The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-08-17
BY GULF-F0UN0 TEN YEARS LATER


NEW ORLEANS, La, Aug. 1.-THE
recovery of his lost daughter Alice by
old Capt. Manuel Terrebonne is truly
a modern miracle, a romance that ex-
ceeds the most darling flights of fiction.
Little Alice was torn away from her
father and lost in the Gulf of Mexico
during the most terrible storm within
memory. So remarkable was her es-
cape that 1t seems as if she must have
been saved by an angel. For nearly
ten years her father was as certain of
her death as he could possibly be of
any fact. But now she has been re-
turned to him, after ten years alb
sence, alive and as well as on the day
he last saw her.
Capt. Terrebonne lived with his wife
and ten children on the island Of Chen
iere Camnaida, in the Gulf. He was a
hearted, weather beaten fisher
man, devoted to his family. On Octo-
Der 1, 1893, the morning dawned wet
and cloudy. All day there was slow
drizzle. Toward evening the storm
clouds, fierce and ominous, began to
form themselves over the Gulf. At
nightfall they broke and swept. on
ward with rush that brooked no OPP
position. Earth and heaven seemed
to have entered into a league to de-
stroy the little island lying helpless
in the path of the wind, the tides and
the surf. 1t was the historic storm of
49,
Capt. Terrebonne had often battled
with the elements, but this time the
strife was too much for him. The
waves swept completely over the ISL
and. He made the most heroic efforts
to save his family. Swimming and
battling with the waves, he carried
four of them successfully to a place
M 1nfII II ~ y
carrying the fifth, little Alice, aged
only six, he was stricken on the head
by floating spar and rendered mo-
mentarily unconscious. In an instant
his daughter was snatched away from
him and swallowed up in the raging
water. Capt. Terrebonne was picked
up himself, but he and everybody else
were certain that the little girl had
been drowned.
When the great storm was over
Capt Terrebonne had lost his wife
and six children, including Alice. He
had to begin life anew.
He moved to Grand Isle, where he
resumed his struggle with the sea for
an existence. His sons grew UP and
became strong men. Gradually they
lifted the burden from his shoulders
Some Of them married. He himself
remained a widower.
Eight years after the storm Capt
Terrebonne received word that girl
resembling his youngest daughter Alice
mad been seen at Daisy Postoffice, La
He could hardly believe it possible
but he went to see for himself, and
recognized the child who had been
swept away when she was six years
old. He could recognize her by her
features, but she also possessed a pc
culiar scar on the ear which no one
else would be likely to have. Mr.. and
Mrs. Arthur Lee had secured her from
waits home, which in turn had taken
her from Filipino fisherman at Shell
Beach,
The child could give no clear account
or now she was saved from the storm,
put the only explanation seemed to
De That she caught hold OF piece of
Wreckage and was blown across the
surface of the waters until she was
cast up on the coast of Louisiana
AFTER finding his child another Sc
we're struggle awaited the old captain.
Her adaptive parents were unwilling
to give the child up. They alleged that
a father would be unable sto recognize
child who had been lost so young
and whom he had not seen for SO many
years.
1t became the one idea of the old
mans life to regain his child Finally.
after a year Of waiting, during which
time he made many unsuccessful at
tempts TO secure possession Of his
daughter, she was finally restored to
MS keeping by order of court
Little Alice Terrebonne's life from
the time she was swept away by the
waves until her appearance with the
f1lplno is a mystery that will perhaps
never be completely unraveIed. She
could speak French perfectly before
the storm, but now she only speaks
English. Her mind is a blank so far
as the storm is concerned, but this
cond1t1on has often occurred in older
persons Who have experienced a great
shock.
Her strange history first came to
the knowledge of the public in August
1896, when A. E. Nunez, sheriff of ST.
Bernard Parish, discovered her at the
mouse OF Callato Caballo, a Filipino
fisherman, at Shell Beach. Capallo
could give no satisfactory explanation
of his possession of the girl She had
peen brought to him by his wife, an
indian woman. The woman had never
explained in satisfactory manner
how she had come by the child Iden-
tlf1cat1on was much-eomplicated by the
disappearance of this woman, who is
now, believed to- be dead.
There is large colony Of Filipino
fishermen long established in this re-
5AOtA' ACy AFc just DIS LHey 90 in
their native wilds. Alice grew up like
a little Filipino, happy but savage.
She played about on the seashore.
dressed in nothing but gunny sack.
and was SO Drowned by the sun that
her complexion was almost Filipino.
Sheriff Nunez placed the child in the
care of the Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Children She was sent
by President Clay to the Waits Home
at Beauvoir, Miss, and entered as Vic
toria Madeline Hanna, known as Vic
Hanna" The girl was pretty and
bright-eyed, and must have won the
affections of the Filipino and his com
panion, for her nickname with them
was Sugar"
In May, 1901, Mrs. Agatha Lee, Of
Daisy Postoffice, made application to
the home for a brunette girl" and
after proper investigation the authori-
ties of the home signed articles OF
agreement with her and turned the
child "Vic Hanna" over to Mrs. Lee.
In January, 1902, Capt. Manuel Ter
rebonne went to Daisy and identified
the girl as his daughter Alice. AT flrst