WOMAN FIFTY YEARS AS A MAN.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14017, 25 June 1913, Page 2

WOMAN FIFTY YEARS AS A MAN.

The extraordinary career of a woman who for over fifty years masqueraded as a man has been disclosed at the Soldiers’ Home at Quincy, Illinois. The man-wo-man has been an inmate of the home for over two years, being enrolled on the books as Albert Cashier. She is a veteran soldier of the Civil War, and might have preserved her secret until her death had not growing mental cnfepblement, and the resultant neglect of her physical wellbeing caused the authorities to order two attendants to give her a bath. Unable to escape the ordeal, the veteran appealed to a female nurse, to whom she confessed her identity. According to her narrative she is a native of Ireland, and went to America as a stowaway, disgui-ied as a boy. When the Civi IWar broke out in 1861 she enlisted in G Company of ’.he 95th Illinois Infantry, and endured three years’ service in the field. At the close of the war there were only thirty survivors of the company. Several of urn were inmates of the home where she I t s spent the last two years. They never s-' spected that Cashier was a woman, and declare that she was a fearless and effictent soldier. After‘peace was established she was employed for years as a farm ha id. Later she become a mechanic and. chauffeur, in which capacity she was a familiar figure at garages in all parts of Illinois. The authorities, adds the “Mail” correspondent, are much puzzled as to what to do with this war-scarred woman veteran.