Year: 1879

sitting on log she worked herself into a
"brown study" She determined to


have no more to do with ''the johnson
tribe realizing, as she did, that their
I social positions were so unequal that a


marriage with lazy, ignorant fellow


only in unhappiness. Unfortunately,
her line of reasoning carried her still
further, and she concluded that the way
/ out of all her difficulties was 10 forever
/ leave her old haunts. When the conclu-
sion was arrived AZ, she at once started
for the state of New York. One night


was passed in the lonely woods, and the


next day she came across a hunters


cabin, the occupants of which were out.


She entered, found provisions enough


for meal, appropriated enough male


attire, and then resumed her journey.
Another night was passed in the forests
The next day she entered the village of
Corning, where she took the Erie train
FOR Dunkirk, to which place the road


had recently been completed. At Dun
| kirk she found employment as a cook on


Il lake boat. The society was not con-


genial, and she soon afterward obtained


tle position of head cook on first class


boat plying between Detroit and Buffalo.


This position pleased her, and she re-
J fGInaI II for O INro tiroa


In the meantime her parents had re-
! sorted to every means to find her. The
| first night Of her absence her father


searched the woods; the next day and


night and for several days and nights,
the search was continued, the neigbbors
joining in. Gradually the idea became
stronger that she has! voluntarily left


home and friends. Although her de-


meauor had always been of the strictest


moral nature and her virtues unquestion.
| ed, 1t was feared that in wild freak she


had gone to some city or village and en-
| tered upon life of shame. This sus-


picion on the part Of the parents and
sympathizing friends was the open talk
of the Johnsons, and the latter lost no


opportunity to impress the theory that


Katie had been driven to depraved life


by the conduct of her parents. The


latter were almost crazed. The father
advertised in the papers far and near,
and for years he searched in vain for his
little Katie.


One day while Katie was in Buffalo,


marketing for the steamboat cook room,
she picked up the paper and real the
advertisement regarding her and a de-
scription of her appearance. This alarm
ed her, but her alarm turned to positive
! fear, when. shortly afterward she saw her
father and policeman enter a low place
on the very street along which she was
| walking with her market basket on her
arm. She hurriedly made her purchases
and returned to the vessel. The thought
/ that her father suspected her of dishcn-
Oring him by becoming an inmate of
| such place as he entered in search of
her was agonizing, and in order to unde-
ceive him she almost determined to
| throw off her disguise and return to her
mourning parents. But stubborness
prevailed, and she preferred that all her
suffering should continue rather than
| abandon her purpose for forsaking all
who formerly knew her,


When the boat returned to Detroit she
gave up her situation and went TO Gin
cinnati, where she obtained employment
| as cook on boat running on the Ohio
and Missipi rivers. The life was rough,
and she often longed for the comforts of
her old home. She remained thus en-
ployed until the breaking ont of the war
in 1861, when she enlisted as a private.
She afterward was promoted to sergeant
In 1864 she was in Gen. Thomas divis-
ion of Nashville.


One day her captain, whose name was
Hopkins, and who was afterward pro-
NOTED to the position OF major, halted
her as she was returning from stationing
a squad OF pickets. Looking at her
sharply he asked her if she was
not q woman. The hot blood
mounted to her cheeks. Thus far she
had preserved her incognito apparently
unsuspected, Her silence and confusion
at once disclosed the truth, and she was
forced to confess her sex. The captain
said he had long suspected it. She
pleaded with him not to reveal her Sc
cret, but he said Gen. Thomas must
know it, and the captain and Sergt. Kate
were soon before him. He Sent her to
the rear IL the hospital, where she again
donned the costume of her sex, and her
duty until tho close OF the war was to
nurse the sick and wounded. When the
war ended she married the captain, then
major. They tried to live among his
folks in Ohio, but her escapades as a
soldier had gained her unpleasant motor
ity, and the tongue OF unjust scandal
forced them away. Drawing from a
bank the money she had saved as a
steamboat cook, they went to the island
of Cuba, in the interior of which thew
bought handsome plantation, where
they now reside. Their household con-
sists OF themselves, two children and
female colored servant.





In this retreat they were found by
Col. Wilson, OF Philadelphia. in 1876.
He had frequently spent the winter in
Havana, but in that year, in consequence
OF civil troubles on the little isle, lie had
sought a retreat further inland, and
found it IN the house OF an accomplished
American gentleman and his accomn.