The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1911-08-23
STRANGE LIFE
OF A HERMIT.
Secluded Thirty Years In a New
York Hotel Room
REFUSES ALL COMMUNICATION

REFUSES ALL COMMUNICATION
Says Hs IL Not Afraid 70 Die and Re-.
fuses the Attendance Of . Doctor.
Why He Withdrew From the World.
Eiehty. eight Years Old.
The hermit of Broadway" ia dying
"a little, old. wrinkled, grizzled Span
ish gentleman named Manuel MART.
neg, who for thirty years has lived in
the Broadway Central hotel. New
York, cloaking himself in a self Great.
ed solitude most odd and astonishing,
considering that he has passed all
those years in a neighborhood TEEN
ing with human activity. In the
course of every day more than 5OO.O 900
persons-afoot, in the cars, In taxicabs
pass the old mans abode.
Bat If Mr.. Martinez had chosen in.
stead a cave in a lonely mountain he
could not have achieved a more COM
plete isolation than that in which he
has lived for thirty years. For months
running he would not quit his room.
He has been known not to descend to
the hotel Office once in a year.
Seldom Left His Room.
1t was not that he fell into mental
inertia, not that he permitted himself
to degenerate into slothful habits, His
room is a miniature library. He slept
little, read and studied necessarily.
Although secluded in his room. he has
never abandoned a certain fastidious
ness OF dress characteristic of Spanish
gentlemen. His linen has been fine
and soft, and the other appointments
Of his attire and toilet have been in
keeping.
He chose his apartment deliberately
with the idea Of shutting himself off
from the world. 1t is high up in the
hotel and far in the rear. He never
sees the great crowded thoroughfare
without; the clang of the trolley cars
does not pass his threshold
In all the thirty years he has lived
there the only guest he ever has enter
tanned within his retreat Is his nephew,
a civil engineer.
Clad in dressing gown and reclining
in a big easy chair. the hermit Of
Broadway, now eighty-eight years old,
told why he had chosen SO queerly to
live alone in the very heart Of a great.
noisy, crowded section of a big city.
In the main his explanation was that
an antipathy toward religion. which
appears to have developed Into an oh
session. drove him out Of association
with his fellow man.
His Story.
Before l drew away from the world
I had Travelled much. As a minor--a
little fellow of sixteen-I left my home
In Granada and began my travels. ]
was but a little boy. but already l
knew the writings Of Voltaire. Rous
seau. Plato, Aristotle. And I would
see the world.
II went to Austria, to Germany,
France. Russia, England and-to Rome.
And everywhere I found the people
blindly ruled and oppressed by religion.
I visited the Holy Land of the New and
the Old Testament. I grew no more
friendly toward religion. l became an
atheist, and I tried to escape from re-
igious atmosphere In America-in
Mexico, Canada. Cuba. It was the
same. I became disguised with the
childishnees Of the faith and beliefs
ana superstidons I found in men.
II came to New York thirty-fve years
ago, assuming a banking business left
by a brother. But after Eve years, my
disgust against religion having in.
creased rather than waned, I decided
that l would withdraw as nearly as
possible from all contact with men. ]
filed my room with the precious books
Of truth and philosophy and have had
them only for my companions. aug
menting my library from time to time
as I learned OF new works through the
literary reviews.
Would Not Learn English.
II have resisted learning English the
better to keep my solitude. OF course
I have maintained my courtesy toward
those whom 1t was absolutely necessary
for me to meet from time to time.
But, save for the attendants who come
silently daily to my room, I have pass.
ed months at a time in the solitude
Of my chamber. And l am not imbit.
tered. I have been content"
Martinez has absolutely refused to be
attended by a physician.
1T would be useless" he said. II
am about to die. l am very old. I
am worn out It IA natural that now