Los Angeles herald., 1907-03-21
HERMIT FOX WOULDN'T BATHE
Committed for Insanity at so, He Is
ForcibIy Given First Real
Wash
Special to The Herald.

Special to The Herald.
PORTLAND, Ore, March 20.-After
battling valiantly for some three hours
with four strong men, Jake Fox, Ore
gons Original unwashed Democrat"
who for more than sixty years has
Stunned water as though it were some
poisonous fluid, to touch which meant
instant death, is unwashed no longer.
To his great Indignation aged Jake has
been forced to bathe.
For three score years or more Jake
Fox, erstwhile trader and wagonmaker,
dWelt in peace on the sunny banks of
the Calapoya river at Albany, Ore. AL
though he lived upon the bank of the
stream the trapper had no use for the
liquid contents of the brook, and de-
clared an effectual boycott on aqua
pura for cleansing purposes.
His abode was cabin in an isolated
spot near the edge of the village, and
he was an object of terror to the young
sters who used to pass that way and of
disgust to the more cleanly neighb-
bors thereabouts. Many ineffectual at
tempts were made by the good people
of the town to prevail upon Jake to re-
move at least few coats of the dirt
which was the accumulation of years
but he would have none of 1t and
turned deaf ear upon their pleading.
Dressed in buckskins, even in the
latter days of his residence in the town
which he had seen grow from cross
roads, old Jake Fox made a peculiar
figure as he passed along the streets
Tourists stared at him in amazement
and many attempts were made to Sc
cure his photograph.
These attempts were as unsuccessful
as were those of the townspeople in
their effort to get him to bathe. He
would draw himself up to the full
height of six feet and three inches, and
with scowl of disapproval mutter
imprecations and stalk away. This
Whim did not last so long as did his
anti-water crusade, for in the last few
years of his life he was prevailed upon
by friend to sit for photograph.
The photographer printed two of the
pictures and putting one carefully
away, showed the other to Jake. With
howl of rage the old trapper, who by
this time had repented of his move,
seized upon the bit of paper and tore 1t
to shreds, then shattered the photog-
rapher's plate. He did not know of
the remaining print, which is the only
existing picture of him today.
Eventually the lonely old man showed
unmistakable signs of losing his mind.
The authorities began to fear that in
his disordered brain he might revive
the old days Of indian fights, and some
night sally forth armed to the teeth
and do his neighbors damage He was
adjudged insane and sent to the asylum
at Salem, ore. Here it was that his
superstition of years-his horror Of
WATERWAYS to be broken down.
When he arrived at the institution
the attendants looked at him In dis
may They had seen dirty mortals be-
fore, but never one who could equal
this one. They rushed him to the bath
room, and here, after three hours Of
the hardest struggle they had ever ex-
perienced. Jake FoA was bathed.
The old man was heartbroken, and
the same battle Is experienced once a
week, which, under the rules Of the In
stitution, is the interval of the bath OF
each patient, and there seems little hope
and submissively take plunge OF his
own accord.