Waterbury Democrat., 1902-12-22
DROP OUT or SIGHT.
Strange People Who Withdraw
 ThemxeIves from All Connec- tion with the World.

F The life of recluse has always had its interesting side to the rest of hu- manity. There are many instances where other causes than religious zeal have had to do with the withdrawal from the worlds gaze of individuals who have virtually buried themselves alive, as far as communication with the outside world was concerned, says the Philadelphia Press.
 There are some strange recluses in England and one of the strangest of these was woman who died in Cam bridgeshire.
 For over 30 years she had not been seen by any human being. Her meals were always, left outside her room to be taken in when no one was by, and it was only through her neglecting to do this for three. consecutive days that apprehension as to her safety was aroused The door of her room was forced, and she was found dead on her bed. The reason for her ec- centric conduct never transpired and she died-as she had lived-a mystery.
 An equally mysterious recluse dwelt in a Kentish town. A trusted civic employe, he one morning quilted his post for no ostensible cause and retired to his house, where he lived, on a scant annuity he possessed. Such food as he needed was purchased by a blind sister with whom he lived, and he gave no sign of existence, save when at night his steps could be plainly heard pac- ing his back yard, which, that he might escape prying eyes, he had roofed in with canvas. The mystery at his death remained unsolved.
 A physician named B1ore, who lived at the end of the eighteenth century, was suddenly seized with a hatred of his kind, and resolved until his death never to see, or be seen by, man. So he had made large, bell-shaped struc- ture of wickerwork, open at the top to admit air and food. Into this, hav- ing caused it to be placed in the hall of his house, he, having bidden a solemn farewell to his wife and daugh- ters, descended through the aperture.
 In this case insanity was at the bot tom of the matter, and Blore perished by his own hand in less than week after he had taken possession of his strange dwelling.
 Another curious instance of mania was that of gentleman whose fam fly was we'll known to the writer. He was stricken with the strange fancy that he possessed Gorgon's head, So that everybodyswho beheldShim would be turned to ssone. He, therefore, re- tired to couple of attics, to which he would admit no one and, though doubt less he might with propriety have been relegated to an asylum, his family re- spected his bizarre whim, and he re mained religioqsly secluded for over three years, when he recovered his normal senses.
 The late E:P. Whipple, an-American lecturer and critic, used. to tell of an eccentric New Yorker who, having read a pamphlet on immurement as prac- ticed by the mediaeval religious orders. was possessed by an irresistible desire to copy their ocedure-though notin his own person. .......5i .s ,
 This he gratified with the assistance of an elderly pauper, who, in considera- tion of handsome ann uity, allowed to his wife, agreed to be confined in a small dungeon built in the walls. IT this cell he spent four years of his life, being fed through small aperture so contrived as not to permit a sight of the voluntary prisoner. ~g<r. T s.