The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-08-24

NEW YORK, Aug. 21.-For six
years Lota Augustine Sawyer masque-
raded as a man, calling herself Her
man Gray Wood, passing through
some of the most extraordinary ex-
periences that a woman ever encount-
ered-tlrst in Baltimore and lately in
New York, where she now is.
The complete story of her life is here
printed for the first time.
She is a girl of good birth, excellent
ly educated, with pretty gift for MAX
ing verses, many of which have been
published.
She ran away from home when she
was sixteen and went to Baltimore,
where the discovery Of her sex a few
weeks ago, coming about in a most
sensational way, stirred that city ire
mendously.
She was twenty-five years old on
July l last.
She worked as a man, finding en-
ployment as a clerk.
She, learned to smoke, to drink, to
swear, in order to make more perfect
the illusion.
Her first boarding house mistress
wished to adopt her as a son. She
discovered her secret, but kept silent
about it.
She became known as a f1irt She
was so fascinating to women that she
was called lady-killer. Her reputa-
ton for being a fast young man was,
she says, one of the factors Of her sue
cess with women.
She wrote poetry to those on whom
she bestowed her attentions. 1t was
said of Herman Gray Wood that he
could make love better than any man
In the circle in which he moved.
She became engaged to the daugh-
ter of the landlady in another house
where she boarded.
70 q afred l.
where the landlady, a woman sixteen
years her senior, fell in love with
Herman Wood neveS- dreaming that
her boarder was a woman.
Remorse overcame the young wo-
man. She tried to kill herself. The
Iandlady rescued her. She proposed
TO the landlady and was accepted.
Her Marriage to a Woman.
The marriage of Lota Augustine Saw
yer, posing as Herman Gray Wood
actually took place / nthe parlor of
Baltimore church on June 16 last.
a week later the young woman was
arrested, still wearing mans clothing.
After she was released she remained
IN Baltimore for time, taking an
other name, but still clinging to mas
culine attire
Afterward she came to New York,
sun as man, and in the house where
she lived she was not suspected.
On one occasion she was taken in
an ambulance to a hospital in this city,
out the doctors who cared for her did
not suspect that she was a woman.
Strange to relate, despite her success
In passing as man, Lota SAWYER is
not masculine.
She is rather tall for woman and
Welghs 10 pounds. Her features are
refined and essentially feminine and
her voice is that of a woman of edu
cation-soft, well modulated, pleasing
to the ear.
A few days ago, for the first time
IN six years, Lota Sawyer attired her
self in the proper apparel of her sex.
ana II emphasizes a great change that
has come over her
From hard-drinking, swearing
, smoking young man she has become a
WomanIy woman, prepared with the as
Slstance Of new-found friends to begin
life over again.
She was born in Camden county.
North Carolina, a short distance from
Elizabeth City. Her father, Edward
Sawyer, prosperous farmer belong
ing 10 very good family, died when
she was a baby. There were three
other children.
After her husbands death Mrs. Saw
yer removed to Norfolk, Va, where she
married j. G. Whitehurst. SUISSE
quently they returned to Camden
A Bright, Clever Child.
Lota was a very pretty child, with
rather precocious intellect. She had
been graduated from the public school
when she was fourteen and was sent
TO a boarding school for a year.
II was just after her fifteenth birth
DAY that she met witt the most terrible
experience girl can know. She at
tended a party some distance from her
" 10nYs
ed older than her years. attracted
much attention froTS strangers present.
she drank some lemonade, which af
tected her strangely. She never knew
how she reached her home, but the
family found her lying on the door
step, unconscious.
She was afraid to tell her mother of
her experience. She was nearly crazed
with the horror of it. AS time went
on concealment became impossible, and
she was not believed when she told
what had happened
When her child was born it was TAX
en- from her and she has never seen it
although it is still living. AS Lota
recovered, the family turned from her
Ihere were many scenes, and finallv
her sister declared that if Lota did not
IeaVe the house forever she would go
away herself.
Lota was then sixteen and knew
nothing of the ways of the world. She
decided that there was nothing for her
to do but to go far away and XIII her
self N
She secured $3.50. Her share of the
estate left by her father amounted to
$1,000, and she thought she had a right
TO the money. She donned a, suit of
clothes belonging to her brother, in or
der to make her escape easier. Then
she cut off her hair and, carrying her
own clothes in a bundle, left the house
while the family slept.
she walked to Elizabeth City, where
she took train for Norfolk. She mt
on her own clothing, tried to find EN-
pioyment and failed. She swiftly de-
clded that she was treated with more
consideration and could more easily
girl. She was a very pretty girl WITH
an excellent figure. So she bought a