The Portland daily press., 1882-05-27
[Albany Journal.l
Unspeakably Cruel.
The Horrible Story That Is Told of a
Wealthy Family Near Cincinnati.

Charles Dickens, in his "Tale of Two Cities"
ly disappeared from the haunts of men, and
none save those who were conversant with the
facts knew whether he was dead or alive; how
he, after his imprisonment in the tower, for
none knew what, was kept in solitary room
because of his having lost all control over hi.
faculties by his long confinement A case SIM
liar in many ways to the conefinement in the
solitary room is said to exist within the corpo.
rate limits of Cincinnati According to the
statements of credible witnesses there lives in
q handsome mansion on Mt Lookout a man
wealthy in this worlds goods, surrounded by
all that wealth can bring him. The father OF
this man, now over so years of age, 1t is reput-
ed, has for the past twenty years been confined
in the cellar of his sons residence. The old
man is stone blind, probably from his long con
finement In the dark cellar. Way he Is Kept
there no one knows, except as ramor has it,
that his sons wife bears him animosity for
some cause.
Old aud infirm though he is, this old man is
but scantily Clad is fed on the leavings of the
table, served to him in an old, rusty tin pan,
much as dog would be fed, and as return
for what he gets is compelled to chop all the
kindling wood for the immense house. There,
in the dark, damp cellar, with barely clothes
enough to keep him warm, bare-footed and
bare-headed, this old man subsists on what he
can get-the scraps of the kitchen-and often
times he does not even get that. He, being
blind, cannot go out of doors to relieve nature,
but lives in his own filth. 1t is related that
last winter, when the snow lay on the ground
and the thermometer indicated temperature
that would almost freeze the marrow in
thickly-clad mans bones, the old man went out
doors, and of course could not find his way to
the onthouse When one of the servants vol
tor OH ha vUa
in law said: "No, let him find his way; it will
do the old devil good to stand in the snow
awhile.' Another time when somo of the
servants were eating meal in the kitchen, the
old man came to the top of the cellar stairs,
and said he was hungry. Upon this the daugh-
ter-in-law ridiculed him, and closing the door
on the old mans head, pushed him down stairs,
saying he could have nothing to eat because of
his asking for it,
He has no bed on which to sleep, such as
man of his years should have, but is given an
old, hard mattress-no pillow, and scarcely any
covering at all, lin the laundry, which is, from
the nature of the work done there, damp and
cold at all times. Never but once since his
confinement began has he been permitted to go
outside the yard, and that when his grandson,
who is very bitter in his denunciation of the
manner in which his grandfather is treated,
gave him $25 with whis h to take him to some
relatives in Tennessee. The grandson did not
know the old man was SO blind, and let him go
alone to the river, where he took boat going
up instead of down. When the old man final
ly discovered his mistake he jumped overheard,
but was rescned and sent back to the city, and
his grandson, hearing OF it, took him back to
Mt Lookout. 1t is asserted by some who are
acquainted with the facts and whem a Gazette
reporter talked with last night, that his treat
ment is something terrible, and especially in
the house of his own son, who is, SO to speak,
rolling in wealth.