Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 204, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 August 1912 — OLD HERMIT IS ILL [ARTICLE]

OLD HERMIT IS ILL

Last of Schooleys Found Near Death on Farm. Aged Man It Last Member of an Old Family in New Jersey—Has Lived Alone Since Death of Hia Brother. New Lisbon, N. J. —In the tumbleflown farmhouse where Asa Scbooley, an aged farmer and a descendant of one of Burlington county’s oldest families, Jived for years as a hermit amid surroundings that seemed to indicate direct poverty, a commissioner appointed by the court has unearthed a small fortune in old coins, antique plate and chmaware. That considerable money is hidden about the old home is the belief of neighbors, who recall that Schooleyand his brother made a good income from their farm nd to their knowledge for years spent not a cent outside the taxes. Asa Schooley was found nearly dead to a field on his farm recently, when after days of suffering without medical attendance he was dragging himself toward the public highway to seek aid. He is now a ward of the county in the asylurh at New Lisbon, and the county court has ordered that his estate be converted into cash. Since his brother Joseph died many years ago Asa Schooley has been the sole occupant of the homestead farm, about three miles from Burlington, on the Columbus road. The brother was missing for several days before neighbors learned from Asa that he was dead. Then Asa Schooley tried to prevent the men from committing the body to a grave. “I fear the living more than the dead,” he shouted as they lifted the corpse from the bed where Joseph bad died. “He can do me no harm, but others who are living can and will. Following his brother’s death Asa Bchooley shut himself away from the ■world, and some glimpses of how this man, apparently driven mad by,bitterness of mind, existed during intervening years are being uncovered by Attorney Reginald Branch of Burlington, who was appointed by Judge Horner to settle up the estate. From a man of pleasing appearance

Schooley changed so that the youngsters who saw him come to town oneea year to pay his taxes knew him as “the wild man of Borneo.” The old farmhouse, built In colonial <iays, fell into decay dnder his neglect. Dust that has been years In collecting covers everything. Judging from appearances, Asa Schooley never moved the furnishings following his brother’s death. He apparently slept for years on the same feathered bed. When the ticking wore away, he did not change it for one of nearly a dozen mattresses in good condition found Btored in an upper room. Nor did he change the bed coverings, although mahogany chests and bureaus were found to be packed full of fine bed linens, quilts and spreads. For illumination at night the old man went back to tallow dips, which be made for himself in an antique mold. He is believed by neighbors to have subsisted almost entirely upon honey from his big colony of bees, fruit and what poultry and the few vegetables he could raise on his farm. How he managed to exist through severe winters they cannot understand. The bees alone of the creatures on the farm show signs of care and the hives apparently contain several hundred pounds o£ honey. Thus the old man’s illness was unknown to neighbors until a woman walking along the road heard sobs and groans and found Schooley lying in a field. Schooley is said to have a niece residing In a nearby town and one or two distant relatives, whom attorney* are trying to find.