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Show Founder of the Eveless Eden I - ' Passes Away on the South Seas. and with their skins tanned to the color of leather they wandered about the Island and seemed quite happy and contented con-tented with their primitive life and frugal fru-gal fare. The natives regarded them with superstitious reverence, and settlers set-tlers who visited them occasionally looked upon them as harmless lunatics. . .... At the' beginning of this year Lutzow was carried out to sea in the Methodist mission cutter, which had drifted away owing to adverse currents, and when the boat was recovered some considerable consider-able time afterward it contained the corpse of the deluded musician. His loss was a sad blow to Englehardt. but he still refused to leave his beloved sun grove, and still continued to conform strictly, to the rules which he had drawn ud for the sect.. He subsisted entirely on cocoanuts. At last he was stricken with a severe Illness. Learning of his condition the German authorities sent their medical launch to the island, and despite his protests insisted in-sisted on conveying him to the hospital. At Englehardt's request he was placed In such a position on the little craft that he could gase upon the island as it receded In the distance. He spoke no word to any one, and by signs rejected the nourishment that was offered him. When at length the island vanished from his sight he closed his eyes in death. By the death of 'August Englehardt, news of which has Just been received at Sydney, Australia, the world has lost Its queerest crank. He was the last survivor of the little sect of naked, fruit-eating sun worshipers which be established on a tropical Island. He sought to regenerate mankind by starting start-ing an Eveless Eden. He and his two followers possessed the courage of their convictions and perished rather than abandon their experiment. Englehardt was no ordinary man; He was a native of Bavaria, a university univer-sity graduate and an author of considerable consid-erable merit. He might have made something of a mark in the world If he had not sickened of civilization and Its ways. It Is Said that the failure of a woman to reciprocate hi affection was the cause of It, but this is mere conjecture con-jecture and due to the fact that the fair sex was excluded from his scheme, for restoring mankind to an earthly paradise. He believed that where woman wo-man came the devil was sure to follow and he didn't Intend to run any risk of getting into the same sort of trouble that Adam did. X It was his opinion that the human race originated in the "sun-blessed tropics," and only, there could It obtain a fresh start on the right track. In 1901 he came to New Britain in search of a suitable place for the establishment establish-ment of a community which he fondly hoped would form the first link in a chain of similar settlement that would eventually gird the earth. He purchased pur-chased the little Island of Kabakon, situated sit-uated in the Duke of York group and about fifteen miles from Herbertshoe, the seat of the German administration In New Guinea. It is 165 acres in extent ex-tent and cocoanut trees flourish there in abundance. He believed that living in the primitive fashion required - of those who Joined the order It would suffice to maintain 250 men. "I have proclaimed Kabakon an open fruit garden' and s'u:i grove," he said in a letter setting forth his Ideas, "for the purpose of reclaiming degenerate mankind to their true state of existence. exist-ence. I will settle it with fruit-eating sun worshipers to rear great, pure, true sane men by giving its members natural conditions of life. I will send out as . missionaries members of the Sun Order who have been tried and found to be true, natural living men. In this way I shall establish similar colonies round the whole equator. The more people who Join me and the greater great-er the means placed at my disposal the quicker will these colonies be formed." Expecting a rush of applicants he laid down very stringent rules as to the conditions on which candidates for earthly perfection and human regeneration regenera-tion should be taken into his island paradise. Among them were the following: fol-lowing: "(1) Or.'-- men of noble and excellent character u 1.1 lie admitted. "(2) Er.rh applicant must be recom-niended recom-niended by two respectable credible persons, approved by the leader of the Sun Order. "(3) A pavment of. 1250 for such as can afford that amount; for less wealthy persons e sum '-corresponding to their means; and for the poor sun worshipers worship-ers nothing at a'.l.V H tasisted that his followers should never under any circumstances wear a vestige of clothing. Hn held that clothes poisoned the system and that by Intercepting the rays of the sun "the source of all life, of all mind and all strength." they prevented the attainment attain-ment of a perfect humanity. Marriage he also regarded as an abomination and strict celibacy was enjoined. Fruit which ripened In the sun was alone to be eatin. Houses were forbidden. He would tolerate nothing that interfered with living close to nature all the time. By going without clothes, bathing constantly con-stantly In the sun and eatlnar nothing but fruit he declared his followers would eventually be able to subsist without food or .drink of any sort and gain the power of transporting themselves them-selves at will to any part of the world without having to patronize railways or steamships. On taking possession of his Island, Englehardt discarded his clothing, and armed with a palm leaf to keep off flies, fleas and mosquitoes, confidently awaited await-ed a host of regenerating recruits. A lot of folk in Germany had signified their intention of Joining him when he got. his paradise started, but when it came to the scratch all but two backed out. Some pleaded for the privilege of at least being allowed to wear shirts: others clamored for concessions in the shape of beefsteak. and some base backsliders declared that they would not tackle the paradise Job unless permitted per-mitted to bring their wives with them. But Englehardt was adamant to all these appeals. He would admit no one to membership -in. the Sun Order who was not willing to adhere to all the rules and regulations which he had laid down for Its guidance and which he faithfully observed himself. Th two men 'who Joined him on these terms were Max Lutzow, a musician, who conducted an orchestra that bore his name in Berlin, and Heinrlch Eukens. a native of Heligoland, who had settled set-tled In the same city. They consigned : their clothing to the sea on landing on j Kabakon, and settled down to a course ' of sun-worship and fruit-diet. But the sudden change to an equatorial equato-rial climate, exposed to the fierce heat of the sun all day and sleeping on the sand at night with no bodily nourishment nourish-ment but cocoanuts toon reduoed Eukens Eu-kens to a condition of extreme physical weakness. In that state he was smitten smit-ten with malaria. In accordance with the rules of the order he took no remedies, rem-edies, but lay in the direct rays of the sun and fasted for three days. On the fourth day he succumbed to the "hunger "hun-ger cure." But his fate did not weaken the faith of the two other men. Skeptics might sneer, but they only felt certain that they were on the right track and that through them he human race would ultimately be regenerated. Stark naked |