was discovered. She says
that she enlisted under the name OF
Homer Woodwork.
Now this story looks pretty on paper,
and it sounded still prettier when given
out from the lips Of the charming Sex
drummer boy"
But. Unfortunately, there we're some
slight discrepancies in it, which she had
forgotten to provide for.
In the first place, no such drummer
boy ss "Homer Woodwork" ever en-
listed in the Twenty-seventh Massa-
chusetts. Secondly, the Twenty-sev-
enth Massachusetts volunteers never
participated in the battle OF Lookout
Mountain. And, lastly, had such ro-
mantle incident az this occurred in
Massachusetts regiment, it would GER
"tsinly have gotten into history, but the
actual facts are that the annals of the
regiment record no SUCH incident.
Otherwise, the story is correct.
But the fair Kate (she calls herself
Kate now-her baptismal name OF Mar
this didn't strike her fsncy) told her
little story wherever she went, and che
got pretty good living out of that
particular story, too.
She made a speciality OF working"
G. A. r. posts, and would deliver lect-
ures before them of her hAir-raising
experiences during the war, and the
veterans would go down into their pock-
cts and contribute Literally to her
support.
man named Clayton is supposed to
have undergone the risk of marriage
with her about this time; at least she
says he did, and reckons in the name of
Clayton among her other aliases; and
still the lectures went on, and the
drummer boy of Lookout Mountain"
again and again related his (her) har-
rowing adventures to the sympathizing
veterans of the war.
She even had herself photographed in
sort OF uniform invented by herself,
consisting a blouse, decorated with
every conceivable variety OF medal, with
soldiers cap on her head, carrying
drum at her side and with q pair of
drumsticks in her hand.
The amiable Clayton p must have
died somewhere between rs and 80, or
whereabouts, for when she met "Ned'
Howe in Los Angeles, in 'S4, she called
herself widow. and went by the name
of Kate Homer Clayton.
1t was under this name that the old
Harvard man wooed and won her, and
in her she found man after her own
heart, for he joined in her G. A. r. lee
lures with great enthusiasm. She seemed
to have excited his Imagination to such
an extent that he assumed the title of
Colonel" and thereafter, as a sort of a
Hideshow to her recountal of her imag-
mary adventures, he would relate his
wonderful experiences while he COM
manded the Forty-fourth Massachusetts
volunteers.
When the lecture business was dull
they went on the stage, and appeared in
this city in 1885 in Modjeska's company,
but this was too slow to suit their enter
piising natures, and they soon went back
to their former scene of action. While
che would work the g. A. r. posts,
the dignified colonel" would employ
himself in endeavoring to negotiate tenn
porary loans from all the Harvard
graduates whom he could locate, and
great credit is due him for his shining
success in his chosen sphere.
But this sort of thing could not go
on forever, and the efforts OF the enter
prising Kate and the gallant colonel"
received sudden setback when, in '86,
q doubling G. A. r. man in Michigan
commenced to investigate the claims of
both, and found out that there had been
no such person in the Twenty-seventh
MASSACHUSETTS, as Homer Woodwork"
and that the records OF the Forty-fourth
Massachusetts showed the name of
Private E. R. Howe on the muster roll
of Company f, but the colonel OF that
regiment, during its time of service, was
Francis Lee of Newton.
AS the result OF these investigations
was widely circulated by the gentleman
from Michigan, the fair Kate and her
gallant husband, the colonel" were
forced to suspend operations on the g.
A. r. industry, and henceforward con-
fined themselves to touching Harvard
graduates land beating" hotel keepers.
In this particular line they met with
great success, though occasionally some
of their victims would "sqnirm" and
render things unpleasant for them for a
time. They were arrested several
kVaA IL