Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 274, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 November 1912 — RIP VAN WINKLE IS BEATEN [ARTICLE]

RIP VAN WINKLE IS BEATEN

Believed Dead for 35 Years, Veteran Retunrs to Wife Who Been Drawing His Pension. Cincinnati. —Old Soldier Robert Mentzel has Rip Van Winkle beat several blocks in the way of being lost and forgotten by the 'world and then coming back. Mentzel, who is now living in Dayton, 0., is seventy-five years old. For the past 35 years he has been considered dead by his wife, who for 22 years of that time has drawn a pension from the government as a soldier’s widow. Mentzel disappeared in 1877 and was no more heard of till a few weeks ago, when he applied for a service pension. His wife had been getting a pension of sl2 a month for years hack as a soldier’s widow.