Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 179, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 July 1913 — ISOLATED 40 YEARS Aged Recluse Is the “Lonesomest Manin the World.” [ARTICLE]

ISOLATED 40 YEARS

Aged Recluse Is the “Lonesomest Manin the World.”

James Moedie, Only White Inhabitant of Urea Island, on Visit to Brother Will Return to South Sea “Kingdom.” New York. —The "lonsomest man in the world" sailed from New York recently aboard the steamship Baltic of the White Star line. James Moodie of Urea Island, near Caledonia, in the south Pacific, claims the distinction of being the most lonesome man. For nearly forty years he has been the sole white inhabitant of the south sea Isle, and so seldom has he met men of his own race that he has almost forgotten the language of his parents. It was nearly a half century, ago that Moodie, an adventurous Scotch lad, engaged in the south sea island He found Urea island to his liking and established a trading post there. Only at long intervals has he been visited by white traders, seeking copra and other products of the islands. During the many years he has-been on Urea island his family has died off one by one, until today he can claim but a single living relative, Robert Moodie of Loanhead, Scotland, a brother. James Moodie has not seen this brother in thirty years. They parted as mere youths and in a short time will meet again, grizzled and gray. When Moodie first went to Urea island he took with him a violin that had previously been the possession of his father, and he carried the fiddle under his arm. "This violin has been my constant companion for more than half a lifetime,'’ said Mr. Moodie before he sailed. “I have been and still am the most lonesome man in the world, and had it not been for my fiddle I do not know how I should have lived. At the present day I ain the only white man on Urea island, but as long as I have my violin I do not care. As the years have gone by I have grown more and more accustomed to being alone. “We get the mail at Urea Island about once every six weeks, and so from time, to time I learn of the world’s progress and the death of my friends and relatives. They always seem to be dying, and suddenly the thought came to me that my brother and I were the last of our family, and so I packed up my fiddle and set out for my home in Lonehead, Scotland. “The only people I have talked with for years and years are the natives, and I have almost forgotten my mother tongue.

“Ever since I arrived In the United States I have been astonished beyond measure, especially by the horseless vehicles and other luxuries of travel. I have kept track of the world’s progress In the newspapers and periodicals, but I never realized what it all meant until I landed In this country. “I am going home to Scotland for a few weeks and then I am going back to Ureau with my fiddle, and there I will remain until the trumpet calls me to my everlasting home.”

guardroom. I have the names of the officers who did the beating. Driscoll tried to complain to the superintendent about it, but was not permitted to. A number of the ’Clinton county officers who were dismissed by Colonel Scott have come back and been reinstated. _ ' “Discipline in Sing Sing prison is in a deplorable state. Prisoners are doing as they please. You can hear the noise from the cell block way up in the village. The prison is full of dope and whisky brought in by keepers for a little money. Recently a prisoner threw a bowl of soup in Warden Kennedy’s face and got away with it.’’