The Mena weekly star., 1920-02-05
WILD MAN CAUGHT
 IN COLORADO
Wild Eyed Recluse, Garbed in Animal Skins, Believed to Be Insane-He Says Has Roamed the Hills
 for Years.
lBy International News Service. !


 Durango, Col, Jan. 29 Has Colorado unearthed counterpart of the famous Wild Man of Borneo?
 That is the question puzzling off cials of La Plata County, in south western Colorado.
 The Wild Man Of Borneo was no more ferocious looking than the wild eyed, staring caveman that is languish- ing in the county jail here, according to Sheriff Alexander who, with the aid of two deputies, captured the go rilla-like human in a cave in Animas Canon, north of this city.
 Tall and gaunt with long. unkempt hair struggling from beneath a ragged cap: matted whiskers; his hairy body draped in skins of wild animals. with strips cut from the hide of a mountain bear encasing his feet. the strange man was trapped in his isolated noun tain cave by the county officers and brought here for investigation. The aroma of wild beasts exuded from his body when captured. the officers said.
 The captive is believed insane, bun how long he has been hibernating in the mountain den is a mystery.
 During lucid moments the weird stranger says that he has been roam ing the hills of the San Juan country for years; that he first sought solitude in the canons and caves because of bitterness over unrequited love for a beautiful girl. A faded picture of young woman and strands of golden hair, found on the wild man" lead authorities to believe his condition is due to an unfortunate love affair
 Efforts to learn his name have been unsuccessful, and he invariably re- yerts to unintelligible guttural sounds when questioned as to his identity.
 Fantastic stories of the presence of a wild man" in the nearby hills became current in the village of Rock wood For several weeks it was said the wild man" had been sinking thru the timber of the Dufango National Forest, but always succeeded in evad- ing pursuers from the village
 When the stories of the uncanny activities of the strange recluse were brought to Sheriff Alexander, he i'm mediately started for the scene with two deputies. After a few days vigil they located the cave, in which the man made his unlovely hermit home The entrance was skilfully concealed with brush and rocks.
 The officers encountered great diff ficulty in reaching the cave. as the entrance was at the top of an almost perpendicular path, and their way along narrow ledges.
 When trapped the man offered no resistance. No weapon of any kind was found upon his person or in the cave, but irP the long narrow tunnel where he had lived" for sometime were discovered many utensils, and a quantity of bear meat
 Assistant Prosecuting Attorney John ORourke, of Durango. has had several interviews with the wild man." who is confined in the insane ward of the county jail. O'Rourke l says the prisoner is never violent but frequently grunts and growls like some wild animal At other times when he appears rational, he talks 1 glibly oi his nomadic existence 1 ing of having fought wild beasts in !, the mountain fastnesses, some of | which he killed for food: of being | SuOt dl py HunlcfS, WHu illlStOuk iiltli | for an animal, of lying in lonely can ons when his only food was rats and chipmunks; of having spent weeks in mountain cabins, penned in by huge snowdrifts.
 The wild man" according to Pro secutor ORourke. has told harrow ing tale of suffering from exposure.
 He said his feet had been frozen and. when modification set in. he pulled the decaying toes from their sockets and scared the wounds with red hot rocks to check the spread of gangrene. Occasionally, when he suf- fered excruciatingly from hunger the wanderer licked mountain rocks to obtain taste or salt.
 Examinations to determine the mans sanity are being made by coun- ty physicians. while the District At torney's office is making every effort to discover some trace of his origin.
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