Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1909-07-23
.SC0UR SHORE
IN SEARCH FOR
MISSING JUDGE
AUTOMOBILE PARTIES FROM KENO
sHA HURRY FROM TOWN
TO TOWN
GLENCOE GIVES ONE CLUE
Leading Wisconsin Lawyer Believed AS
phasia Victim, for He Dlsap-
peared Before.
MIND A BLANK MANY WEEKS

KENOSHA, Wis, July 2O.-[Spe-
cial IA red hot clue which may lead
to the discovery of the whereabouts OF
Judge Joseph r. Clarkson was received
in Kenosha this morning in telephone
message from Glencoe, His, which de-
clared that a man answering the descrip-
ton of the judge who has been missing
from mere since last Wednesday night
had been seen there late Monday after
noon.
This was in keeping with other mes
sages received from several places along
the lake shore which gave the impression
that the missing man was somewhere IN
that part of the country and that he was
unconscious of his movements or his
identity. In every place where he is al
legged to have been seen he made sma!i
purchases of food and this seems to indi-
cate that he is spending his time in the
open country outside of the cities and
only going into them when the pangs OF
hunger demand.
In Court Wednesday.
Mr. Clarkson tried case in a Keno
sha court on Wednesday afternoon and
seemed to be in the best of health and
spirits. His wife was out of the city,
having gone to Minneapolis on an auto
mobile trip several days before, and
Judge Clarkson was staying at the fam
lily residence. On Wednesday evening
stated that he was going to meeting
of the knights of Pythias. He did not
go to the lodge meeting, but later in the
evening appeared at his office, where he
held long conference with District At
torney Baker. 1t was just after 8 o'clock
N1J1I0 md
former judge picked up his hat and with
a pleasant "Good night, partner started
for his home.
Search Woodlands in Vain.
The woodland about Kenosha was
searched on Saturday and Sunday, but
no trace was found. Mr. Clarkson is of
q deeply religious nature, and it is the
opinion of his wife that he wandered
away while in deep religious thought
and that he is still wandering stepped Ill
meditation.
This disappearance of Mr.. Clarkson
recalls his strange actions while a resi-
dent of Omaha in 1891 and furnishes
possible clew for a solution. At that
time he had just resigned as judge of
the district court and was a member of
the law firm of Congdon, Clarkson &
Hunt He had returned from q trip
through the Black Hills and one night
going for a brief fishing trip to Honey
Greek lake, in northern Iowa. That wa-
the last seen of him by Omaha people
for four months.
He next was seen by "Pop" Crandall,
the boathouse keeper at the lake, when
he arrived at the camp carrying a bun
die. One night he told Crandall he was
going for a dip in the lake. He did not
return. and next morning Crandall dis
covered a boat out in the lake and the
clothes. money and watch of the former
Judge on the waters edge.
Case Was Great Mystery.
Word that Mr.. Clarkson had been
drowned was telegraDhed to Omaha and
became the sensation of the day. A
large searching party was organized and
hurried to the lake. For days the lake
was dragged and the searchers, hands
locked and in a long line, tramped the
shadows in search of the body. The
newspapers teemed with the mystery for
several weeks, and only one person
seemed inclined to doubt that Mr.. Clark
son had been drowned.
This person gathered evidence that
tbe missing man had bought two suits of
cheap clothes before leaving Omaha,
that he had purchased railroad ticket
at Missouri Valley, and that barber at
Logan. Ia, had shaved off his beard.
The disappearance was made political
issue between rival newspapers before
# was placed among the unsolved mys-
teries of the city.
Dramatic Return.
Finally one day in the autumn Clark
son reappeared in Omaha. His return
produced almost as great sensation as
his disappearance. He declared simply
that he had lost his identity for four
months, during which time he was
known as Bart Doolittle. In telling Of
the incident he stated he had worked in
a lumber yard for some time, and one
night he went with number of the 9th
or laborers to cigar store in Clinton,
Ia. and noticed on the wall motto,
"There is no place like home" This
seemed to awaken his faculties, and he
began to wonder where his home was.
He picked up q paper on the floor,
and one of the first articles he saw was
in reference to his disappearance. He
per. shouted to the men in the store.
81 am Joe Clarkson." He left at once
for Omaha.
Fear Another Lapse of Memory.
The striking similarity between his
leaving Omaha and his departure from
Kenosha has led his friends here to
believe that he has suffered another
lapse of memory and that in time he will
recover his faculties and return to Ke-
nosha.
Mr.. Clarkson has been living in Ke-
nosha for the last two years and in
that time has been prominent in many
lines of work. He was graduated from
Yale in the early '70s with high honore
and was noted as an athlete. After
leaving college he came to Chicago
where he engaged in the practice of law
He went to Kenosha in 1879 and was
associated with James Cavanagh in the
practice of law. A few years later he
went to Omaha, Neb.. where he was
elected judge of the district court