“Wild Man” Was Only Ill.
Women and girls of Port Jefferson, L. I., who had been frightened frequently in the last few months by the appearance in deserted stretches of road near the town of a “wild man,” learned with relief recently that Constable Harry Gover had caught the man. Their fears changed to sympathy when they learned the wild man’s story, and his capture probably will result in his getting assistance.
He said his name was Juan Rodriguez, and that he had come from Monterrey, Mexico, ten years ago. He was sent to a hospital in New York some time ago, and eight months back was discharged as cured. It was spring then, and he walked out into the country looking for work.
His strength has been sapped by his long illness, he said, and at last he found himself too weak to work. Then[Pg 65] he took to the woods, subsisting on what he could beg at first, and then, as his clothes became mere tatters and his appearance began to frighten strangers, on what he could find in the woods.
He said he had never accosted a woman or a girl, though he realized many had seen him and had run, and he said he had frequently spent the night in trees while he listened to farmers beating the woods around him for traces of him after their wives or daughters had seen the wild man.
He was fed, and decent clothes were given to him.