Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-04-25
CASE OF DEGENERATION
Strange and HideouS Colony In
 New York County.
WEIRD TALE OF THE BAoKWooDs.

They Are Supposed to Be the Descendants
 of Three White Women and an Indian
 Hunter, Who Lived In This Forest as
 Long Ago as 17OO.
 PORT JERvIs, N. Y, April 25.-There has been discovered in a secluded part of Delaware county, near the head&aters of the Delaware river, a settlement of out casts, numbering about goo persons whose habits and mental developments charao- terize them as being only a small degree above the brute world. They are called Rushers and live on branch of the Della ware river called the Pople, which has its rise in the mountains not far from Delhi. The colony has no communication with the outside world, and so far up tho steep and rocky mountains Is it intrenched that its existence has been almost forgotten.
 In the summer these people pick berries :; in the fall. chestnuts, and in the winter they trap and hunt small game Their will lage is about five miles from Delhi, and the only road leading to it is an old Indian trail, in some places not moro than a foot wide. It Is worn into a deep path through the thin soil.
 In hollow almost on top of the high mountains is collection of dwellings built of tree trunks and pine bouRhs None of them is over six feet high. They have no Chimneys or windows and con- pared with them the wigwams of the In- dians nro seomly and habitable There arc no indications of husbandry, no do- mcstic animals nor evidences of civiliZa- tiOn.
 They Are Yellow Folk.
 Nearly all of thcse children of the mist are afflicted with some deformity caused by intermarriage for many genera tiOns and lack of knowledge, of self pres orvation Ur caro. Their hair Is unkempt, and thc!r faces are a deep yellow. They possess instinct rather than intelligence, and even tho faculty of speech is lacking
 On their being visited few days ago by party of inquisitive folk there was O general stampede Men and women dived into their huts. and tho children followed. One of the visitors shouted "Matt" sev- eral times, and man known to him by sight came slowly from his abode. He said,
 Howdy." and whom asked about his health replied. Pert" Gradually the rest of the colony gathered about.
 There wcre the halt lame, blind, blear eyed and crippled Hardly ono of thom did not have some disflgurement, especial ly of the hands or feet
 One idiot boy about 10 years old, led by his mother. had head so large that 1t was kept in place by constant oscillation The physician of the party termed it hydro cephalus. On~romarkable deformity was man 30 years old, whose head resembIed that of bear His lower limbs curved in likc dogs and were covered with short, reddish hair. An attempt was made to examine his hands, but he gave 0 grunt and hobbled away. It was impossible to learn anything of his birth from any of the colony.
 The history of this strange tribc is said to extend back to I70O It is said that Q man named shannon settled in the will derness of Sullivan county. He had throe daughters. one of whom lived with an In- dian hunter named Jacobs Shannon was killed, and his two remaining daughters joined the elder sister and became polyRa- nous consOrts of her protector They raised largo family. and these Rushers arc supposed to bo their descendants