Republican farmer., 1919-11-14

this town Officially reported as killed in battle last November the news oI his death caused his mother to com init suicide Last May there appeared in Bethel a young man whom an aul of the supposedly dead soldier, in a chance meeting on the street, recog- nizel with astonishment and delight as Harry. He told hel he was not Harry, but Sam Reddy of New Ca naan Impossible, she said; he was certainly Harry, his notion to the contrary being due, she thought, 10 shell shock or a mentality Wrecked from some other cause. She toIu hlliI of his mothers suicide and ne NePt- Taken to the elder BrOmley's nome Harry Bromley, Sr., recognlzea Ile young man as his son. Harry,s dog also seemed to recognize the visitor and gave him a joyful welcome. Then the young man, with faculties seem ingly new born, recOlected that lie was Harry and told of haVlnS been desperately wounded in the Afgohhe fighting and of lOng say Tn a nos pttal After a short stay i'll BeIheI he left and later turned up at " est ftea- ding and there met Wilhafn t1esS' H19 former boss in a lime kiln job, ana hired out to him for farm work. MT Hess had then no doubt as 10 the man being Harry Bromley. This was only one of many instances by which the same identity seemed to be esta9- lished beyond any doubt at that tlI4e'
 The next chapter in this remark able case came with the arrest aI South NorwaIk last week Of the same young man on a charge of steahhg shit of clothes at Bethel during his lost sr,rire's visit. Since then his parsonaIity has veered between that of Harry Bromley and Sam Reddy in the most astonishing way with abun- daUt evidence in support of each. All the numerous members of the Reddy family in New Canaan declare that he is unuuestionabIy sam Reddy and that he did not go to the war The man himself after being taken to Bethel. svore to a long affidavit de- c1arinsr himself to be Bromley Soon afterwards he repudiated this state nent and shifted to the Reddy per sonality. The elder Bromley descrIb- ed three scars on the body ot his son and these were found on the young man although not i'll exactly inc places described. In the old fashioned melodranla one strawberry mark. usually on the le5t arm, was sufficient to make sure a persons identity and here was the same proof thrice strengthened. However, the conclusion finally reached from careful weighing of all the contra dieting evidence. a conclusion now shared by the elder Bromley himself, is that the man is really Reddy. He is a very iIliterate person and to some degree a mental defective, but not withstanding that fact possessed of an amazing faculty for deception, in cluding possibly self deception.
 E+,r-- service he knows the military lingo well and tells of his alleged battle eN- periences and of having possessed himself of the Identification tag of . dead conrade with a realism tending to frpart conviction. He also tells correctly a great number of details relating to the personal history of young Bromley and young Reddy and of the two families generally. Alto gether. it is a case to delight the physiological investigator minded to pursue the theory that the man is a natural hypnotic subject, having an abnormal susceptibility to the infiu- ence of suggestion. Not mentally bright he shows, nevertheless, an astounding mental alertness in ab- sorbing and making use of stray bits of information tending to strengthen and make plausible his assumption of the different personalities. Of course the success of these assumptions de bends in a measure on wonderfully close resemblance as to genera physique and features between the two men, but that resemblance would not have been so banIing as it has proven were not each of the charac- ters so well fortified by the mystery mans talk and demeanor.
 Bethel, Nov. 13-Samuel Ready ot New Canaan, alias Henry Bromley, g Bethel soldier reported killed in ac- ton in October, 1918, was bound over to the next term of superior court 1T Bridgeport yesterday afternoon on 2 technical charge of theft. Bonds wert fixed at $500, but in default of bond! the prisoner was taken to the jail 1T Bridgeport.
 officers who have been fnvestigat ing the remarkable case of dual iden titv associated with the supposed re turn of Henry Bromley are of th' opinion that the man arrested in Nor walk by o. J. Waite, an investigate of the war risk insurance bureau, i not Henry Bromley, but Samue Reddy of New Canaan, son of Johl Reddy.
 Samuel Reddy, alias Bromley, toll Investigator Waite, that he fought a the Argonne and that he change identification tags with a dead sol dier. He said that he deserted tn army and finally reached this coun try He said a man he met on train gave him a draft board iden tification card made out for Samue Reddy of New Canaan. The text o the affidavit which the prisoner mad in Bethel Sunday, when he elaine to be Bromley, follows:
 My name is Henry M- Bromley and was born in Norwich, Conn.,, an am 24 years old and unmarried. M fathers name is Henry D. Bromley who resides in Bethel My mother name was Grace, who died while
 was away in France in the army.
 am told she committed suicide whe she heard of my alleged death. Whe we left Norwich I think my famiI and myself moved to Lime Kiln hi1 Bedding, where we lived for som time. We then moved to Betht Wf ere my father is now living.
 never had much schooling and canno read or write, and when I was draft