Anaconda Standard, Montana
15 February 1918
(Viewed online at GenealogyBank.)
ROMANCE IS SHATTERED BY HUN SUBMARINE
Jennie Barnes of Butte Waits in Vain for Homecoming of John Edwards.
There are many in Butte, no doubt, who mourn the loss of John Edwards, who went down with the transport Tuscania, but none, perhaps, who miss him more than little Miss Jennie Barnes of 1629 Gaylord street. For Miss Barnes was to have married young Edwards this springtime.
The two had been engaged for a long time. They would have had the marriage ceremony performed in January had it not been for the fact that Edwards was called for foreign service a little sooner than he expected. The day was put off, therefore, until the "home-coming," which they did not think would be far in the realm of the future.
The body of John Edwards was recovered from the water and was buried on the Scottish coast. When found the identity if the drowned man was learned from a name on a card which was strung round the neck. On the same card was the name of Jennie Barnes. All this Miss Barnes learned in communications from the war department at Washington. Thus, even in death, a heroic death, was there a reminder of the girl John Edwards had left behind.
John Edwards was born in Cornwall, England. He came to America many years ago and settled in Butte. He took out his citizenship papers later on and lived in this city for several years. For the past year and a half he had lived at the home of Mrs. Thomas Barnes, mother of Jennie Barnes, some miles from the heart of this city.
Here it was he met and loved Jennie Barnes; "Jen," he called her. They became engaged. They would have been married by this time had it not been for the call of Uncle Sam. John Edwards heard it and donned the khaki. He joined the service in Butte on Nov. 6, left for Camp Lewis from here and then set sail for France and the trenches on Jan. 22 on the ill-fated Tuscania. Jennie Barnes got a letter from him the same day, telling of his sailing.
Later she heard from the war department that he had been on the ship, but had not been located. A telegram followed that he was among the missing, and then came the heartbreaking one which told of his death and burial on a slope of the Scottish coast.
