American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1875-01-23

DearaDle. AL tnlS time tnc family nVeQ
at Red-Coat's Green, near Kitchen, in
| the house where the hermit afterward
| lived and died. When he hunted he rode
with his shirt outside, barefoot, bare
headed, and used rope for his
bride and stirrups lie became
attached to young lady, whom
/ he prosecuted with his attention. Ills
mother died in 1S49. He was then the
| eldest surviving son, but younger one
| was left executor. The hermit would
| not sign his name to any stamp, as he al
ways held that the Queen wasnot the hit
full heir to the throne. He did not, how
| ever, scruple to use coin bearing her
image. He kept his mothers body in
| the house for three months, promising
| to let her be buried tomorrow" the
| greater part of his time being spent be-
| side the corpse. He expressed great sor-
row for her death, but as he never showed
any affection for her during her life, his
sincerity was doubted by his relatives.
His life as a hermit now began. His
brothers and sisters could not live with
| him, and he became eStranged from his
| brother owing to his interference about
| the interment. The appearance of the
house bespoke the character of its Occu-
pant. Windows and doors were care
fully barricaded, and the house was al
| lowed to go to ruin; SO likewise was the
garden. Glass and easement disappeared
| from the windows, the strong upright
bars alone remaining. Here the possess
or of ample means, man of at least
| fair education, lived day and night. He
appeared to emerge from bed of ashes.
He had not slept in bed for years. In
washed, his skin was in an undesirable
condition, the whites of his eyes contrast
ing strangely with the rest of his face
Clothes he had none, only a dirty blanket
| loosely thrown over him. His hair was
IN atted with dirt. In appearance he
was about five feet six inches high,
rather muscular, with dark hair and eyes.
The room in which he lived had fire, an
old table, chair and numerous bottles.
1t is said he suspended his food from the
ceiling to keep it from the rats. He
spoke to any visitor who came to see him
in a low, plaintive tone, which seemed
| to imply fear or apprehension. He
wrote no letters, in fact never wrote at
all, except upon a check book, which he
made use of to pay his bills. His bust
ness transactions with his bankers were
always correct, except that he would not
sign stamp. Lucas was not a miser.
He gave to swarnns of tramps, in cop
pers and gin, giving always more to q
| Romanist than Protestant. On Good
Fridays he doled out sweetmeats, cop
| pers, gin and water to 200 children. His
| diet consisted of bread, cheese, red her
ring, milk and gin. Once he gave up
milk, because he thought they were
poisoning him. In his own room was
found a CARLOAD of loaves in which he
had suspected poison. He died of apo
pleXy at siXty-one on the 18th of
last April A week before his death he
seemed lively and communicative, and
| seemingly without deluSion. He partial
ly remembered Latin and Greek, but
seemed at a loss for a word. His most
| frequent visitors say that sometimes he
would weep like child, bemoan his
| condition. which he would attribute to
the unkindness of his brother; at other
and act with great violence.
| That there was no imbecility of mind
| may at once be granted. His converse
| ton was coherent and sensible; he was
| shrewd and wide-awake in money mat
| tiers and his memory was remarkably re-
| tentive. 1t is doubtful whether any jury
| would have found him insane. On the
other hand there is the family history
pointing to hereditary insanity, only
| wanting some exciting cause to develop
| it also, the change of character at ten
and his strange mode of life. All these
conditions prove that the hermit's con-
ditions passed the limits of eccentricity,
and that his emotions were perverted by
dlsuse. While his case was one of moral
| insanity, Sldte Oh ueSTaueu IetlluS
| rather than of intellectual capacity, his
suspicious at times took the form of
| definite decisions. The writer attributes
his mental condition to the unfavorable
circumstances of his childhood acting
upon a brain in all probability predis-
posed to disease. Should such a man be
interfered with? Considering his insani-
ty, would it have been desirable to place
him under care? He was harmless to
| 9th al To, hi
general sense; but might he not have
been benefited under medical treatment
and control? 1t certainly would have
saved a great deal of trouble had he been
under the protection of the Lord Chan
cellor 81 submit, " says DIR. luke, "that
such control would have been better for
the neighborhood, for his family and for
the hermit himself" Science
Monthly for January.