New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-07-31
HATED ALL RELIGIOUS
BELIEF; DIES A RECLUSE
M. R. Martinez Expires in Broad
way Contra Hotel, Where he
Had Lived Thirty Years.
FORCED INTO MONASTERY
Left Institution in Spain After
Fathers Death and Roamed
World in Search of a Coun-
try Without a Greed.

Manuel y. Martinez. who had lived for
/ thirty wears i'm the Broadway Central
/ Hotel. died there yesterday morning.
more from the debility consequent upon
old age than any disease, though pneu-
monla was given as one OF the causes of
death. He will be buried this afternoon
| in Greenwood Cemetery. He had few ac-
qualntances here. and. though resident
Of New York for thirty-fve years, spoke
no English. His funeral will be almost
unattended and thus viii end the his
tory Olga man whom a dislike Of reiig-
ious observances had made recluse in
the midst OF the busiest section Of Man
! haitian
| Though Martinez had lived In the
Broadway Central for thirty years. 1t
cannot be said that he was familiar
figure there. Many persons, men who
| have been staying there for dozen or
more wears. did not know Of his exist
ence. Employees who have been around
/ the hotel for ten years hardly knew his
name. The clerks had never spoken 10
| him The servants who took care OF MS
! room obeyed silent gestures Of the man,
| who after more than quarter Of cen
| turv in the same spot was still stran-
ger IN strange land knowing not the
customs nor speaking the language of
the people.
Martinez came 10 this country thirty
five years ago. He was then fifty-three
years old, and had spent his life wander
ing over the earth looking FOR a piece
where religion was not the mainstay of
the people. IN his early youth he took
strong dislike 70 religious observances.
There had been some talk in his home in
Granada Of educating the boy FOR the
priesthood, while his tastes all lay in
other directions. He would have been @
soldier or a man Of affairs. soldering
was what he preferred.
Born in a Moorish castle and reared
on the rocky mountainsides Of the most
romantic part Of the fberian Peninsula
he was saturated with the spirit Of his
surroundings. But his father. Don Ra-
mon Martinez Soldero, had been long
out Of political favor, and the army wa-
closed to the boy.
Forced to Enter MONASTERY.
The priesthood was the next choice.
and the boy was destined for the monas-
terry. He rebelled, in vain. His davs
were passed IN outward priestly obscrN-
ances and inward revolt until he grew o.
hate the thought Of religion and religious
rites. What brought about his release
was one Of the things he never told.
Perhaps It was loyalty 10 the stern old
don that kept him silent on this point.
for it was tacitly accepted among those
who knew him that it was not until after
the death of his father that Manuel left
the cloister that was for him a prison
| Strangely when he had escaped the
life that was 50 dstasteful To him and
was free to wander where he would. t
was to the Holy Land that Manuel first
went He spent nearly a year there on
his first visit, and returned many times
before he finally turned his back on the
Old World and became a hermit in the
land Of religious freedom There seemed
to be some thought in his mind that by
visiting the scenes Of the life Of Christ
ne might acquire a religious fervor and
bring himself 10 the life that his father
had desired for him.
All the effect was i'm the opposite
direction, however, and the more the
young man studied religion the more he
disliked II. The distaste became an OBJ
session with him. He wandered over all
Europe studying in every country the
religion, the religious practices and the
effects on the people. II came TO lie
that he could see nothing of good i'm re-
llgion and belief in God. The people
in all the lands he saw seemed 10 him
downtrodden and oppressed, and I'm all
cases he laid 1t 10 the same cause, the
practices Of religion.
Forty years ago Martinez came To this
continent, first to Cuba, then TO Mexico
then TO Canada and back again TO Cuba
For some unexplained reason he did not
visit the United States. 1t seemed TO bs
that he had preserved through all his
travels the belief that in this country he
would find a people free and untra,n-
melled, and he feared to destroy his Ia .,
hope.
Spends Five Years as Banker.
Thirty-flve years ago a brother WIN
had preceded him to New York died and
left him well established banking bust
ness. Manuel then for the first time In
his life settled down TO a steady and
consistent occupation, but five years OF
it was all that he could stand. While
a banker he still kept up the study Of
what were to him the destroying effects
OF religion, and thirty years ago sold the
banking business and secluded himself
In a room in the back OF the Broadway
Central Hotel.
As a banker his business had been