New York Times, March 8, 1927

BELLEVILLE, Ontario, March 7 (AP). - A letter received today notified relatives of Captain John Wesley Smith that their kinsman was not drowned ten years ago, as they had believed, when his vessel foundered, but had gone to Harrah, Okla. , and built up a prosperous business. The letter announced the death of Captain Smith on Feb. 22 last. Ben Wilson, Master of the Masonic lodge at Harrah, who wrote the letter, was quoted as saying that Captain Smith had told him "some of the secrets of his life" and had asked him to "notify the folks back home when he died. "

Captain Smith was believed to have drowned with eleven others when the coal schooner George Marsh, of which he was skipper, foundered off Pigeon island, near Kingston, Ontario, on Aug. 8, 1917. The only reason given for his concealment of his identity for ten years was that he wanted to start life anew.