New-York tribune., 1909-11-07

of her children and possibly Of her grandchildren.
Had she gone abroad: At the steamship agences
faded and yellow envelOps bearing date of lSS6
opened and passenger lists examined Search
made of the records of the mOrgue for the month
following the disappearance; but namelesS corpse
answering her description had been given up by the
rivers the bay. Vt the hospitals were found the
records OF many unknOWns who had met with acc1-
dent in the and had died riendless and alone
but the age and personnel of Mary Bates fitted none
of these.
THEN suddenly came the thought that the OH
lady might still be living at the age of ninety
four. But where Perhaps in asylum a aims
house. There was one chance IN thousand, YES, one
chance in four thousand according 20 the tables OF
the census for there We're fOTty-One hundred living
persons IN the country of the age OF ninety-lou
In wing at the almshOuse BlaCkWe.S Island
was found colony OF poor old souls. ENJOYING the
sunshine on the big veranda,-Old mothers and old
madens. six hundred and sixty of them, decrepit,
aged, CarewOrn, feeble IN mind and feeble IN body,
thin and gaunt and haggard old danes. sequestered
here TO end their days IN routine and remuiscence.
neglected and forgotten by the great city across the
murky waters of the river.
a search made among the dereliCtS these poor
old hulks that once with grace and beauty had
sailed the sea of life. And some of them very
old, more than nInety-tOuT. At least two of them
had seen full hundred years. Where a face hg-
ure seemed to warrant inquiry her number was
taken, and her brief history found on the office
books. Most of them had names; but some were
designated merely Jane Doe Crazy Mag.
1t a hard game for the Old DANES S,tiI the reg
iStry clerk in confidence. They keep a-com,n and
a-gOin Two die every day and three new ones comes
over on the afternoon boat. That's the average and
were gettln more and more cramped for room every
year
IT the next day that Fox was telling the lawyer
about the finding OF Mary Bates
They called her Aunt Mary, said the Young
man. She was down on the books as Mary Blank
L found her huddled up in a corner on a wooden
bench grooming and rubbing her wrinkled hands
Her voice was ike that OF child. and only a- inter-
is Il, ,lcH.a Il
these intervals l managed TO obtain sufficient IN
formation 70 establish her identity When men
toned Park-ave.. she became angry and ted Il
was Clark-ave. where she had lived And This
ing found that she was right The savings bank
people had mistaken Park for Clark in noting where
she lived.
The records show" continued Fox that she
was found IN the street night in April I>S6. m
dazed condition, could give account O. herselt
sand her name was simply Mary. and IN the course
OF the usual order of things the Charities got
her and then she sent 20 the iSlaut. Her
memory IS gone, absolutely; but she -ei %
tell me that her fathers name was Iohn ANIL that
she had a son named Joe, living in Newark. m not
gong TO lose any time in finding Toe because ne Old
lady IS very feeble practically on her last le.s. and
she IS likely TO drop out almost any day
over IN Newark. at the end of a two days search
Joseph Bates was found on out of the way street
He told rather an odd story about himself and hs
mother. She very miSerlv. he Said and had pre-
terred 20 live alone IN her two rooms ON tllrS-ave
lie would drop and see her once OF twice wear
She had, he believed saved a few hundred dollars
Tor a RAINY day, for whenever he had offered her
money she had retuSe, II. telling HIM go on about
his business, that she quite able take care OF
ne sell. In lSN3 he went 70 Brazil "A contract 20
help build an American brewing plant and he had
hke1 the country down there and STAYED and on.
expecting 10 return every wear He had written IT.
peatedly to his mother; but there was no response
To his letters and he had long since given her up as
dead lie had returned 20 New York IN 1901. and
strange 10 say. went back TO Newark ag.n and
went 10 hve ON the same street where he formerly
boarded He had made an effort 10 find trace