A HUMAN DERELICT.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13903, 30 November 1910, Page 2

A HUMAN DERELICT.

« ARREST IN HAGLEY PARK. Somo shocking features wore present in the caso of a man who was arrested in Hagiey 'Park yesterday morning by Constable Harvey. The constable was on his way to the city, when he happened to notice the man, who had been frequenting the Park for tho past three weekd. Hi's condition could only be described as filthy in tho extreme. The constable arrested him on a charge of vagrancy, and conveyed him to the Police Station. It appears that the man, whose name is Jos. Scott, had been making a habit of sleeping in the Park for somo weeks past, his couch being under the trees near Victoria Lake. He lay on the ground, with only a grass clod for his pillow. His clothes were absolutely rotten, and crawling with vermin. Hie body was in a frightful state of filthiness, and i_ shoulders were raw from tho attacks of the vermin and nis retaliatory scratching. His hair and "beard were matted with dirt, and his face, blackened with dirt and grime, could hardly bo recognised as human. Neither tho man nor his clothes could have made acquaintance with soap and water for months past. Hiscondition was such, to put it plainly, that he was almost nnapjp—.—table by anyone whose olfactory nerves were ordinarily sensitive.

The police officer to whom it fell to take charge of Scott at the Police Station had a most unpleasant task. Every stitch of the man's filthy clothing had to be removed and burnt. Soott was then taken out into the open, and washed with a strong solution of water and Jeycs' fluid. The officer used a soft, long-handled mop, which he dinned into the bucket, and then applied to the man's body. This was followed up by several buckets of milder solution of the same sort, and finally by some "buckets of pure water. The frightful state of the man's head and shoulders was revealed in all it** horror by the cleansing process. He underwent the'bathing ordeal without aj word; in fact, ho seemed rather to enjoy his al fresco sousing.