The age-herald., 1897-09-05
HIS LOST CHILD
Found in the Circus Ring With Spangles and a
 New Name.
From the New York World.

From the New York World.
 Bridgeport, Conn.,, Aug. 23
 An old man, wilrikled, weather-beaten
 and exceedingly rusty in attire, has made
 home for himself in a locality known as
 Gypsy Spring. GIis hut is a ramshacAle
 aff.ir, improv.ssd from old boards and
 odd sticks, and, although tenantable dur
 ing the summer, is hardly fit to protect F1s occupant from the cold blasts of win ter.
 This stranger is more than sixty years cid and soms what inirm. His residence
 was discovered by acc-d n.. If what he says of himself is true, it is re'markab'e
 story. He was discovsr~d by police off1- cer who was hunt ng around the ou skirts
 of the city for burglars supposed to be in hiding. Officer R -dgite jumped ac oss
 the stream knOWlIa as Gypsy Sp1eng, pushed aside the ruehes and almost fell
 over an old man who was making fire
 in order to boil a kettle suspended be-
 tween two trees. Against a steep stood
 he hermit's house, or hut. He built it some tine ago. because the grass with
 which It is -hatched is wizzled up and hardly sufficient to keep out rain. Three
 logs arc laid oh top to keep the covering
 in place. At first the old man refused
 to talk, but finally he said:
 "I haven't anybody in the world, and
 I wan- to ged as far away from ma ankind as can. l don't want to see or hear any
 body. I want them to keep away from
 me. I won't bother alny one; all I ask
 is to be let alone. I know what it gs to
 have everything I Wand ,bu- I am just
 as well satisfied to be here alone if people
 will only keep away from me. You are the first one who has found this place,
 and If they get to coming here I will
 have to move"
 He said further that he belonged out WIS, and that lis name was Joseph Daw- eon. ITO this name he sticks, but if that
 really is his name the person he is look
 ing for, Carrie Dacomas. can hardly be his loIg-lost daughter. According to the old hermits story he was married many years ago in Pecos Texas, 70 Eliza Haae,
 "a darghser of wealthy ranchma II.
 He and his wife had a daughter whom
 they named Carrie. After hve years of married life Dawson's wife ran away with 3. Mexican Dawson hunted high and low
 for his wife and child. He traveled
 through Mexico and all over Texas in
 the hope of finding her. He always went
 armed and with the determination of
 shooAng the man who had {ofobed Him of his wife and child
 After years of fruitless search he vet- tied down in Missouri, and afterwards lived on large farm between Decatur and Springfield, H. Accoroing to his statement he had enough money to live oi Tor some time, but a few years ago IL began Io vanish and he had to work He became morose and dejected. The loss of his wife gnawed at his heart. and he brooded over his wicked Kfe until he almost went insane. So matters ran al9ng tr,.fl a year ago last June, when he happened to go to Springfield Somer.h ing prompted him 70 go 10 a circus which happened to be there at the time. While watching the performance Dawson drought he saw his daugh-er riding a horse. He jumped up and shouted to her. The audience miStook him for one of 'he hayseed clowns ard applauded his realis- dc act. but the supernumeraries a..lbbed him and put him out. The more the old fellow declared the equestrienne was his daughter the more the supes believed he was intoxicated. The girl was billed as Carrie Dacomas, and the old hermit ex plains that he knew her because she lcok- ed exactly like her mo her
 He made up his mind to follow the show and find her. He learned that ths, circus wintered in Bridg port He 'ramp- ed most of the way, but arrived here too late for the show had arted out on the ro5d. Then he decided to build a but in the woods and wait until faE for the show to return. He is positive that he has seem his daughter, and he believes if he can meet her that he can get a trace | of his wife.