The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1914-07-22
WOMAN MASQ AIDES
FOR YEARS AS MAN
Votes in Florida Where Women
Do Not and Deaths Door
Only Discloses Sex.

ORLANDO, Fla, July 22.-Eyery
winter for the last ten or twelve
years. small. quiet and unassumine
man has made Orlando his home. Civ
ing the name: Of Hiram E. Calder
He came and went, quietly and UNI
assuming. and no one suspected that
he carried secret startling, bold and
difficult to conceal II
Calder came to Orlando one winter
about ten years ago and secured en-
ployment with @. 7. Hungerford in
his bakery. He was accompanied by
his wife. who died in Tampa about
three years ago They made thei,
home with Mr.. Hungerford and in
the bakery Calder waitedupon thous-
ands of customers as the years
lpassed.
In the summer he would leave, It
kbeing the popular superstition that
during the summer time he and his
wife were connected with a circus
but the coming Of winter each year
brought them back to this city to re-
fsume his place with Mr.. Hungerford.
a little more than a year ago Cal
Ederss health began to fail. and his
wife being dead, out Of pure kindness
/ OF heart Mr.. Hungerford gave him a
home, where he had everything
needed for his comfort. But he was
contentious and hard to please. sc
was finally taken the county home at
the point Of death from peilagra.
It is the custom in the home fol
the stronger patients to wait upon
the weaker and III, and some Of the
other inmates, constantly waiting or
Calder began to suspect that he was
not just what he claimed to be-. Ac-
cordipgly DR.. G. D. Christ, the county
physician, was summoned and dis
discovered that Calder was 9
woman.
Many who had known "her" vel
and had been closely associated with
her" could hardly believe. the re-
port. None was more surprised than
Mr.. Hungerford, in whose home
~she" had been known 90 long as q
man. He says he has often told Cal
der that "he" acted like an ole
grandmother, but never dreamed how
near the truth he was. While "his''
wife was living Mr.. Hungerford says
they were the most affectionate
couple he ever saw, and that Calder
was heartbroken at her death.
The mystery behind it all, the
story Of some event in the life Of
this woman, that caused hertto mas
querade for so many years as a man
may never be known. No one here
knows Of any relative or close friends
upon whom to call for the true story.
The hidden identity may conceal
some crime, or 1t may have been the
result of some freakish notion. The
more likely explanation is that Cal
der and the woman she claimed al
| wifeAagreed that one should assume
the garb of man, so that one of them
would stand as a buffer between. them
and the hard knocks of the world
The real cause went with Calder t.
4 the grave.
The final chapter in the mysterious
| life OF Hiram E." Calder came to q
close at the county home, the woman
who had passed herself OF for man
4 for so many years. answering to the
death summons. She passed away
without giving any explanation OF
her reasons for posing as a man, and
no reason has been advanced other
than mere guesswork.
Not even the closest associates OF
Calder suspected that she was a
woman. her actions being decidedly
masculine at all times. Instead of
avoiding the company Of men she al
ways acted naturally with them, talk
! ing intelligently uponl many sub1ects
and greatly enjoying the gatherings
OF men where stories Of all kinds are
the chief amusement, not falling to
contribute her part.
/ AS man she registered and voted
In Orlando a number of times, being
perhaps the first woman in Florida
to exercise the franchise.
Consul General George H. scid.
more reports that, according to the
new census, Tolkio's population Il
2,O33,s21. an increase Of nearly
All, 900 over that of 1903. The num-
Der OF houses recorded is 5l9,735, an
increase Of 9 10000. g