Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1898-01-28


! the Man VINO Claimed 20 Have Saved
! the Life of Lincoln. etc.
William Anderson DeSilowave. the old
/ fraud who has victimized many Grand
Army men. has been heard from again. As
usual he is IN distress, and his tale of woe
is told by young reporter through the col
umns of the New York Daily Press De
/ Sillowaye and his wife are slowly starving
I to death in a rear room of No. 1873 Narick
/ street, New York. The room is by o.
cold and bare, the only furniture being a
bed, a dilapidated bureau and a broken
chair and stool DeSIlowaye has had no
employment since October, when he was
Knocked down by heifer on farm in
New Jersey. his wrist and four ribs being
/ broken. What little he and his wife had
In the way of iewelrv has found its way
to the pawn shop. and they are two weeks
behind on the rent
AS usual DeSlllowaye's record is given
This time he Is ST years old, a native of
Boston, and was raised on a farm in Yer
mont, going TO the front as a volunteer
from this state in the Mexican war lie
learned the printer trade and in lS41 be-
gan the publication of the Valley star at
Hanover. y. II. Then he worked as a re
porter on Boston papers and as compositor
on New York papers. He fought In the
civil war under Gems. Stannard. barnum
and Fighting Joe Hooker and was
wounded at South Mountain and taken
prisoner etc. etc Then follows state
ments about his work for the Harpers, the
Methodist book concern. etc. The inter
estng statement Is made that DeSiiiowave
receives no pension, that he applied for
one in 1852 and again in lS9U but never
heard from the application He Is said TO
nave been a member of a Grand Army
Army post IN Massachusetts which finally
dIsbanded. and he never Joined another
post.
This the same old game over again. Sill
lOwave or DeNiilowave was raiiroaded out
of Massachusetts three wears ago. IL was
stated then that he had obtained hundreds
of dollars from individual members of the
Grand Army. HIS favorite method of op-
Grafton was To get ms story of distress into
the newspapers. and generous assistance
would follow. He told a picturesque tale
with an English background, and u strik
ing part was IN regard To now he saved the
life of Lincoln 10y taking HIM ashore In a
small boat when the Presidents dispatch
boat had been fired upon toy a rebel battery
on the Potomac There was claim of ser
wee as a member of Mcclellan staff. and
a statement as to how he saved the life of
John Jacob Astor in the PenInsular cam
gaIgu
SIllowaye is g. 70 Is, wears of age instead
of Sc. His portrait was spread over the page.
of hundred, of newspapers few wears ago
IN iarluE advertisement III which he told
now he had Deen cured boy the remedy al
vertsei. ollowave was at work IN the of.
laa of I.aIIRar.s N-4II-
W men he came To- Bellows Falls he began
TO tell his big stories Mr. Mason of Wal
pole. who served on Mcclellan staff.
showed that Nnlowayes claim 10 service
with that general was false After this
oulowaye cut no figure with Grand Army
men He and mis- wife went from Bellows
Fails 20 Boston In 1898, and Two years later
his fraudulent claims were shown IN their
true light by an officer of the department
Massachusetts Grand Army who Investi-
gated them. This officer began his Inves-
tlgation with the hope of getting a pension
for SIllowaye, but when ms statements
We're proved false he broke down and
begged for mercy. lie was given a ticket
for New ork.
Here Is one of the rich statements about
the old fraud, who Is said by ms associates
at Bellows Pals to have been a man OF IN
terior education He knew all the Union
generals and Secretary stanton and Mr.
" ellis lie was lieutenant colonel on
Mcclellan staff IN 1852 Col Sllowave
is pracuca. printer. engineer and i'm
gulst. lie mas set up works in Greek
+ rench, spanish Latin and Hebrew lie
was employed during i've wears at Oxford
England. on Romans Greek Bible, and
there, IL 1888 the degree Of IL. d. was
conferred upon INN
SIIiowaye mas attracted notorletv in New
\ ork city N the past two or three wears bg
writing letters which would ue dropped on
the street. These letters would picture ms
pitIable condition and would tell OF ms plans
for committing suicide Their publication
would bring nm assistance