In 1883, a strange woman stumbled off the northbound train one Friday evening in November, staggering as she walked. Some on-lookers thought she was drunk; others thought there was something wrong with her. She was taken to the restaurant owned by William Bennett where she was seen by a local doctor. He discovered that her side was paralyzed. She was taken in by the Bennett family until Saturday morning when she “had a hard fit” (a seizure, perhaps?) and Mrs. Bennett was no longer comfortable keeping her there. John. E. Opdyke, who was Poor House Com. (not sure – commissioner?) referred her to the keeper of the poor farm where she was taken in.
At first, she could not even give her name, but under the care of Dr. Barnes, she remembered her name was either Helen A. Morton or Helen A. Burgess. She had a pocketbook containing 20 cents in silver and a postcard from a S. J. Thorpe in Chariton IA. After further investigation, they found that Burgess was her last name and she had lived in Bethany at one point. She had moved from place to place, going from Bethany to Albany then to Chariton before returning to Albany and somehow ending up in Ridgeway. When she left Iowa, she was given $3, but only had 20 cents left when she arrived in Ridgeway. The writer of the column wrote: “This woman is pitied, no matter how low or high family she may have sprung from and the county court should find out where she belongs to.” (“Ridgeway Racket”, Bethany Clipper, Nov. 29, 1883.)
