Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1884-02-28
A HERMIT IN CAVE.
Forty-four Years OF Life Passed in
Complete Solitude.

y Forty-four Nears OF Lie Passed In
Complete Solitude.
Philadelphia Press
Austin Sheldon, the famous Pike
County hermit, has abandoned his
cave in the mountains and returned
to his birthplace in Connecticut to
spend the remainder of his days. For
many years "Old Sheldon, the her
NIT, has been one of the curiosities
Of this region, aud his cave has been
visited by thousands of people.
He was born at Sunnyside, Conn,
in 1902, and is, consequently, in his
SD year In his boyhood he learned
the blacksmith's trade, and, arriving
at mans estate. was married 10 a
comedy, respectable young woman,
who became insane shortly after their
union. Sheldon put his wife in pri-
vate asylum, where he supported her
until she died. In 1910 he came to
4 Pennsylvania, where he expected to
engage IN stock raising, but he fell
I into the hands of some of the wild
land agents who infest this region,
and they relieved him of all his cash
and decided him q tract of wild land,
i in Lehman Township, that was not
worth ten cents an acre. When Shell
don saw how he had been swindled
out of his hard earned money he
raved like a mailman and partly lost
/ his reason He took up his abode in
cave on the premises, and there he has
remained ever since, desiring no hui
man companionship until within the
last few years. In 1873 he became
enamored of a pretty girl living not
many miles from his subterranean
home, and asked her to marry him.
She Indignantly refused, and her
parents forbade him to come near
their house Since that time the old
man has been thinking of returning
to Connecticut, and when a few days
ago his sister, woman so years of
agents only living relative-came
to see him, she induced him to accom-
paxy her to Sunnyside, where she has
q comfortable home.
FORTY -FOUR YEARS IN A CAVE
When, in 1877, the writer first visi-
ted the hermit's ceve the recluse was
a most horrible looking object, al
though since then his appearance has
altered for the better. He is as deaf
as a post, and those who desire to
question HIM are obliged to do so in
writing. The cave in which he spent
forty-four years is 12X14 feet, with a
gravel floor The furniture consists
Of four blocks of wood which serve
the purpose of table and chairs, and
one old rockingc chair in which he
sleeps. He has not slept in a bed for
forty three years, he says. He has
about half an acre of ground which
he calls mis- garden, and III 1t he grows
a little corn and few potatoes Upon
these vegetables and upon fruit, dried
roots, and such game and fish as he
can trap the old man has lived for
nearly half a century.
He has an old Bible which he reads
every day, and he can quote chapter
after chapter with wonderful accur
acy. For thirty-six years the old man
never shaved or had his hair cut He
wore curious-looking clothes, which
he kept fastened to his person with
hickory "withes" secured about his
waist Hs never wore hat. For his
defense against wild beasts he carried
long knife, sharp as "a razor, which
he made by grinding down an old file
4 He never read a newspaper since he
came to Pike county; never heard of
the civil war and never heard of Lin
coin or Grant He asked who they
were and what they did, one day last
summer
IR-BREADTH ESCAPES.
The old mans hair-breadlh escapes
from death have been numerous. In
1876 the horrible forest fires that
swept over Pike County surrounded
his cave, and he only escaped from
roasting alive by blocking up the en-
trance with stones ana remaining a
prisoner until the ferceness of the
flames abated So hot was the cave,
where he remained thirty-siX hours,
that his vegetables were made unfit to
eat. On another occasion he was
showed under, and for a week lived
on crackers, sassafras root, and melt
ed snow. Once while gathering
chestnuts he fell from the tree and
broke six of his ribs, and, crawling TO
his cave, remained there without
medical assistance until the broken
bones were healed His escapes from
wild beasts and snakes would fill a
volume.
The old man is believed to have
amassed a considerable sum of mon
ey. Visitors to his cave generally
gave him a douceur, and his income
from the sale OF furs and game was
considerable. AS he never bought
anything but crackers, cheese and
sugar he certainly must have saved
money.
How Some Writers Write.
Albany Arp1ls