Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-07-06
WAS ABSENT YEARS.;
HIS MEMORY GONE
Story of Orson Howard DupIi-
Gates That of Rip Van
Wrinkle.
REUNITED WITH FAMILY.
HE FAILS TO RECOGNIZE
Leaves Laporte. Ind, Forty Years
Ago: Just Found in Dodge
City, Kan.
Special Dispatch tn The Star

Special Dispatch IN The Star
! JACKSON. Mich. July 5-Wiu the
mystery OF Orson Towards forty years
OF absence, a story rivaling that. OF Rip
van Wrinkle. be solved by the pages
when the old man is writing day after
day and which he will let no one see?
In comfortable little home just east
or jackson. Mrs. Howard watches over
her husband as he writes, yet he does
not Know her as his wife calling her
aunt Nor does he recognize his two
sons. but thinks them cousins. 1t has
been 50 for three years
MI Howard Is eighty-s!x years old.
while his wife is sixty-nine Forty-six
years ago they resided in La Porte. Ind.
Ihey had been married four years, and
mad two children. One morning in May
Howard snouldered a shotgun and told
his wife he was going hunting, laughing
ly promising her he would bring home
a bird for good supper Night came,
but the man did not return Another
morning dawned and he did not appear.
| ne had been d man of good habits and
good repute.
Widespread Search Futile
The woman spread the alarm, and a
large searching party was formed to
scour the woods for the hunter School
was dismissed and the pupils joined in
the search. But neither hills nor VAL
leys nor dynamited rivers gave any
trace Of the missing man.
After that the gods that hide vanish
ed people drew veil of forty years
over the being of Orson Howard. The
wife waited long for him to come back,
but when the two boys had grown up
| no word had come, and the family
found reason to move to Jackson.
| Three years ago letter came to Mrs.
| Howard from a relative in the west.
:, saying she believed Mr. Howard was
| living in Dodge City, Kan. Further in
| quIries were made. with the result
that the aged man was brought to
| Jackson where reunion followed
strange reunion. however for Howard
unable to remember his wife. and
thought of her only as his aunt"
| But while Howard could not recall the
! circumstances Of his life in La Porte he
remembered leaving the town. and was
| able to tell a good deal of his wanderings
From this. and from fragments of speech
| that drop from time to time from his
! lips as he sits in the garden and dreams
day by day Mrs. Howard and her sons
! have been able to picture many of his
activities during the forty years
Ravages of Time.
| The man was active and young hearted
when he disappeared. but when he return
ed. like Rip Van Wrinkle. he was bent
white-haired and crippled with age. What
caused him to leave home was a mystery
to his wife. Something in his brain must
have snapped. she believes. They had
| had no trouble.
| Leaving La Porte. Howard journeyeC
/ into the wild parts of the west He work
| ed on the ranches and herded cattle an6
| sheep. When the Sante Fe railroad was
built he helped lay the track. Always he
| carried the gun with him. Buffalo were
plentiful in those days. and he killed
| hundreds of them on the plains. The
men with whom he associated in the
! west, and they We're scattered, knew
| Howard as BILLY the Hunter" 1t was
| in Kansas. only a few years ago. that
| some one stole his gun. And now wher
some stray memory comes into his mine
he swears vengeance on the thief
! In the past few weeks Howard has
| taken to writing. Slowly. laboriously. he
! has transcribed scores of pages. Each
| night he locks the manuscript in a heavy
chest and will not let his wife see what
| he has written.
Some day. not far off. you shall see
he says. The mystic voice shall bic
you open the chest. Till then let me
| write in Deapp'