Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 November 1874 — A Michigan Hermit’s Life in the Woods. [ARTICLE]

A Michigan Hermit’s Life in the Woods.

A few days ago Sergt. Bachmann, of the police force, had leave of absents and went to Lansing to visit friends and* have a hunt. One day while huntiing on the Cedar River, about five miles east of Lansing, the Sergeant came upon a little log hut erected upon the bank of the river. The curious architecture of the hut attracted his attention, and drew him nearer than he would otherwise have gone. The builder had cut .poles and slanted them up in the shape of an Indian lodge, with an opening at the top for the smoke to pass out, and had then plastered mud over the holes, making a snug and warm house. Supposing that he had come across the house of a lone Indian family the Sergeant looked in,

and great was his surprise to discover that there was but one occupant and he an old, gray-haired man. When the occupant became aware of his visitor’s presence he shrank back, as if inclined to hide, and the Sergeant invited himself in to see what sort of a den it was, anyway. The old man would not speak when first questioned, but when Bachmann threatened to arrest him as a suspicious character he found his tongue. He gave his name as .parius Green, and his age as fifty-nine. He stated that he had lived in seclusion in St. Clair County for several years, but having been greatly annoyed’ by parties who wanted to drive him back to the world he had changed quarters and had been on the Cedar about two months. He said he would rather drown himself than mingle with the world again, believing all men liars and aE women hypocrites When he was about twenty-three years of age he became engaged to a young lady at Medina, Ohio, and in dne time all preparations were made for the wedding. At the last moment his fiancee ran away with another lover, leaving Green feeling about as flat as a defeated candidate. He tried his fortune again in a year or two, and the girl of his heart died a few days before the time appointed for their nuptials. These affairs, together with the loss of some property, turned the young man’s disposition, and he went from the active world into the woods and built himself a home. Drived out after several years, he came to Michigan, and has changed locations four or five times. He has several tunes been sick, but he is his own doctor. He lives mostly on cornmeal cakes and vegetables, and never moves away from his hut until hunger forces him to. He has a few dollars in specie—enough, he thinks, to last him during the remainder of his life. The old man had no companion—not even a dog or bird, no books, no way to pass the long hours but to sit and brood and think and sleep. His hair is down on his shoulders and his beard long and matted, while his clothing is in rags and his feet wound up in cloths. £Juch a life must be lonely beyond what one can imagine.— Detroit Free Press.