WILD MAN OF THE WOODS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 6, 7 June 1913, Page 10

WILD MAN OF THE WOODS

YOUNG HERMIT WHO LIVED IN WOODS AND CAVES. Reading like a 6tory by Defoe is an account of a veritable wild man of the woods now being taken care of at a Welsh workhouse. The individual in question, Thomas Lewis, 28, described as a laborer, was charged, at Llanidoles, Montgomeryshire, with being found at midnight on enclosed premises for an unlawful purpose. Prisoner, who is the . son of a local farmer, has been missing for two years, during which time he has been living in the woods and caves in the Llanidloes district. About eight weeks ago he was discovered at a small farm near his home in a terrible condition. He had burrowed deeply into a haystack', and was found by a farm hand who had noticed that the hay had been disturbed on frequent occasions. Suspecting attempts were being made to steal the hay, the farmer and his servants kept watch on the stack. The man. after being driven at the point of a pitchfork out of the middle of the stack, gave his proper name and address, end as his condition was so pitiable he va< allowed to go. Subsequently, on .icconnl of complaints of loss of animal nn-a! from surrounding farms, and of cows being surreptitiously milked while grazing, the police organised a search, but though

the thick woods and farm* were scoured, the search proved futile until iwenti.y. when the police concealed UMnsrlvi'.s at Bryndulas, Llanguriiig. TSey saw the prisoner stealthily approai.liUg lheiiV.it, iMid immediately sei/.el him, lie Icid b,.cii suaping in hayts:i:i;s during the winter and in caves in i,h<! «umu-tr ,'")iei' charged at Llanidlo« pnsone: presented a wild appearance. His lini' extended in thick clusters to hi* waist, and his bushy eyebrows covered a pair of piercing eyes. He had a long 1 beard and heavy moustache. His legs were covered with sacking tied with string, and his clothing was tattered to rags. Owing to constant exposure to the weather his skin was nutbrown. - In answer to the charge, he replied: "I only went for a bit of meal. It's all I have had to live on." The sight of a crowded court completely unnerved him, and he wept frequently and timidly touched the dock side. He was remanded to undergo medical observation. Later, after he had been reclothed and fed, and had received attention from a hairdresser, the man was taken to Caersws Workhouse in a motor car.

Subsequently he furnished an interviewer with an account of the strangely simple life he had had during his voluntary exile from home. He said he had not slept in a house during that time, but had made his bed in the leaves in the woods and in haystacks and farmbuildings. He had tasted no meat or cooked food, and the few crusts of bread he had picked up would not have made a threepenny loaf. His chief diet had been meal for animals, which he had taken from farm buildings and made into a kind of porridge by mixing it with water. Raw potatoes and turnips taken from the fields had been other articles of his diet, and, with the exception of a little milk, water had been his sole drink. Previous to two months or so he did not know when it was he last had any conversation with a fellow-being, Lewis, now shaved and tidily dressed, said he intends to give up his strange life and return to work. He had long desired to do so, but had felt shy and nervous, and ashamed to go back to society. His return to company with his fellow-men seems to have raised strong emotions, for his eyes constantly filled with tears. He looks in good health after his Rimple diet and the open-air life.