The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-08-26

ana the one StehlltS nILu lliosO dSSldu-
ously is his daughter. She is Miss
Praise Yeargan, of Murfreesboro, not
yet seventeen, but mafured beyond her
years-a lovely type of Southern young
womanhood.
Miss Yeargan came alone to New
York, knowing no one here except the
father she sought. Nevertheless, she
is now the centre of a pleasant house
hold. Her friendless position and the
pathos of her cause have won her good
friends, and when she is once more In
Dixie, she will tell of the Northern
home that sheltered her and of the
sympathetic hearts she found in Yam
keeland.
.sThe girl has been motherless since
her fourth year, and has since lived
with relatives in Tennessee, while the
Colonel has been in business in New
York. Soon after the war the young
Confederate officer became private sec
rotary to A. t. Stewart, and ever after
wards held lucrative positions.
Ellis latest employment was with
the George Mather's Sons Company,
manufacturers of printing ink, at No.
20 Rose street, for which concern he
bearing was that of a genial Southern
gentleman OF the old school. He has
wide acquaintance in the metropolis,
and was for many years familiar fig
ure about the Astor House.
HE has not been seen in his usual
haunts for some time. There is little
doubt that he is temporarily deranged,
and it is thought that designing per-
sons are holding him with the idea of
getting money from him. Several
checks presented lately at the Me-
chanics' National Bank, signed by the
Colonel, lent color to this surmise.
The bank officials say that rough
men and boys have presented checks
for various amounts from Yeargan,
but that all were turned away empty
handed. No more of his checks will
be paid until he RECEIVERS his mind, and
il is believed that when this is known,
those who may be OBTAINING him will
release him, and he will be recognized
on the streets by some acquaintance.
Not having seen his daughter, who
is his only child, for two years, it was
recently arranged that she should pay
the Colonel visit of several weeks. By
the fathers direction, Miss Yeargan
was to arrive in Jersey City by the
Pennsylvania road on the evening of
August z.
"When Jersey City was reached Col.
Yeargan was not there to meet his
daughter.
ITO relieve the girls embarrassment
and anxiety, Brooklyn lady proposed
that Miss Yeargan should go to DR..
Peterman's home and there wait until
her father could be communicated
with. The kindly offer was accepted,
and to this day the girl has remained
| guest in the household of the ply
| stefan.
/ "The daughter had among the let
! ters of her father, one containing the
{. address of DIR. Whitman V. White. of
| No. ia East Eighty-fifth street, a long
| time friend of his. He said that Col.
| Yeargan did not seem to be quite him
| self when he had last seen him, few
weeks before, and that one of his &c
| centricities was to move about from
one hotel or boarding house to an
other. His latest address had been
! somewhere on Eighty-fifth street, but
/ the number he had never known.
/ Putting the imperfect address in
4
| together, call was made at No. LAG
| East Eighty-fourth street. 1t was
said at the boarding house there that
| Col. Yeargan had lived there for a
+! short time, but he had not been seen
/ for a week.
| "The first real awakening to serious
/ trouble came with a letter forwarded
from Tennessee. 1t was from the
father to the daughter, dated August
18th, and written on Aston House sta
tionery. 1T was so miserably scrawled
as to be unintelligible, and was daubed
all over with ink. 1t was evidently
from the hand of demented man,
for it was known that Col. Yeargan
was not of convivial habits, drinking
only claret, and that at dinner.
''The daughter was grief stricken at
the thought of the possible fate that
might have oyertalxen her father while
wandering about in an irresponsible