The Savannah morning news., 1904-02-02
DOC" M'CREADY, HERMIT,
NOT REMEMBERED HERE.
old Man who Claims savannah ns
Home Living in Swnmps of Pei
hau, na~ n

SNuhpN VI
ham hay, n. Y.
A Savannah man has almost dupli-
! Gated Irving's Rip Van Wrinkle. After
an absence OF more than forty years
| he has suddenly turned up in New
| York city.
Though he has not been sleeping all
| that time, yet in an humble cabin
near Pelham bay he has been in abso-
lutte loneliness, with nothing to amuse
him but his dog, his thoughts and the
restless water. Thomas j. McCready
/ is the name he has given, and he
| claims Savannah as his home.
1t was the dog which brought the
! hermit from his solitude and revealed
| his identity. Wandering through the
streets of Westchester. Throgg's Neck,
| Fort Schuyler, Unionport and other
hamlets of the Bronx, the old man,
lamenting the loss of his dog, attract
| ed attention.
At night he would mysteriously dis
appear and for a time all efforts to
trace him We're in vain, yet, each
morning he would as mysteriously APP
pear again and begin his lonely search
for his dog. His hair was matted and
tangled, and his ancient growth of
white beard unkempt. His bent form
was clad in a patchwork of rags, and
though at times he wore what might
once have been hat, even this rem
nant seemed to trouble him.
hrfe oh
terrier and with him started again
for home. This time he was carefully
traced to a lonely log cabin in the
swamps of Pelham bay an isolated
hut which has been his home for more
than forty years. Out of touch with
the world, not knowing of its pro-
gress, alone and gloomy. he seemed
like stranger from some far-off
country, a relic of the past.
Claimed Savannah as His Home.
A visit was made to his hut and after
much persistence admittance was
gained. The old man refused to talk,
at first but finally told of his life
There has been little to disturb him,
and in its absence of detail it's monoto-
nous lack of variety, that makes it in
teresting rather than a throng of Incl
dents.
Thomas ]. McCready, of Savannah,
Ga, was the name and home given by
the hermit. In 1861, just when the war
was beginning, he left Savannah and
moved rapidly northward, he said. I'm
able, on account of an injury, to go to
war, he sought out the swamps of Pei
ham bay as the best place in which to
live away from all the turmoil, and if
secrecy was what he wished, he could
have chosen no better place.
McCready claims that while in Sa-
vannah he studied medicine and be-
came so proficient that he cared for
many with whom he came in contact
and gradually became known as Doc"
McCready. While studying medicine he
was engaged as c0achman, and while
about his work one day fell and broke
his hip, incapacitating him for further
work in that line. 1t was this accident
which in the end resulted in his leading
rover's life and going into the seclu-
sion which has marked him for forty
years.
Learned TO Love Solitude,
While the hip was slowly healing.
idleness was enforced. Friends carried
him out along the river and here. in
different hooks he sat and fished day
after day, with no company but the
things of nature. The hip was slow in
healing and when the injured man re-
covered, save for a slight limp, he had
become so attached to his outdoor life
that he decided to keep ever to it.
Then it was that he went to Pelham
bay and in the swamps built himself
small red hut and began his lonely
existence. He never sought human So
ciety save at long intervals when he
exchanged fish and game for currency.
and as he seldom needed this, the Wis
its to civilization were few and far be-
tween. His red house succumbed to
rain and wind twenty-three years ago,
and then he built the hut in which he
now lives.
His hut is surrounded by snow and
ice covered marshes and only the tiny
thread of smoke from the rusty stove
pipe tells of it's being inhabited. With
few rusty cooking utensils and a
sheet-iron stove of ante-bellum pat
tern. in which he burns coal picked up
from different railroad tracks, his hut
and a few pieces of primitive furni-
ture. doc" McCready leads his lonely
life and seems contented. The old hut
shows signs of decay and the old man
says sorrowfully that 1t cannot last
much longer. When it goes he wish
es only to die.
The dog. which drew him temporal
rlly back to civilization, is a bright APP
pearing Skye terrier which he calls
Imp" The dog came to him about
four years ago and has been his in
seperable companion since, save foi
the short time that he strayed away
last month. The dog was found in
a farm house, where he had gone fol-
shelter from the cold and storms.
The story of DOC" McCready came
to Savannah in a letter and the writer
expressed the hope that something
about him might be learned here. AL
efforts to identify the man failed. NJ
one was found who could tecall hin
and no records held any trace of him
The general supposition is that hi
was one of the shad-fishermen or long
shoremen who spent their winters il
Savannah. Why he left and sought
such solitude the old man refused t
say. nor would he state why ii was
that he went to New York. Some have
supposed that he did not wish to 81
| to war.
| GROSS EARNINGS
Su0M INNpEhCE