The times., 1899-04-24
J1LrEp MANS FOOLISH vow.
Has Lived in One Room for Thirty
eight Years,


Cleveland, Ohio, April 23.-The men who
are still letting their hair and whiskers
grow because Henry Clay was not elected
President find their counterpart in various
eccentric characters scattered throughout
the country.
On a fine bluegrass farm fifteen miles
north of Harrodsburg, KY, there lives a
man, in the possession of unimpaired ply
steal and mental attributes, who has not
left the four walls of his room for thirty
eight years on account of foolish vow.
His name is Basil Haden, and the girl to
whom he was to have been married eloped
with another man on the day President
Lincoln took his seat in the White House.
In a fit of discontinue he entered his
room in the second story of his house and
declared he would never set foot on earth
again as long as he lived. and so far as IS
known he has kept his word and has never
entered even another room of his own
dwelling.
He is the sole owner of a fine homestead
and a farm of 500 acres left him by his
parents before the calamity of his life,
and permits no one TO see him except one
man of the name of Turner, who has been
manager of his farm for twenty-five years,
and even this man is permitted to come
only to his door.
However. through his manager several
hands are employed on the farm and stock
is raised equal to any in Kentucky. He
does his own cooking, and Turner de-
livers such articles as he needs at his
door.
A character of similar determination re-
sides in Urbana Ohio, where his many
eccentricities are well known. For nearly
twenty years John Glenn never wore d
coat or overcoat. winter or summer, ap-
In
and an ordinary vest. This TOO, was the
result of a hasty vow faithfully kept
His father kept a lanyard in Urbana.
He was one of the early settlers, and his
sons were employed by him in various de-
partments of his leather business. John
seems early to have developed peculiar
disposition, for it is said that even i'll those
early days he would only perform such
work as was left silently at his bench, and
would on no account take even the simplest
orders or directions from his father or
brothers
The coat incident came about through a
decision of the elder Glenn TO send one OF
his sons to West Liberty, Ohio. TO learn
the tinsmithing trade.
In the execution of the plan he bought
this son a full suit of clothes. at the same
time purchasing only trousers and vest for
John. who took offence at the fancied
slight and declared he would never wear a
coat again so long as his father lived. This
oath he kept until his fathers death
twenty years after, when he appeared at
the funeral in complete suit OF broad
cloth as good as money could buy.
During all these years he was practi
cally recldse and spent all his time.
when not engaged at work in the tannery
adjoining in his room reading. never APP
pearing on the streets or in public places.
In short time after his fathers death
he again took offence at some trivial af-
front and retired to his room, in which
he lived alone for years. His peculiari-
ties seem never to have introduced any
dscord into his daily relations with the
others of his family, and until the death
of his brothers they all lived together in