A new article has been added at Newspaper Abstracts > United States > District of Columbia http://www.newspaperabstracts.com/index.php?action=displaycat&catid=323 Direct link to article: http://www.newspaperabstracts.com/link.php?id=33213 Submitted by: Susan Article Title: Washington Post Article Date: December 13 1884 Article Description: Sea-Faring Man Appears in Alexandria with a Strange Story Article Text: Alexandria was considerably stirred yesterday by the appearance of a sea-faring man. He stated that he was John T. Evans, who had been missing from that city since 1857, and that he now appeared to claim his share of his father's estate, valued at $120,000. Many of the oldest inhabitants were called upon to identify the stranger. There was a division of sentiment, some saying that it was Jack Evans, while other were equally positive that the stranger was an impostor. Public opinion was divided and bets were freely offered on both sides of the question. The stranger's story was that in 1857 he had a dispute with and left his father, John T. Evans, a well established hatter on King Street, and who also had the reputation of being a trader in anything that money could be made out of. After leaving Alexandria, young Evans went to Philadelphia, where he opened a saloon, but he was not successful in the venture, and accordingly he returned to Washington, where he remained fo! r a short time, and subsequently left for Petersburg, Va. For 3 months he remained at Petersburg, and then he returned to Philadelphia and entered the merchant marine, making his first voyage to Liverpool in 1859. From Liverpool he went to the West Indies, where he was shipwrecked and picked up by an English merchantman bound to Yokohama, Japan. At the latter place he enlisted in the United States Navy, serving on the Lackawanna for 3 years. He went to Honolulu after serving his time in the navy, and became a bookkeeper for a firm in the Sandwich Islands. All this time he had no tidings from home, and neglected to write because of the trouble with his father. Stubbornness, too, had a great deal to do with this course. After the war closed he returned to Philadelphia, and from that place he wrote home for the first time since he had left Alexandria. In 1868 he received a letter from his sister Virginia, now Ms. William A. Stuart, of Alexandria, urging him to come hom! e, as it would be to his interest to do so. Since that time he has ne ver heard a word from his people, and he has continued at his business in China, whither he went for a second voyage. He served all 9 years in the navy, and then quit the service to engage in the business of a shipping master at Yokohama. Recently he made up his mind to return to the U.S., and he went to San Francisco, where he met an old Alexandria acquaintance named Smoot. From him he learned that his father had been dead about 10 years and that the other heirs were searching far and wide for the missing brother, in order to turn over to him his share of the estate, for their father had died without making a will. From the same acquaintance, he learned that the estate was valued at over $100,000, and that all he needed was to produce the papers showing his identity and obtain his own. He at once entrusted the case to the firm of W. O. Mushback & Co. of Alexandra, and yesterday he called upon his friends for the first time and was astonished to find such a cold meeting! . He was called an impostor and cheat by some, while others declared that he was the same Jack Evans who had been worsted in a fight and had his nose broken when a young man about Alexandria. The claimant is a heavy built man, with a dark moustache and iron-gray hair. He says he is 52 years old, but he does not look above 40 and his hands are unmistakably those of a sea-faring man. He does not affect any display about dressing, except a small diamond pin in his necktie, and he is undoubtedly what he claims to be, a man who has seen considerable of the world. The register at the Braddock House, in Alexandria, where he stopped yesterday, shows the name of "John T. Evans, San Francisco," written in a good business hand. He says that he has saved some money in the course of his travels, which he finds he will need to fight his case on account of the opposition manifested toward him in Alexandria. He called upon one of his sisters who recognized him by certain India ink m! arks on his right arm, but it was too late for him to accomplish anyth ing. He has preserved the letters and other memoranda of his early life, which, together with pictures of his father and mother, he proposed to place in the hands of his attorneys for such use as they may deem proper. Two of his sisters, he says, refused to recognize him, but this was for obvious reasons, and he will convince them yet that he is their brother. Another phase of the case is that a woman has presented herself, claiming to be the widow of John T. Evans, Jr., but he emphatically denies that he was ever married, and declares that this woman is the only impostor in the case. He says he does not anticipate anything but a favorable result after he submits the documentary and other evidence now in is possession. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ DC-Old-News ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ NewspaperAbstracts.com - Finding our ancestors in the news! TM http://www.NewspaperAbstracts.com