Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-06-26
WAR Time ROMANCE
Pension Tale of Love, Insanity and
Lost Identity.
THE HUSBAND WAS ALIVE
Believing Him Dead, tho Wife
Had Married Again.
IN AN ms ANE ASYL
IN AN ms ANE ASYL

The romances of the war Of the rebellion
will probably never be told in their en-
tjrety. but occasionally stories of fact that
are far stranger than imaginings come to
light and astonish the country. 1t has
truly been said that the American novelist
will fnd among the remarkable experiences
Of those who participated in the civil war
the very best material for his work 1t
seems to have taken twenty-five or thirty
years to throw the proper perspective upon
these romantic events to give them their
true value in the eyes Of the story writer.
Such a tale has just been unearthed by
means Of an action by the pension Office
on a case that has been pending before
that bureau for upward Of twenty-five
years. pension was granted TO one Thos.
L. Hurst. q soldier OF the sixteenth Penn
sylvania cavalry. for insanity caused by
his service. The accrued pension amounts
to a considerable sum.
In the summer OF 1890 one Of the census
takers who was canvassing Warren coun-
ty. Pa. a veteran Of the late war. came In
his rounds to the home OF a well-known
citizen OF the county town and proceeded
to ask the usual ques tons. The household
ar being absent. his wife responded to the
caEvasser's CALL who. after putting the
routine questions. asked. according to for
mula, whether any one in the family had
served during the rebellion. The woman
promptly responded that her first husband
had been a soldier in the federal army,
and the census taker indifferently asked his
name She answered that his name was
Hurst.
What Hurst?' asked the canvass.r,
with slight show Of interest. for abe
name stirred up long-neglected memory.
Thomas l.. Hurst Of company c, six
! teenth pennsylvania cavalry" was the re-
Spouse.
The census taker started and exclaimed
excitedly that Hurst had been his own
comrade during the war. He asked quickly
IL he had died OF insanity. The woman re-
sponded affirmatively.
Il was with him when he was taken
with insanity" returned the official He
was then told that the soldier had died
In 1857. and ne went on to advise the
woman that she was entitled to a pension
Tor the nine years while she remained a
WIDOW and also for her son, who was then
twenty-eight, up TO the time of his six
teenth birthday. Acting from a spirit of
comraoeship. the census taker took the
names In the case and sent them to an
attorney In Washington. and the claim was
MED In the name OF the widow and the
orphan.
Tn. The claim lay Enacted upon from that
time until 1893. when Mr. H r. Mccall
mont, formerly chief clerk of the special
examination division in the pension office
put more lately a practicing attorney in
to Warren. when the census taker. Know
ing MS experience in pension matters
called upon him, related the circumstance
OF the case TO him and asked his help Mr.
McSdinont Old not care to touch the case
at hrst, and refused TO assist in its prose-
cution. because the woman was remarked
ana was being well taken care of Rlt
after strenuous argument. the census taker
All that was then required 10 comnla,s
the WIDOWS claim was proof of the exact
uate and cause of the death of the soldier
The widow had been baff!ei In this how
ever. for peculiar reason She had mar
ried hurst after his discharge from the
army during a lucid interval The man
had hts or insanity, and was at times quite
balanced, and IL was during one of these
periods she consented to accent him as a
husband. She had been warned by his
uncle that the man had been insane ana
Would never improve. but she had faith in
the future and her affection was strong
His attacks. however grew more fre1uen;
ana three years later. IN 1856 the husbsn nd
became hopelessly insane and the family
weht BACK to the old Hurst farm at Har-
Dor Creek. Erie county. Pa
AL this point the poor woman's dif,icuI-
lies increased greatly. and life WAS rc-y
dark TO her. He, husbands people antac-
oiii. . her, ard did ali they could TO sep
arate her from he. husband. 10 whorr, sh..
stil chung with affection. Notwithstanding
Ills sad condition. They finally pa-s,.aaa3
her 10 leave him in their care and she and
her child, then about a year old Went Nita
an uncle 10 Canada in search of oil ,z-aIls
There they lived from 1856 to 1870 ana in
the latter year Mrs. Hurst With her china
drawn by strong impulse she could not re-
sist returned To Harbor Creek to find her
husband. On her arrival she learned m
her great amazenent from neIybbors thai
ner husband was dead and that his family
hdo moNeo TO tie west. The news was a
no 20 a1,l-o
MS desperate mental condition she had no
Tears OF MS lie, ana at first Il was tiifiIcul.
70 peiieVe sne was. Indeed a widow bur
.he evidence OF his death was oyerwheln-
ing, ana accepting the fact. she took her
child 20 her father, where sh, left him
and then returned TO friends I'm Warren
county, ana there lived for nine wears
WIEN she was remarked 10 prosperous
citizen. no gave her an excellent home
ana made model husband
such was the history of the case that Mr.
McCaimont unraveled when be had taken
hold OF the claim. His first effort was of
course. To ascertain the exact place and
date OF the husbands death for without
these facts the case could not be establish
ed. The woman's memory on the subject
OF what she had learned about her hus
band death was not very clear but she in
dicated that he had. been sent from the
family farm to some Institution and had
died there. He at once wrote to an old
schoolmate at Harbor Creek to ask phout
the death of Hurst and In a fortairbt re-
ceived reply saying that the best in
formation was that the soldier was sen,
to the insane asylum at North Warren II
must be remembered that Mrs Hurst bad
learned of her husbands death i'm Is1n
twenty-three years before this inyestira-
ton took place, and consequently the pro-
cess OF tracing the soldier was unconnonly
difhcult Mr. McCalmont knew that there
was no asylum for the insane at North
Warren In 1867, and he presumed that there
had been mistake and that his Informant
must have meant the asylum at Dixmont
Pa, TO the superintendent of which he
wrote for Information. A week or 50 LATER
came the reply saying that Thomas I.
Hurst was received there on the 9th OF
June. 1867, and. strange to say. remained
there until December, 1874 when on or6er
OF Judge Vincent OF the court of common
pleas OF Erie county the pa tent was re-
turned to the commissioners of the poor or
Erie county 'unimproved."
From that informant ton II appeared tbs,
Hurst might have been later at North War
rem. and to that institution Mr. McCalmon,
wrote. asking II at any time since 1874
hurst had been an inmate. The reply 10
this letter. which came the next day. was
one OF the most startling surprises the law
yer had ever experienced
Thomas l.. Hurst was alive The suner-
lntendent OF the Institution wrote that he
mad been received at Slat place in Julv
| 1884, and WAS there yet ''in rather fair
PHYSICAL condition. but hop>Iezsly insane :.
| Further inquiry showed thu. he had been
| an inmate Of the Erie county poor house