Evening star., 1926-06-20
THINKS DEAD SON
WAS IN ASYLUM
Georgia Woman Refuses 10
Believe Report He Perished
in World War.
By the Associated Press.


; ATLANTA. Ga, June 19.-The un-
fiac,Slg faith OF mother, who re
fused to believe a Government report
that her son had been lost at sea dur
ing the World War. has revealed q
story here that is stranger than fiction
Seven years ago, after her son was
officially declared lost at sea by the
Navy Department. Mrs. ]. c. Perry Of
Kingsland, Ga, located a man whom
she and other members Of her family
assert is her son in the Illinois State
Asylum for the Insane at Kankakee.
Sailed OH British Tanker.
Thomas w. Perry, her son. enlisted
in the Navy here April 4, 1918. and
received his preliminary naval train
ing at Norfolk. Va. Soon after his
arrival there Perry wrote his parents
he was soon to sail on the British oil
tanker Area as an emergency mem
ber Of the United States Naval Signal
Corps assigned to that ship. Marine
department records show that the
Area was lost at sea October .. 1918
and that virtually all on board the
vessel perished. The Navy Depart
ment communicated the news OF the
death Of her son 10 Mrs Perry and
began 10 pay her war risk insurance
and allotment berS5S-
Refuses. +" Believe Him DeaH.
Mrs. Perry. refusing to believe her
son dead despite the official Govern
ment notification. began nationwide
search, asserting that she had seen
him in a vision and that he was still.
alive. The search led her 10 the llli-
nois Asylum in 1925. from which she
received q letter which said that
man answering the description she
gave in her advertisements was
among its inmates. Mrs. Perry Wis
tied the institution. but the man she
Immediately identified as her son ana
who was registered there as Thomas
w. Perry. address and history un-
known, failed TO recognize her as his
mother.
Two weeks later Mrs. Perry re-
turned for a second visit and this time
the man greeted her affectionately as
mother" and recalled incidents OF his
childhood.
Released Year Later.
A year later, through the efforts OF
State officials, Perry was released
from the institution and returned with
Mrs. Perry to her home at Kings
land. He was suffering from loss or
memory and physical exhaustion.
Upon his arrival with Mrs. Perry. the
man was positively identified as the
lost son and brother by her husband
and their sons and daughters.
Although the Perry family regard
the man with the same affection as a
son and brother. they are puzzled pE
n foreign accent to Perry'S speech
which crops out at intervals. How
ever. his memory is rapidly being re
stored and incidents OF his childhood
that occurred in and about kingsland
are recalled by him as by normal
person.
Found in DanviIle, Ill.
Records of the Kankakee institution
showed that Perry had been picked up
on the streets of Danyille. Ill, June
"a. 1921, a victim of amnesia and In
an exhausted physical condition. de
was sent to the Soldiers Home, but
as only his name was available 10
identify him. he was later transferred
to the Kankakee institution. where he
was found and claimed as her son by
Mrs. Perry.
Perry's case was brought before the
Veterans Bureau at Atlanta and he
was sent to the Government hospital
at Augusta for treatment. where ne
now remains. The Veterans Bureau
has again brought up the Perry case
and is endeavoring to make his identt-
fcation official through finger prints
and other Government records taken +,
at the time of his enlistment in the
Navy.