The central record. (Lancaster, Ky.) 18??-current, 1911-09-08
A DepIOrabIe Casa.

On Monday family consisting of
! father, mother and three sons, aged %
20 and Is years walked into town from
the direction of Stanford. They were
Reuben Lane and his family. On the
9th day of May Mr.. Lane started with
his family from Charleston w. Va. to
walk to Colorado. With the assistance
of occasional rides they reached Trini-
dad and secured work in the mines; a
strike came on and they We're thrown
out of work and they again took the
road, intending to walk back to their
far away home in West Virginia, which
they had so recently left. With the eX-
ception of rides aggregating about 400
miles which they caught on freight
trains, they again walked that great
distance, Mr.. Lane having lost a leg
doing all that distance on a crutch.
When they reached here they We're,
penniless, exhausted and one of the
boys and the father We're III. They
took refuge from the elements under
chute leading to Mr.. Banks HudsOn's
warehouse, where they were seen Mon
day afternoon by several people, includ-
ing Mr.. Heron, who inquired if they
wanted anything, they told him they
were hungry and if they could get
something to eat they would resume
their journey the next day, Mr.. Heron
had one of them to come to his home
where he provided them with ample
provisions, and as they made no COM
plant, he thought nothing further of
the matter. On Wednesday one of the
young men came to town and reported
that hN father was seriously i'll. The
citizens then began to investigate and
found that they were indeed in de-
plorable condition. The old man was
speechless, had suffered a stroke Of par
alysis, he was lying on the ground with
his faithful wife lowering over him,
trying to make comfortable what prov
ed to be his last moments, for before
the kind hearted citizens who at once
set about to relieve their distress,
could get him to town upon cot which
they had hastily provided, he died,
while they were carrying him to place
of comfort where he might have care
and attention.
The old gentleman was 90 years OF
age and died of paralysis, probably
brought on bIexhaustiOn and exposure.
The good people then set about max
ing comfortable the remainder of the
family. Clean clothes were secured,
and after they had all had baths they
were clothed in clean raiment from
head to foot; the county provided a
coffin and the sad hearted little group
followed the husband and father to his
last resting place in carriages furnish
ed by the people, Wednesday afternoon.
Ample food was provided for them and
place no sleep, the city furnished
them transportation as far as Winches-
ter and the citizens donated money to
buy them tickets the remaining dis
lance, the tickets were purchased and
they were placed on the early train
Thursday morning for Charleston,
where it is hoped fate will deal more
kindly with them than it has hereto
| fore done.
1t was one of the most heart rending
sights we ever witnessed, the poor old
broken hearted wife and mother, weep
! ing over the loss of her husband, with
her children gathered around her, rem
dered even more distressing by the fact
that the young son was ill, and was
afflicted with epilepsy or some similar
trouble and the eldest son had lost one
arm and the fingers from his other
hand. Yet with all this misery they
were too proud to make their misery
known. We have never witnessed a
more touching case of devotion than
this family showed toward the crippled
father and husband, each of them re-
fusing to desert him and staying with
him until the breath hadleft him, even
though this cost them the pangs of
privation and hunger.