The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-09-10
A HERMIT IN WISCONSIN.
POSSIBLE FATE OF A FORMER TUTOR
OF CAMBRIDGE. ENGLAND.
John Holden Fled After Striking What He
Believed Was n Mortal Blow-Now
Thought To Have Spent the Remainder
of His Life as Recluse in tho Forest.


| the skeleton OF u man al the edge Of swamp
four miles north OF Armstrong creek, in the west
ern part Of this county. is supposed TO reveal the
fate Of strange man who led the life Of a hermit
| for more than quarter OF a century, and dis
| appeared on the day that his existence became
| known to the authorities. one day last week,
! some men in the employ Of the Murphy Lumber
| Company of Green Bay who were making timber
| explorations in the western part Of Florence
county and the northern part OF Marinctto county
| found skeleton partly buried in the soft ground
| at the edge of a swampy lake. The bones were
| removed TO Armstrong, whore they were exam
| ined by a physician, who declared that they APP
| parenuy were those of an extremely aged person.
| Tho forehead and general formation Of tho skull
| seemed to indicate that the man had possessed
unusual intellect While there is no direct evil
dence on the subject IL is beloved that the re-
mains are those OF a man whose name was re-
Gently asceraned to be John Holden.
| Eight months ago a number of woodsmen
| representing the Murphy Lumber Company
went TO all old lumber camp intending to mako
il their headquarters while engaged in the vi
| cinty The buildings stood in clearing partly
overgrown with pines, hemlock, and white birch,
and the log houses were invisible until the visit
ors were within few feet OF them. The men
had approached to within forty or fifty feet of tho
rear exit and disappeared in the underbrush back
Of the logging camp. The man was bent APP
/ a entity by age. He was clad in garruents made
of rough skins, and mass OF tangled gray hair
hung down his back, while matted gray beard
fully two feet in length was revealed by the
glimpse the men caught Of him as he fed through
the timber For more than twenty years before
this il had been reported from time to time that
a wild man lived in the forest north of Armstrong
Creek. Men employed in logging camps said
they had seen the hermit, and from time TO time
Indians brought in stories OF having been be-
friended by a white man who wore clothing made
Of skins. Hunters also said they had caught
glimpscs Of the strange man. but none succeeded
in gaining any information concerning him or
| his habitatOn. That he lived by taking wild
game. and by catching fur bearing animals and
and selling their peltS il he had existence except
in the minds of hunters and Indians there was
no doubt
When the men saw the strange figure disappear
from the log shack in the old lumber camp stories
that they had heard Of the hermit of the woods
came to them, and they had little doubt that they
had accidently encountered the rccluse This sur
mise was strenthened whom they entered the shan.
ty. The structure in two parts, separated
by rooted passageway. AT one end OF the pas
sageway the kitchen and dining room, while
on the other was the apartment which in the old
logging days used sleeping room. This
was the home OF the hermit The walls were
covered with skins Of dccrs foxes and wolves,
and on the floor was mating Of pelts of wild
animals In the middle Of the room was a table
made Of rough boards, evidently taken from the
dining room part Of the camp. A huge easy chair
followed from the trunk Of a tree stood near the
table. while in one corner was a couch OF skins.
But this furniture not the astonishing
q .la a.nN
a rough book case, constructed from unplaned
pine planks, and this case contained nearly 800
books Of various kinds Some were In the En-
glish language, but many more were In a type and
in tongue that thelumbcrmen could not compre-
bend. These volumes have since been found to
be French, German, Greek and Latin. The
! books were worn and thumbcd by long and con-
slant usage, and evidently had been the compan-
| ions of student and lover Of books The volumes
covered wide range of literature. but consisted
| principally of Greek history and literature
| There was only one novel among the many vol
umes Robinson Crusoe and this seemingly had
been the most constantly read book Of all in the little
| library, save the Bible Everything in the room
was examined carefully in the hope Of finding
something that would serve clue TO the identi-
| ty Of the hermit who read Greek and Latin
| the original tcNtand seasoned his studies Of
| mythology and ancient literature with chapters
from DeFoes novel and the Bible. Nothing
| was found however that seemed To throw light
on the past Of the man, except that in two Of the
| older books was inscribed the name John Hol-
den," and the address, "kings, Cambridge" with
| the date 1859
The old logging camp was not visited again
| for several weeks Then the men who had found
the haunt of the hermit returned to tho place.
| They found everything in the shack precisely
! as they had left it, Apparently the hermit never
| had returned after his haSty departure. The
| skins in the bunk covered with dust, and
| the binding Of some Of the books had been at
| tackled by the rats while hedgehog had made
its nest in one corner of the room Again every
| thing was left as II was found and the men re-
turned To Armstrong. In the meantime the story
| Of the hermit had become known in Marinette
and Menomonee. and sufficient interest was taken
in thu matter to inspire an attempt to ascertain
the mans story. With that end in view letter
was addressed by the chief of police TO the au-
thorites OF Cambridge University. asking for in
formation regarding one John Holden, who in tho
| late SOS or early COS was supposed To have been
| a student or instructor in Kings College No
answer to the letter received for three months
then came reply that revealed a strange story.
| In 1862 John Holden according to the letter
| WAS a tutor at Cambridge. In his charge was a
| son Of a titled Englishman whose name Is not
! given In the letter Holden, 1t seems, was stu
dent Of great bnlhancy Of mind and unusual
| attainments, but had ungovernabe temper
| Ono evening IN the fall Of 1862 or tho spring Of
| 1868, he and his pupil had disagreement An
| gered by some uttcrance by the younger man,
| Holden flew into violent passion, and scizing
| a heavy cane that stood in a corner Of the Toom
| fclled the pupil by blow on the temple Per
! sons attracted 10 tho scene by the noise OF the
! young mans fall. hastily pronounced the young
! man dead. Holden accepted their conclusion
| and hurrrllv packing a few Of his personal ef
! fccts, fed from the scene He never
| or heard of again at his college The young
man whom he had struck down was merely rem
dered unconscious, and quickly recovered from
| the effects Of the blow. That Holden believed
| him dead, and became reclusc either through
| fear Of arrest and punishment for murder
because he desired To eNpiate his sin in life Of
| solitude, there seems TO be reason To doubt
The hermit never was seen at the Murphy lum.
| her camp after he fled from the building The
| recent discovery II the skeleton n few miles from