The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1877-04-07
Death ofthe Lehman Hermit.

On Monday and Tuesday Of last week n fear.
full storm of snow and wind prevailed through.
out the Delaware Valley-drifts many feet in
depth formed in the Pike county mountains,
and the weather was bitter co d. On Friday
persons living in the northern part of Lehman
township found the cabins of a number Of hoop.
pole cutters nearly buried in the snow. and the
inmates almost dead with cold and hunger. In
a ten.foot drift, near the top Of the mountains,
they found the dead body Of Austin sheldon,
better known rs the " Hermit of Lenman." He
had lived over forty years in cave in the rocks,
near the entrance Of which his body was found.
Sheldon was nearly 72 years old. He was dis.
covered in his cave thirty years ago by party
of hunters. He said he had been living there
ten years, and had not seen any human beings
in that time HIS cave was nine miles from the
village OF DiDgman's Nothing was known of
the hermps history until year ago. Then
some mention Of him was made in the papers of
his living as a hermit. The paragraph was seen
by parties in stony Creek, Conn, from which
place man named Austin Sheldon mad disap-
peared iOrty.tOur years before a brother and
sister of the missing man. both wealthy,
started to look the hermit up. They reached
his cave one day about dusk. The hermit YVES
their brother, but he could not be induced to
leave his cave even with the offer Of $4,000, and
a luxurious home as long as he lived. It. was
learned from the brother and sister of the her
init that he had lost his wife after brief mar
Tied life. He disappeared the dav on which she
was buried and not word had been heard from
him until the item IN the newspaper was seen.
His friends thought he had gOneito SEA and d ed
tv cave, sheldon says he rOamed for five years
through the woods of Connecticut, Vermont and
New York, stunning civilization. AT last he
found q cave in which he concluded TO live the
rest of his life. He did not know its locality mt
the time. but found afterward that IL was among
the MoOslc Mountains, III Wayne county, Pa.
The great forest that surrounded his cave soon
attracted the attention of the lumbermen, and
he fed deeper into the wilderness. After three
months of wandering he found the cave in the
Wild region where ne died. For over forty years
he lived in this hole in the rocks Originally
not more than eight feet square, accumulation
Of the rubbish OF forty years reduced Its proper
ton so that there was barely room to turn about
berries. At the time of his death his form was
much bent The clothing that hung in rags and
tatteTs from his person had been dOnned %
years ago, and never taken of. 1t was held to.
Rether by hickory wlthes. He never washed.
A thick gray beard that hung almost to his
his shoulders, was matted with burrs and twigs,
and had not been touched with comb or brush
for fOrty-fve years He never went far away
from his cave. A long staff and an ancient b.
ble-the latter hanging from his belt-were his
constant companions. 1t was his boast that he
had read his Bible through twice year ever
since he had been in the wilderness. He held
daily communion with God, he said and talked
with the prophets OF old. Several times hts cave
had been surrounded with forest fires, and al
most every avenue of escape cut off, but he
calmly renamed IN his retreat, reading his Bi:
BILE, until removed by wOOdsmen thoughtful of
his safety. Nearly every winter for years he
has been rescued from freezing and starving
He never made any effort to save himself, say
ing he was in the hands Of God. The cave in
which he lived was permeated with so hOrTid a
stencil that visltOrs could not remain in IL, and
the hermit himself was covered with Nth and
vermin. sheldon was an educated man. HIS
flmlly is among the leading ones OF Connect.