The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-12-11
TASTED THREE WEEKS
so SAYS OTTO FELTZBAUER. PICK
ED UP BY THE POLICE
YESTERDAY
WAS SICK AND OUT OF MONEY
Went Into an UnOccupfed House for
Shelter and Became Worse So
Rapidly That He Was Unable to
Leave the Place in Search of As
mOnia.

For twenty-three days Otto Filtzbauer
claims to have hidden away a recluse
in an unoccupied house on Hester street,
near the fish hatchery, without food or
warmth until, when found by the police
yesterday, he was i'll from exposure and
starvation. The man was poorly clad,
without shoes or stockings and extremely
filthy. His feet were frost-bitten, while
his emaciated condition corroborates his
story of privation, and he was so ex-
hausted that he could scarcely speak.
Under his thin clothing he had stuffed
lot Of excelsior to keep him warm. Filtz-
bauer was removed to the city hospital,
where the physicians say he is very i'll,
showing symptoms Of acute pneumonia.
Ffltzbauer is a German and cannot
speak English. Through an interpreter
he told rather rambling story of his
self-banishment to the old house He
said he was a stranger in the city, sick
and without means, SO when he came
upon the unoccupied house he crawled in
side. His condition grew rapidly worse,
and he could not leave the place. Wait
ing and hoping for someone to come to
his rescue, Fi1tzbauers says he remained
helpless, without food or drink for
twenty-three days. He remembers the
length of his suffering, he says because
he scratched a n ark on the plastering Of
the walls as the days went by. He fire.
quently called for help, but was so weak
that his voice scarcely sounded through
the room, and no one on the outside
heard him until yesterday.
The sick man was discovered in his
terrible plight shortly after o'clock yes
terday afternoon, when Marcus Mossong,
dairyman living near the unoccupied
house, heard faint cry issuing from the
place. He investigated and found Filtz-
bauser lying exhausted on the floor The
Margaret station police were at once no.
| titled, and took Fiitzbauer to the station
Here he was thoroughly warmed and
given some food when he was hurried
to the hospital.
The house where Filtzbauer was found
was formerly used as a railroad board
ing house. 1t is located on the river
bluff, within a short distance Of the fish
hatchery and close to the Burlington rail-
road yards. 1t has been unoccupied for
some time, and the only house in prox-
unity is that Of the dairyman, who went
to the unfortunate mans rescue The
road passing the house is not graded
street, and comparatively few persons
!
that F'iltzbauer was not earlier discover
ed.
When the police reached Filtzbauer he
was unconscious and apparently dead.
His face was thin and pinched, deathly
white, and his limbs cold He lay on-the
bare floor, without covering of any kind,
while his body was in a revolving state
| of uncleanliness. Ffltzbauer revived at
the station, but lapsed into unconscious
| ness again on the way to the hospital.
The physicians say the man had beyond
doubt undergone extreme privation, and
was suffering greatly from lack of food,
put were somewhat skeptical as to the
length Of Filtzbauers suffering. The doc
tors say a sick man could hardly have
lived through such a long period of star
walton and exposure, but Filtzbauer in
sists that he lay in the house twenty
| three days
He is twenty-nine years of age and a
laborer. He says he has an aunt Mrs.
Josephine Geier, living in this CITY. His
condition is regarded by the physicians az
| precarious.