| Show tree arvet t mana M an keeps kee P s secret 25 years lives in suspended iron tank gets gels no mail and seldom talks flor JQ oratIo atlo ark my imy past Is burled buried ask no questions 1 for a quarter of a century these curt words have been the only reply of the tree nian of doratio Bor atlo ratio to all who t ace ive sought to penetrate the wall of mystery lie he has raised about himself so successful has been the recluse in veiling tits his past that few persons ever question him now and in fact only a few residents of this little town know of ills his existence it was a bitter cold night more than 25 jears ago when it a few minutes after the night train south hit luul made its brief pause here heie a middle aged man walked into the small hotel ani and asked fora for a room just call me fred fied brown tie he replied in a german accent to questions as to tits his identity 4 the hotel proprietor soon discovered that brown had bad placed a secret locklon lock on his dor door the eccentricities of the stranger continued to arouse the curiosity of the landlord lie ile investigated finally he discovered a small iron ring at the base of the liall hall opposite browns room A pull on oil the ring ling released the secret lock on the of the strangers door hut but the sudden arrival of brown cut short tiny any ex by the hotel min man and a few minutes later the my mystery checked out lives in tree A few days tins s later brown requisitioned a huge castoff cast off iron fron tank along the railroad ralli oad right of way rolled it about a hundred yards awny and squatted on laud land owned by tom green of horatio there he remains to this day cutting the ends from the old tank and then hinging them as doors drown brown swung the contrivance high up in a large tree tipe in the tank he established his hla home becoming known as the tree nian man A rope rone ladder fur ur cashes means eans of reaching the aerial house and ns as soon ns as brown Is perched in his swinging home the ladder la Is pulled up A large piece of tin j f aurely fastened to the trunk of the tree prevents anyone clini climbing fing up without arousing the tree dweller in winter brown closes the doors of his fits home while they are allowed to swing open in worm warm weather for many years the taril tank was waa the only abode of the recluse hut but recently lie he has built a six foot square shock shack without windows which lie he occupies on an some 0 oi of the coldest flights another shack houses a few chickens all and furnishes storage for food supplies which tie he grows on about an acre of ground that he has fenced off from the owners estate only one man 0 T brinkley nora flora tio storekeeper la Is on intimate terms with brown and lie he has never been sible able to delve into the recluses past brown has worked on Brink brinkleys leys farm at times for the lost last 20 years and makes all his purchases from his bis eb plo yere store more than 20 years ago brown purchased a suitcase from brinkley arid and r returned the next day with it packed and asked brinkley to allow him to leave it in the store the suitcase remains I 1 mal us in the store today on rare careo occasions e cas lons brown comes into the store opens the suitcase takes or leaves leave some article and then departs no other person has ever seen the con tents says brinkley sells vegetables the recluse grows a small amount of vegetables un tin his plot of ground which lie sells through the brinkley store lie he comes into town abo about ut once a week but always after dark from his garden and a few chickens lie he de d rives most of his necessities last summer he complained that some re was stealing his chickens and in order to thwart further raids on his fowls lie he nailed a long ions pole upright on the gate of yard on t alie lie top of the pole he fastened it a white flog dug and while working in lelda fields li carby lie he kept his eye on the white cloth any movement of the cloth denotes the opening of the gate theft of hl chickens cea ceased 1 ged lie he said several weeks ago brown was summoned to de queen to court as a wit w it ness in a minor case which originated in ili the vicinity of lils ills place lace ile he ignored the court order tin and a deputy sherll was sent for him when brought into the courtr courtroom brown veli vehemently evently expressed his opinion of all courtlin cour courts tsin in general and the sevier county tribunal in particular the judge sentenced him to tb jail for contempt but lie he was allowed to depart after a few days dais while brodu was in jail sheriff toy hoy hooper made intensive inquiries in the north and east but could obtain no information on the recluse so far as Is known brown has never received tiny any mall mail through the post office here and tie he never rends reads although he apparently has a good education ue he now appears to be about sixty years old and Is in the best of tic health alth mentions Mount les 11 one day while I 1 was talking to him tie lie mentioned having been with the mounted police in canada but alien I 1 tried to continue the trend of the conversation he departed suddenly and it wils several weeks before I 1 saw him again says brinkley inkley Dr the storekeeper so faras anyone here knows that Is the only time file recluse lias has ever mentioned any incident in ili his fils past he ha appends to be an expert and will talk for hours about trees and birds but only of those in this section drown brown is violently opposed to photographers and the only pie pictures ever made of him ailin lieve been taken while he be was caught off guard and with tile the cameraman running the risk of having a chunk of w wood or some other object hurled at tits his head brown as he chooses clio oses to call ill himself may be a titled european who fell into disgrace he may be a man mail disappointed in love ofa number of other ti lings but I 1 will bever never believe him a fugitive from justice declares brinkley Dr inkley tits his close closet qt friend apparently en aly lie he ts Is a man who wants to be let alone albue to live tits his life as he sees alt and I 1 hardly believe anyone here will ever interfere with him for th they ON during a quarter of a century ile he Is getting along in years now but la Is robust from his outdoor existence lie he may live many more years but my guess la Is that he will take libi his lifes secret to his grave |
