The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1893-06-22
A STRANGE ROM
A Reciuse Who H asn't Seen a woman
In Thirty Years.

In Thirty Years.
The following is taken from an ex-
change of recent date:
Gully as moving and tragic as
the story of Walton is that of John
Armstrong, who for more than fifty
years has led the life OF recluse in
the dense pine forests which surround
Newbern, N. G. Armstrong; ruin,
like Walton's, was wrought by
woman's perfdy. The only son of a
well-to do planter near Wilmington,
N. C., Armstrong wooed and was
accepted by Carrie Scott, the daugh-
ter of a neighbor. On the morning
set for their wedding, fifty-five years
ago, as Armstrong and a party of
friends were riding toward the home
of his promised, they were met bv a
negro servant who informed them
that Miss Carrie had been married
some hours before to a Northern
gentleman named Samuel Opdyke.
and had already left for the North.
For moment Armstrong seemed as
if dazed by a heavy blow. Then,
without word to his companions,
he put spurs to his horse and soon
disappeared in the distance He was
never seen again in that neighbour
hood, and the belief was soon accept
ed that he had committed suicide.
Time passed, his father and mother
died, and their property fell to dis
tant relatives. Armstrong; disap
pearance was almost forgotten,
party of Newbern hunters by acct
L
remote part of the forest, the cabin
which for thirty years had been
Armstrong; home. To the hunters
Armstrong told his past history.
He said that on the fatal morning
when he learned that his promised
wife had proved false to her VOWS he
resolved to at once and forever turn
his back on humanity, and this reso-
luton he Lad thus far relieiously
kept.
He was greatly annoyed that his
hiding place had at last been found,
and, though he has never since seen
fit to change it, he has always avoid
ed as far as possible the society oil
his fellows. However, he is often
sought out by the curious, and a
Northern gentleman, who visited him
few months ago, found the hermit
still hale and vigorous, despite his
G6 years. His hair and long flowing
beard are white as snow, but he
walks erect and with an elastic step
I He told his visitor he had not seer
or spoken to a woman in thirty
years, and had never seen a railroad
car or a steamboat. The doings O
| ~ Il II.
unknown to him, but he is a con
slant reader of religious and scien
tific works and an ardent student o
natural history. He has a splendiC
chronological collection, and cal
; tell correctly the name and habits o
every insect native to his neighbor
hood. But the curse of Cain is OF
this venerable recluse, and the stor,
} of his crime shows how time AM
/ chance sometimes work strange re
| suits. One day during the war ;
| Federal officer, to escape capture b,
; a scouting party of Confederat
, cavalry, took refuge in the forest
J and in the wanderings reached tn
: vicinity of the hermit's home an,
! encountered Armstrong himself. L
response to the latter's questions TIL
fugitive said that he was an officer il
the Federal army, and that his nam
was Samuel Opdyke. At the men
ton of this name the hermit starte
back and cooked his gun.
care you the man who Marie
Carrie Scott?'
Eyes; but why do you ask me tina
question? Who are your"
II am John Armstrong, whom sh
promised to marry and vowed tina
she loved better than any one else i
the world. But she deceived me; he
heart was hollow; she was false t.
me. You stole her from me, an
now [ have my revenge
He raised his gun and pulled TIL
trigger-it is the hermit himself VIII
, tells the story-and a second late
, Opdyke lay dead at his feet. Thu
the evil that women as we'll as me
do lives after them.