Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1912-09-05
COLONY Of nERMlTS
LIVE IN new JERSEY
Lowest Type Of White Beings
Imaginable Found In Huts
In Wilderness.
THEY NEVER SAW A TRAIN,
Strange Creatures Believed To 90
Descended From Deserters o.
General Washinaton's
Army. ~
THEY NEVER SAW A TRAIN.

Swartswood, N. Especial: So ig-
horant Of h civilization OF the two
great metropolises. New York and
Philadelphia, within Is miles OF which
they live. h a they do not know there
exists such a thing as the art Of read
ing. have no code Of morals or laws
n never have seen a railroad train.
trolley or automobile. q strange colony
Of moutain hermits, 10 miles from this
village, are about to get their first
taste of educational enlightenment
stand peering at the stranger from be.
through the efforts OF the New Jersey
state authorities. They are said to bo
200 souls. all told. in the settlement Of
huts scattered over q a mile Of
wilderness along the Scrub Dali road.
An initial investigation of the condi-
tons surrounding their life a CON-
WINGED DR.. Calvin N. Kendall. state
superintendent Of education. that they
are probably the lowest type Of white
human beings in the United States.
Natives here have known OF the ex-
istence Of the colony for the last IS
have given 1t little thought. Summer
visitors who became lost In the noun
tains and stumbled pon the ncann
settlement, told h state authorities OF
their discovery: The poverty-stricken
hermits are to be given an opportunity
to share h bounties OF q common
wealth OF whose existence they seem
absolutely ignorant.
So far as can be discovered, the her
mits nave no religion. and apparently
There is little trace of family names.
Children go by such titles as Hanks
john" or "Jake's Mary" There are
few children in the colony now, dis
ease having carried off many OF tho
younger generation and reduced tho
population from nearly 400 to half that
lumber
The oldest OF the hermits do not
know the history of their colony. They
say their ancestors before them lived
all they know and care about their
%genealogy. Local tradition has it that
the progenitors of the colony were q
Ealf dozen deserters from the colonial
army. who dropped out when Gen.
George Washington was in retreat
sokliers Ned to the mountains, where
they existed by hunting and fishing,
Bearing out this story Is the fact that
years ago n of the colony came to
this town II traded an old musket
for some merchandise. The weapon is
now In q museum at Newton and has
been recognized as a genuine revoiu-
tionary firearm.
1t is difficult to get the hermits to
talk about any matter regarding them
selves. They do not like strangers, and
many OF them flee at,the approach OF
outsiders. When n is finally in
weighed into conversation. others will
hind trees or bushes or from the dark
ness of their huts.
These huts are ever more crude than
the old-fashioned log cabin. The man
hood of the colony seems to have
steadily deteriorated in all In arts Of
civilization as known in colonial days.
The shacks are the crudest shelters,
made OF logs and brush, with straw
or matched roofs. One opening does
for a door and window. Natives say
the hermits hibernate for days at q
time In cold weather. So skilfully are
the huts hidden that one can drive
along the Scrub Oak road, which there
is little more than a bride path. with
out noticing a single shack. Appar-
emily the fear of detection that made
the deserters from Washington's army
seek this d retreat in the noun
tain wilderness has descended to their
progeny.
The hermits are said to stick close
to their colony. Rarely are they seen
in any OF the surrounding towns. They
have no money. but occasionally will
trade furs for merchandise. Their Dow
erty. in fact. is said to be almost be-
yond belief. The common attire for
Aleu, women dHO cnllOren Is q one.
piece suit, usually made Of gunny.
sacking, but sometimes of calico. They
have no shoes nor hats; filth reigns in
their huts. with the result hat many
are i'll with loathsome diseases, and the
death, rate is high.
From what can be learned, fish, game
and produce from the most poorly cul-
tivated clearings sustain the colony's
life. Agriculture will be one Of he
first things the state will seek to teach
the men Of the colony. The task Will
be a hard one. however, as interest in
life beyond their actual existence
seems to have died from the hearts Of
the colonists long ago.
Not a person now living in the colony
has seen a railroad train, although q
line of the New York, Susquehanna q
Western is within ten miles Of their
huts. They gazed with awe upon the
team and horses with which q recent
investigator drove to their settlement.
The visitor later expressed satisfaction
that he had not made the trip in his
automobile. as he said he believed the
sight of the car would have. frightened
them into thinking him q visitor from
another world and would have made
an interview with them impossible.
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