The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-02-28
THEY DWELL IN A TUNNEL.
Put q Barbed-Wire Fence Around
Their Roof and Barricaded Their

Charleston, w. Va. Letter in the Sun.
One of the strangest cases of insan-
ity ever known in this vicinity has
come to light in the case of the Ell
lingwOod family, who live at the cor
ner of Smith and Brook streets. The
entire family, consisting of Mr. EllinE-
wood, who is 55 years old; Mrs. Elllng-
wood, so years old, and their two
daughters, Elizabeth and Helen, % and
20 years old respectively, are now IN
the hands of the authorities and will
be removed to one of the state hos
pitals for the insane as soon as the
arrangements can be made. The doe
tors who have examined them believe
that lack of food, the use of drugs.
and the life of isolation from their
neighbors, which they have led of late
years of their own choice, are the
causes of their condition.
When the Elingwoods came here
about twelve years ago from Indiana
they were well-to-do and bought the
land where they now live. Two
houses were built, one of which they
rented, living in the other. Mrs. Ell
lingwood, who was Miss Lillian Cox,
is related to many of the prominent
families of the city, and the family
was well received. Mr. Ellingwood is
an artist, and the income from his
work was added to by the proceeds Of
music lessons given by his wife. OF
late years, it is said, the Ellingwoods
became very poor. They began to shun
society and for the past two years
Mrs. Ellingwood and the girls, when
spoken to on the street by acauaint-
ances, would avert their faces and
hurry by without replying. 1t was no.
ticed that they We're always pale with
a sort of blush pallor. Some charit-
able persons, who attributed this 20
insufficiency of food, took measures to
relieve the family, but were rebuffed.
1t Is long since any stranger has been
within their house.
How long this condition of affairs
might have continued 1t is impossible
to say, had not the Ellngwoods been
seen last week, putting up siX-foot
barbed-wire fence around the edge of
their roof. The entire family worked
on the fence until it was completed.
A neighbor shouted to Mr.. Ellingwood
while the work was in progress and
asked what it was for.
ITO keep our enemies from stealing
the shingles" was the reply.
To other people who saw him occa-
siOnally the head of the family talked
wildly about enemies who We're seek
ing his family's destruction. The po-
lice We're finally called upon to act, on
the ground that if the family was in
sane, as seemed obvious, some re-
straint should be put upon them less
they become violent. When the officers
went to the house they found it bar
ricaded. Effecting an entrance after
considerable difficulty, they became in
volved in masses of tangled wire in
terspersed with iron hooks and pointed
stakes, and when at length they had
made their way through the house they
could not find any member of the fam
lily. They did find elaborate prepara-
tionS for barricading almost every
room in the house. In fact, there was
little in the house but defensive appar-
atus, most of the furniture having been
converted to this purpose or having
disappeared. Presently one of the
party discovered a hole dug under the
kitchen floor, which, on investigation
proved to be tunnel connecting the
two houses.
This, also. had been heavily barri-
caded every few feet In the middle
of it the invading party found the
family crouched in prayer and in a
pitiable condition of terror. They made
no resistance when led out, but the
daughters cried bitterly. Mr.. Elling-
wood said that the tunnel was the
work of the entire family, delving with
such implements as they had-a
hatchet, a stove shovel and bits OF
woodland that it had taken months
to make it. 1t was to be a place. he
said, where they could withdraw from
the sight of men and could retreat
from the enemies who constantly
sought their lives. Who these enemies
We're he could not be induced to tell.
Mrs. Ellngwood and her daughters
made no reply to questions put to
them. The tunnel was in a terribly
filthy condition. There is little hope
that the father and mother will ever
recover their minds. The girls, who
are greatly emaciated, may, with good
food and careful treatment, come back
to their senses.