The Red Cloud chief., 1912-05-30
How P. J.Thomson, Wanderer Ex-
traordinary, Returned to Sa.
vannah After Forty.seven
Years to Find His Wife With
New Husband and New Chill
dren-Wants Only to Die
Where He Was Born.
UORN from the arms OF his young
wife and baby daughter by the
fortunes Of war. exiled from
Savannah by the order OF

General Sherman, whose army
had Just completed its famous march
through Georgia to the Sea. p. J.
Thompson, recently OF Kentucky, wan.
derer extraordinary. has returned to
his native state for the first time In
AZ years. only to find his wife hap
PLY married to another man and the
mother Of many children; his daugh-
ter, whom he left an infant grown
to womanhood and nursing babies OF
her own. and his sister scarcely able
to recognize him.
With the lines of the years SCARED
deeply into his weather.beaten face.
and his back bent with the burden
Of many days, the heart OF the old
had wandered over as a barefoot boy.
and for news of the little family from
whom he had parted In his youth. He
wished to rest his bones In the ground
that nourished him, and to feel for
the last time the breezes that the
Gulf Stream, that wandering summer
Of the sea-" brings tO'Georgia's shoes.
And 30 he turned his footsteps back
toward the land of his nativity, and as
o consequence involves his wife In q
matrimonial tangle not yet unrav-
eled.
For after having spent the better
years Of long life as the wife Of an.
other man and the mother Of his chill.
dren. the old woman is inclined to
look askance at this husband Of her
early youth, whom she can now re-
member only dimly. and whom she
has so'long believed to be lying in an
unknown soldiers grave upon one Of
the many battlefields with which the
bosom Of the south was reddened. She
is as shy as a girl in the presence OF
her former husband, but she continues
to live with her second husband.
A Man without . Home.
Berry Jones. kindly eyed. white
whiskered. who wooed and won the
young Mrs. Thompson. after she had
given up her husband for dead. is not
inclined to part at this late date with
his life companion. He looks upon
the advent Of Thompson as q rather
humorous incident that will break the
monotony Of existence for his women
folks little while, and then be for
gotten. He cannot conceive that there
may be a real interruption in the es-
tablished order Of things, and as to
his wife's leaving him-he accepts the
suggestion with laugh. These two
together have been the architects OF
too many human lives to allow a dead
man come to life to break the placid
ity yof their conugal relations. Enoch
Ardens are supposed to look through
windows upon happy flresides and
then to disappear again.
The story Of the adventures of
Thompson is OF intense interest.
Through all the years he has been a
man without a home. wanderer. seek.
Ing always after the will.o'. o'.the-wisp OF
fortune that forever eiuded him.
The one discordant note In the har
mony Is that he never made an at.
tempt to return to his wife and home
after having been sent north by the
federal soldiers.
tnompSonS eorly LIE.
When the war broke out Thompson
not yet Of age. enlisted for six months
On the expiration OF that period he
went into q cavalry troop and saw
much service In Virginia and Tennes
see. The beginning of the last year o.
the war found him in a hospital IL
Savannah. Becoming convalescent
he obtained leave to visit his famil,
In Pembroke. where he learned for tn,
first time that he was q father, ant
for a brief and only period Of his lif,
held his baby In his arms. While h,
was still at Pembroke Sherman an,
his legions swept across the state
Bidding his wife hasty goodby. tn
Confederate soldier took refuge In tn
swamps. That was the last that Mrs
Thompson now also Mrs. Jones an,
the wife OF two men. ever saw of he
husband.
Driven from his hiding place by hur
ger, Thompson made his way acros
the Ogeechee river bridge and fell int
the hands OF a federal outpost. b
whom he was promptly dispatched int
Savannah, a prisoner of war. He wa
detained there and furnished with r,
tions for time. but an order finall
came that no more provisions wer
to be served. and this. together wit
an offer OF transportation north, Ie
Thompson and others In similar pr
dicament no alternative but to 20 int
the land OF the enemy as hostages ,
war. He was sent by boat to Ne
York. where he remained until Il
war closed.
Escaped Death In Cyclone.
After the war Thompson wanders
into the west. Why he chose the we
instead of the south and home h;
never been satisfactorily explaine
He lived for time In Cincinnati, b
driven by the unrest that was In hi
he continued his wanderings over Il
greater part OF the western countr