The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1900-05-18
SEARCH FOX A GIRL.
AN INDIANA WOMAN'S LONG
YEARS OF SEEKING.
"Aunt Polly" Barnett Dead. After
Seeking a Lost Daughter for Twenty
Years-Touching Story of Old and
Insane wanderer Over the Earth.

Aunt Polly" Barnett, whose long
search for her daughter made her
known all over the southern part OF
Indiana, is dead. A week before her
death she was taken into the home or
a kind woman at Linton, Green County,
and there she died. The citizens OF
Linton, long acquainted with her and
her story, subscribed for the funeral
expenses and large number Of people
were at the Methodist church when the
Rev. William Buck conducted the ser
vices.
Her maiden name was Lay and she
was born in Kentucky at least sixty
years ago. She was first married to a
man named Sexton, and after his death
she was married to a man named Bar
nett. She had one child, daughter, by
her marriage with Sexton, and it was
this girls disappearance that made her
an insane wanderer. John Bays, who
was prosecuting attorney of Green
County at the time the girl disappeared,
relates the story as follows:
"The daughter left the house one
morning twenty years ago and had not
returned by evening. The next day a
search for her was begun and the moth
er continued 1t until she was unequal to
further tramping about the country.
In my investigation soon made up
my mind that the daughter had been
put out of the way by some person or
persons to escape exposure at her
hands. l finally concluded that three
persons knew something about her dis
appearance. also reached conclu-
sion that she was drowned In White
River and that her body was anchored
at the bottom of the river. We found
footprints in the sand along the shore
In secluded spot and there portions
of her clothing were found. While l
was entirely convinced of these facts
could get no evidence on which to
proceed against the suspected persons.
| followed the career Of the three men
and each met with tragic death"
Accompanied by her younger daugh-
ter, a child of Barnett, the mother be-
gan her search. She walked up and
down the banks of the river and of 9TH
er streams in the same part of the
State. After several years she aban-
doned the river and streams and began
looking into the faces Of women In the
towns and villages of Southern Indi-
ana. She visited cemeteries and read
again and again the inscriptions on
tombstones. Undertakers' shops were
visited by her regularly. The daughter
who accompanied her, always walking
just behind her, grew into womanhood.
They were seen In all kinds of weather.
They slept in novels, In strawstacks, or
under trees. They ate what was given
to them, and no housewife In Southern
Indiana ever turned them away with
out food or clothing. "Aunt Polllys"
search awakened sympathy every
where. A few years ago the daughter
died from consumption. She was buried
in country cemetery, but year or SO
ago her mother became dissatisfied
with her resting place and exhumed the
body and carried the bones elsewhere,
but where no one has ever known. Af-
ter her daughters death she was ac-
companied by large black cat which,
she requested before her death, should
be turned loose and be allowed to con-
tinue the search. A collar was made
for the cat with Aunt Polly's" name
and the date of her death engraved on
it. The cat left Linton a few days
afterward.