The Mathews journal. (Mathews C.H. [Court House]) 1903-1937, 1912-01-11
FINDS SA
AFTER LO%HUNT

NEW --Special.-After years
OF purposeiul globe trotting james
Lawless. who has two years more e
serve In Uncle Sans Navy, has founC
the sister from whom he was sepa-
rated In childhood and for whom ne
has kept weather eye peeled
throughout his nautical career. She
ls Mrs. Minnie Mulligan. and her hus-
band, Thomas Mulligan. is chief cleo
uical engineer for the Union Isailroad
Company in the Bronx.
The Lawless family was broken up
IN 1881, when the mother died, and
the father, left TO face alone the prob
lem of caring for the brood of three
boys and one girl, saw in precipitate
hight the easiest way out. Deserted in
the little home at Bridgeport, Conn.
the children were distributed among
kind hearted neighbors.
Minnie, then seven years old, was
taken into the home Of Mrs. Eva Far
rell, OF Fairfield, Conn. Mrs. Frank
Walsh, also a resident of Fairfield.
volunteered to care for the three boys
George, ten; Jim, nine. and Howard,
eight.
Three years later a circus came to
Fairfield, which excited the Juvenile
the next stand" he went along, and
Jim Lawless was seen no more in
Fairfield.
After his disappearance the Walsh
family was disrupted and the other
LawleSs boys drifted to the outer
world. Minnie searched futileIy for
her brothers. but when she was mar
ried to Mr.. Mulligan a few years ago
she gave up the task as hopeless. Mr.
Mulligan brought his wife to New
York city last April and since then
they have been living at 1173 linton
Avenue. the Bronx
On the afternoon of December 18th
MRS Mulllgan was alone at home.
The CoOr Dell rang. and at the door
she faced a thin-lipped, souare-iaw-
form.
isn't your first name Minnie?" he
asked without further preliminaries.
We'll, I'm Jim Lawless-your
Droth her, he announced calmly. kiss
Mrs. Mulligan wasn't so sure. and
asked for greater proof than his word
Dont you remember the old we'll at
IA an the bucket the day you toppled into
And don't you remember little Katie
howard we used to pay With7"
In the torrent OF "reminiscences that
followed Mrs. Mulligan no Longer
doubted that the caller really was ReI
the circus for the season. over the win
ter and spent yet another season or
making desultory efforts to find hi,
prothers and sister, and finally he had
. AeClueO tneN might De living abroad.
so l joined the navy ten years ago.
he explained. Before 1 took this ste1
made up my mind that IL 1 made am
use at all of the rest of my life 4
serted.
In the years I have served on tn,
south Carolina have visited every bis
city In the world. In each I have ad.
Nertseq for information that NIGH
lead me to you, Minnie, and 1 have FOL.
lowed hundreds Of promising leads IL
vain.
And all the while the secret wa.
hidden away in my little Bible
thought enough OF the Book to carry
1t with me when 1 went Off with tho
circus and IL 1 had devoted more at
fention TO IL when 1 was at sea l prob
ably should have found you sooner
well. one day in my watch below
1 was glancing through the Bible and
on the back cover 1 found scrubbed the
name or Katie Howard, and L recalled
that she had been visiting at our house
the day she wrote In the Book. The
nrst thing did when we were in home
waters was to run up TO Bridgeport
found Kate, and through her L traced
you"
Lawless has a bundle Of clippings cut
from European and American news
papers. In these, printed in French
Italian, Spanish, Portuguese. German
and Norwegian, he sought by adyertls-
Ing TO learn the whereabouts OF sister
and brothers.
Brother and sister. reunited. had
Christmas dinner together. Lawless
VIII live with Mrs. Mulligan when his
term of enlistment expires and ne
asked The World yesterday to helm him
md his two brothers.