The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-11-13

Hey lived in West Bedding before the draft grabbed him for the war the identity puzzle in which his person. aIity figures eNcites keen interest III this town. Officially reported as killed in battle last November the news of his death caused his mother to com init suicide Last May there appeared in Bethel a young man whom an aunr of the supposedly dead soldier, in a chance meeting on the street, TecoS- lfIizn= with astOnishme1t and delight as Harry He told her 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 nentail.- wrecked from some other cause. She told him of his mothers suicide and he Wept- Takc7 to the elder Bromley's home
 Harry Bromley, ST, recognized the young man as his son. Harrys dog
 also seemed to recognize the visitor and gave him a joyful welcome. Then the young man, with faculties seem ingly new born, recollected that ne was Harry and told of having been despeartely wounded in the Argonne fiasnting and of a long stay in a hos pItaI After a short stay in Bethel he left and later turned up at West Red ding and there met William Hess his fo--Her boss iii a lime kiln job, and hired out 70 him for farm work. MT Hess had then no doubt as to the man being Harry Bromley. This was only one of many instances by which the same identity seemed to be estao- Iished beyond any doubt at that tune. The next chapter in this remark able case came with the arrest at south NorwaIk last week of the same
 cI7 of STPa ling a suit of clothes at Bethel during his last sDring's visit Since then his personality has veered between that of Harry Bromley and Sam Reddy in the most astonishing way with abun- dant evidence in support of each All the numerous members of the Ready family in New Canaan declare that he is unquestionably Sam Reddy and that he did not go to the war. The man himself after being taken t. Bethel, swore to a long affidavit de clarins- himself to be Bromley. Soon afterwards he repudiated this state
 ment and shifted to the Reddy per sonaHty. The elder Bromley desc b. ed three scars on the body of his son and these were found on the young man although not in exactly the places described. In the old fashioned meIodrana one strawberry mark, usually on the left arm, was sufficient to make sure a persons s
 identity and here was the same proof thrice strengthened. However, the conclusion finally reached from a
 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 i degree a mental defective, but not withstanding that fact possessed of
 an amazing faculty for deception, in cluding possibly self deception.
 Although never engaged in military
 service he knows the military lingo 1 well and tells of his alleged battle ex- ! periences and of having possessed himself of the identification tag of a i dead comrade with realism tending ! to inpart 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 i physeologicaI investigator minded to 1 pursue the theory that the man is a natural hypnotic subject, having an ence of suggestion. Not mentally ] bright he shows, nevertheless, an
 astounding mental alertness in ab- 1 sorbing and making use of stray bits r of information tending to strengthen 1 and make plausible his assumption of l the different personalities. Of course 1 the success of these assumptions de- | bends in a measure on wonderfully | close resemblance as to general 1 physique and features between the | two men, but that resemblance would l not have been so baffling as it has | proven were not each of the charac- l ters so well fortified by the mystery 1 mans talk and demeanor.
 ! Bethel. Nov 13-SamueI Reddy of 1 New Canaan, alias Henry Bromley, a | Bethel soldier reported killed in ac- | ton in October, 1918, was bound over | to the next term of superior court in
 Bridgeport yesterday afternoon on a
 technical charge of theft. Bonds were fixed at $500, but in default of bonds l the prisoner was taken to the jail in Bridgeport.
 | Officers who have been investigat- | ing the remarkable case of dual iden- | tity associated with the supposed re-
 turn of Henry Bromley are of the 1 opi-ton that the man arrested in Nor
 walk by c. J. Waite, an investigator Ot the war FISK lnSuFdnCe buIeiu, lo not Henry Bromley, but Samuel
 Reddy of New Canaan, son of John Reddy-
 1 Samuel Reddy, alias Bromley, told 1 Investigator Waite, that he fought al
 the Argonne and that he changed 1 identification tags with a dead sol
 dier. He said that he deserted the
 army and finally reached this coun- l try He said a man he met on a ! train gave him a draft board iden- l tiftcation card made out for Samuel
 Reddy of New Canaan. The text of
 the affidavit which the prisoner made
 in Bethel Sunday, when he claimed
 to be Bromley, follows:
 My name is Henry M. Bromley
 and was born in Norwich, Conn.,, and
 am 24 years old and unmarried. My
 fathers name is Henry D. Bromley
 who resides in Bethel. My mothers
 name was Grace, who died while
 was away in France in the army.
 am told she committed suicide wher
 she heard of my alleged death. Wher
 we left Norwich I think my family
 and myself moved to Lime Kiln hill
 Redding where we lived for some
 time. We then moved to Bethe
 where my father is now living. ! never had much schooling and canno
 l read or write, and when I was draft