| OCR Text |
Show Pension Claim a Thriller. s A strango story is related In tho casq of Mrs. I.eander Mcrchand of, Steubcnville, 0., whoso claim has Just h'n secured. Tho facts form a weirdly mysterious tale. Mcrchand, her husband, was born" In Florida, his father being a whito man and his mother an Indian. His mother died when ho was young and n' trader took him to South Cnrellua and sold him. Ho hnd straight lniMnc hair and complexion, but that inado no. difference. Klvo j ears later he was sold to n Mississippi planter, but escaped, and later Joined n Confederate regiment and was captured, and then ho enlisted enlist-ed In tho 102 Ohio volunteer Infantry. Ho was captured by tho Confederates, Confeder-ates, and after Imprisonment In Cohabn prison was exchanged and sent l.orth on tho Ill-fated Sultan, which blew up, more than 1,300 soldiers sol-diers losing their livcTB. When tho boat blow up ho landed Insensible on a laft of driftwood," arid was rescued and taken on an island below ArkfU'sns city. Ho?wasfb'ntily Injured nnd scalded. He recovered and drifted west, whorq ho mot. tho ptesent Mrs. Mrrchnnd, who taught him to read and write. Ho wrdto the facts about his life In n prayer book, which was used to establish tho claim. Later In llfo ha became n harmless lunatle, und wnn-durpd wnn-durpd Into a swamp and was drowned. The widow will use tho mono in buy-lug buy-lug a plantation In tho sauthwest |
