Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1899-01-25
A MAN WITHOUT A NAME
MARooNED ON A BLEAK NOVA SEQ.
TlAN COAST FORTY YEARS AGO.

The blue books pub lshed by the
government of the province of Nova
Scotia are, as rule. pretty dry read
ing, and that called the Financial
Returns" is one of the dryest of the
lot. Yet there is one line in the FL
nancial Returns behind which luras
one of the strangest mysteries, which,
alter forty years, still remains mys-
terry. The Financial Returns give
all expenditures from the Office Of the
provincial treasurer that is. all ex-
perditures made by Tho province of
Nova Scotia. One line reads:
Jerome. Observation-Disclosures. $1O4 %
Few, if any, members fthe present
legislature know what it means. They
only know that it has been there for
many years, and therefore some one
is receiving $1O4 every year, but who
and what Jerome" is or why he
should receive anything they do not
know. The item was there in the old
days before confederation : before
there was any Dominion OF Canada
and Nova Scotia was q separate C, l.
ony.
One day, forty years ago, relates
the New York Sun, the people living
about the narrow strip of rock and
land on the Nova Scotia side of the
Bay of Fundy, known as Digby Neck,
observed ship on the horizon. Her
movements were unusual. She seemed
to be aimlessly lowering about the
same place. When darkness came
she was still there and her mission
was an object of much speculation to
the fishermen whose little cottages
were the only residences in the neigh
borhood of that rugged shore. Next
morning the vessel was gone, but
there was man, or piece of a man,
on the beach. His legs had been cut
off above the knee. The work had
been recently done and by a skilfui
hand. The wounded stumps were
carefully bandsged. The man was
apparently about nineteen years old,
with soft, faxen hairand blue eyes.
His white skin, delicate features and
shapely hands betokened that he was
probably we'll born and well brought
up. His underclothing was of finest
linen and his outer garments of good
material, but of cut differing from that
of any people the fishermen had ever
seen. He seemed to be suffering from
some terrible shock. Beside him on
the beach was small keg of water
and bag of ships biscuits.
He wss taken to ono of the cottages
and nursed aud cared for. He gradu-
ally recovered but was gloomy and
silent. His vocal organs seemed all
right, but if the cultural sounds lie
uttered were meant Tor words, nobody
could make out what they meant.
Pedlers who were from abroad and
seafaring men who had q smattefihg
of foreign tongues went to sec Him,
but his language. If language it were,
was strange to them all. Perhaps
no effort was made to teach him Eng
lish or perhaps his shllen disposition
rendered him unapproachable, or, the
shock to his system when his legs
were cut off tlhlled his mind SO that
he could not learn. Certain it is that
although forty years have passed since
he was marooned in the mysterious
manner described, he has never con-
veyed to any living being, by speech o
ciagle thought.
There was not lettergor paper OF
any kind nor marks on his clothing
to give the slightest clue to his name,
home, nation.lity or history. The
people called him ''Jerome" because
they thought some, of the sounds he
made with his voice resembled that,
but except for this he has remained
for forty years a man without name.
In time the poor people of the village
felt they could no longer bear the BUR-
den OF the waits maintenance, and
they applied to the authorities to re-
lievo thom of him. The poor commits
sioncrs of Digby county did not see
why they should bear the load. He
ccrtIinly was not Digby county man.
They accordingly applied to the legis-
lature of Nova Scotia to take care Of
him.
Pending invcstiga ion the legisla-
ture appropriated the sum of $l04 for
his maintenance. Investigation failed
to discover any more than was already
known and the grant was continued
year after year.
Jerome" lives now with respec-
table French Acadian family near a
place called Saulnierville, on the Bay
of Fnndy shore, in Digby county.
It is on the main post road Of the
province, and in bygone years pas
sengors By coach would stop to see
and inquire about the man, bat in
time they got SO accustomed to seeing
and hearing of him that they would
simply wave the hand to him as he
stood in front of the house summing
himself. He has always been very
fond of warmth, as though he had
come from hot climate. In the sum-
mer he basks all day in the sun. In
chilly weather he huddlcs behind the
kitchen stove.
He is still tue silent, gloomy man
he was when he first landed, keeping
to himself, eating at meal hours such
food as is placed before him, never
attempting to read or write, and never
having given any indication wh:ther
he can do so or not.
Various stories of a mutiny on n
vessel, of stolen heir being put out
of the way, of nobleman whose es-
1ates are in the hands of another are
among the versions of the mystery
which have had credence from time
to time, but none of them was ever
more than mere guess.
'Jorome's" early history remains to
this day a mystery, and although ne
enjoys good health, age is now COM
ing upon him, and it is doubtful if
INV solution will ever be found un-