Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1896-07-18
Copyright, 1895, by the Author.
CHAPTER VII

RURALvILLE, O., Oct. 4.
MY DEAR KENDALL have put tel
egram into the hands Of man who has
promised to ride the seven miles across
the hills to the station as rapidly as pos
sible. hope you will receive it early
this afternoon. have no doubt it will
convey to both you and Mrs Kendall
the most welcome news You have ever
received.
Briefly I will tell you what you do
not already know about Powell's disap-
pearance and discovery. He was born
and lived here till he was nearly 10
years Of age. His parents died when he
was young, and he was adopted by his
mothers brother, who treated him rather
harshly. His name was Charles Preston,
and as the uncle who adopted him was
named Howell he was known as Charles
Preston Howell Smarting under some
indignity, he left his home and ran
away. In year he had drifted to New
York. He changed his name at once on
getting away from this locality, fearing
that should he give his own name he
might be more easily followed.
he tells me that when he went into
Kreeger's shop a year ago the 9th OF
last May he heard two customers talking
about business matters, and that one OF
them spoke of recent visit he had
made to his old home. Powell at once
fell asleep, as was often his custom, and
dreamed Of a visit to his own birthplace
and of identifying and improving his
fathers burial plot and of erecting suit
able monuments over the graves Of his
father and mother. He dreamed Of the
streams where he used to fish, the hills
over which he had hunted, the orchards
from which he had eaten fruit, this
quaint little town in which he had been
a boy. He could scarcely believe when
he first awoke that he had been dream
ing, so natura, had it all seemed. That
night he thought it all over and went to
his Office the next morning a changed
man.
In looking up his route he made the
memorandum I found in "Ben-Hur. " ,
Some of the figures were superfuous
For instance, you will remember that he
had checked the figures S:19, and l sup
posed it indicated change of cars 1t
was, however, the time his train would
pass through Middletown, Pa, and he
wanted to catch a glimpse of the town,
for when beating his way eastward as
q boy he had spent several months at
that point He came directly through
to Pittsburg by rail and then took river
steamer.
The river is nearly 90 miles south Of
here, and he left the boat where he could
make connections by railroad to the
nearest town, seven miles away. BY q
careful study Of the different time cards
I hit upon the same route and left the
train at the station mentioned at the
same hour and minute Mr.. Powell left
his train about 16 months ago. AS the
train neared the station it ran in on 9
side track, and on leaving the coach ]
was cautioned to "look out for the
flier." Just then I heard the rumbling
Of an approaching train, and in an In,
stant it dashed past at great speed
This caution was probably never given
to Mr.. Powell, for when he left his train
he stepped in front Of the fast express.
There was shout, and he jumped, but
he did not wholly escape, for he was
thrown against the depot platform,
crushed, bleeding, senseless and almost
lifeless.
When the physicians had patched him
up as best they could, they searched his
clothing for something that might give
a clew to his identity. They found ovel
81, 1000 in money, but not scrap Of pa
per, a card, letter or anything to dis
close his name.
He lowered between life and death
for nearly two weeks, but finally par
TALLY regained consciousness and told
them his name was Charles Preston
Howell, and that his residence was il
this place. Efforts were made to find his
relatives here, but none was now alive.
Many remembered the boy of 25 years
ago, but could not tell where he had
been in the interim.
To Mr.. Powell his whole life from
the moment he ran away from the home
in which be received i'll treatment unit.
he awoke to consciousness in the hotel
was blank. He was simply Charles
Preston Howell, farm lad, anxious tt
escape from his uncle He had no recol
lection of any other place, of business
transactions, Of names, dates or events.
He closed his eyes as runaway boy; he
opened them to find himself a man IL
the possession Of money, strange cloth
ing, jewelry and other articles in hi:
pockets and valise which he had never
seen before to his knowledge.
Itwas something over five months be-
fore he was able to leave his room. The
railroad company made a satisfactory
settlement W ith him, and when he hac
regained his strength he came over here
to his old home, used portion of hi!
money to buy out dealer in produce
and settled down to the prosaic life of {
country storekeeper. Sometimes hi
would almost succeed in grasping the
secret of his past, but it would slip away
from him, and he would plod along il
his every day rut very quietly.
I learned all about the accident be
lo l;e oi,,fonco on6 tho,