Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1893-09-05
A QUEER FAMILY.
Five Eccentric Men Who Lead
Very Strange Lives
Thoy VIII Not Permit . Woman to
Gross Their Threshold - Their
Money IL all Deposited In o..
StrmnRN RAEA


At the mouth Of a coal bank In Mes
shamrock township, six miles from
New Castle, Pa, stands q little two
roomed cabin, built mainly of logs and
plastered with mud. The roof is made
OF clapboards and the one door of the
cabin is a plank that swings on pair
about the cabin has an air of antiquity,
says the New York Advertiser.
The occupants are miners and their
appearance is in keeping with thor
surroundings. The father, John Lewis,
is widower, seventy-three years OF
age, little stopped by his continuous
work in the mine, but still enjoying
good health. There is nothing about
his appearance to indicate ecccntricity,
except his long beard, which reaches
below his waist. While working he
keeps it tied in a knot, and on coming
out of the coal bank his first attention
is given to his beard, and he never
ceases washing and scrubbing at it un-
til it is as white as snow. For over
fifty odd years a razor has never come
upon his face and he regards his whislx-
ers as almost sacred.
Mr.. Lewis has four sons, who are no
J..
They arc John and Edward and George
and William, two sets of twins, aged
about fifty years. None of the bows
has ever shaved. and as they are almost
exact countcrparts it is next to impos-
siblc for even those intimate with the
family to distinguish them apart. This
curious family is of Welsh extraction,
but tho boys were all born in New Cas-
tie. Their mother dying shortly after
the birth of George and William, Mr..
Lewis bought the coal bank in Nesshan-
mock township, put up the cabin above
described and removed thithcr.
For one year he had y housekeeper
take care Of the children, but since that
time no woman has ever crossed the
| threshold of his humble home.
MIR. Lewis has IN aversion to their
society, and when he mal1esllis month
ly visit to New Castle for supplies he
| buys at the stores located on the out
| skirts, and if pcrchance he sees a
woman on the sidewalk he villa take
the middle Of the street. The sons
very seldom visit town, and when they
do always in company with their
father, to whose side they cling more
closely than a ten-year-old boy.
Mono Of the family is able TO read or
write and they are consequently very
superstitious. They have no faith in
banks and, although worth probably
ten thousand dollars, hoard their
money. The income from their coal
bank is quickly changed into gold, to
| be deposited in their safe. This safe, ac-
cording to neighborhood gossip, would
| battle the ingenuity of the most expert
| bank robber. It consists of a stout
iron box three feet square. This box
is placed at the bottom of well twelve
feet deep located underneath the
cabin. The well is filled with stone
and from trap door a common gas
| pipe three inches in diameter leads to
the box. Deposits in the safe are made
by dropping the coins down the gas
| pipe. The men never take anything
] out and a coin once dropped there is
supposed to be sailed down for life.
There is said to be three pounds of
! dynamite sccreted in the well which
can be touched off by secret fuse at
any time in case of an attack by rob-
bers. A knowledge of this fact has
doubtless kept the Lewis family free
from the notorious gang that has been
committing depredations In Lawrence
county during the last year. The fam.
tly is not known to have any relatives
IN the country and who will get the
contents of the iron box and their real
estate IL matter of much speculation.
They have no intimate friends, their
dealings with tho world being confined
TO scRing coal, and In this connection
1t might be mentioned that Ave large
dogs are osed by the men in hauling
the COIL from tho bank. These dogs
ore treated as members of the family,
sharing the same roof and eating the
same vietuais. Father and cons take
week about at cooking. They do their
own baking and washing and three
pounds of sngae, it Ia said, lasts them
nearly n month Every member of the
family is IN inpetcratc smoker. Mono