Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-11-29
MORSE SEES CHILD
Reunited With Daughter After
TWo-Year Separation.
ON VERGE OF A COLLAPSE
Convicted Banker Said to Realize
That His Mind Is Failing.
Hopes for Pardon.
ON VERGE OF A COLLAPSE

ATLANTA, November 29-A slip of a
girl of fourteen, with lustrous blue eyes
and a wealth of auburn hair which hung
to her waist in a heavy braid, stepped
from limousine car in front Of the
post hospital at Fort Mcpherson at noon
yesterday and darted up the steps. An
instant later Charles w. Morse. convict
and former New York banker, held N
his arms Anna Morse, the daughter he
has not sesn for two years and VINO.
until a few weeks ago. believed her
father to be as free as the air she
breathed.
The girl had come from Bath, Me-. in
the fear that she would find her father
dead. and. was verging on hysteria when
she arrived at the raj way station. With
her came her aunt, Miss Jennie Morse.
and her brother. Benjamin Morse. who
had joined the party at Baltimore.
Morse himself was on the verge OF
prostration. Early in the morning he
had sent for newspaper correspondent
he had prepared mentally, but when ne
correspondent reached his bedside he
was utterly incapable of expressing him
self. He failed to hold an idea after
grasping it, stumbled over facts and
names and after the first few words was
the surgeon in charge, observed his pa
tient carefully and then said that owing
to the amount Of poisons his system had
absorbed he would be unable to talk
coherently for at least week.
Shadow of Former Self.
Anna Morse last saw her father when
he visited Bath in the summer of 1909
At that time he was in excellent physical
health and weighed upward of $50 pounds
Yesterday she saw a man worn to a
shadow through prison life and progress
i've Brights disease. and the shock was
almost as great as when she discovered
that he was felon For an instant she
tried her best to control herself. but only
for an instant. Once in the wan arms of
the sick man, she gave herself up to
emotion and wept as though her heart
would break. AS for Morse, the tears
trickled unheeded down his pallid cheeks
and his emaciated frame was racked by
sobs.
The nurses did not let the girl remain
long. She walked in a dazed sort of way
face in her hands and waited until Morse
had spoken briefly with the rest of the
party, together with Harry Morse, the
son, who has been with him for several
days. He could not say much. owing to
his failure to frame words into sentences s,
but he made his visitors understand he
hoped for pardon and that everything was
being done for his comfort.
Maj. Baker a. little later told Benjamfn
Morse that his father was doing as well
Fowler. the noted kidney specialist, in
formed him that the man probably would
recover from the attack.
But l do not mean that he will ever
be well man again." he said. He has
been and is very i'll and he may suffer
AnOfhRr AtfQHk a q Uoo y
hence. He cannot hope to rally from
many"
Knew Mind Was Failing.
Morse has realized for some months that
he was failing mentally. but he fought
against the fact becoming public. II he
is pardoned the stimulus may benefit him.
but the physicians do not believe that he
will ever ain his full mental vigor and
alertness. His recovery will unquestion-
ably be FASTENED by the arrival of his
daughter, who will remain here indefi-
nitely.
When Morse was sentenced he gave
strict orders that the girl should not be
told, and not only did the family refrain
which they were well aware she would
eventually discover. but the townsfolk
were equally careful.
It Is not likely that Anna would now
know the truth had she not one day come
across a newspaper, a short paragraph
In which gave her an inkling. She had
supposed that her father had been SO
pressed by business in New York that he
could not come to her. Three days after
reading the paper she broached the sub
ject to her aunt. Miss Morse knew that
the secret could no longer be held and
gently told her all there was to tell.
knowing that Anna was finally acquaint-
ed with the facts, Morses longing to see
her increased thousandfold.
T. B. Fielder. who with H. NJ. Daugh-
erty is attorney for Morse. said last night
that his client will either be pardoned or
taken from Atlanta in coffin.
Mrs Morse IL expected to arrive from
New York today. She has been delayed
by illness.
Rev. E. F. Davis Of Roanoke. Va, has