“WILD MAN’S” PLIGHT.

Otago Witness, Issue 3714, 19 May 1925, Page 28

“WILD MAN’S” PLIGHT.

DESTITUTE AND STARVING. THREE YEARS IN THE BUSH. LIVED ON RABBITS. (From Ou.r Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, May 7. At various times during the last three years police stationed in the hill districts surrounding Adelaide have received reports from residents of a “wild man,” clothed in rags and with long, matted hair, who had been seen acting in suspicious manner and had no visible means of support. Diligent search was made for the man on different occasions, but as no crime waa reported that might have been attributed to him, the searches were abandoned when they did not meet with quick success. But now the mystery has been solved. One recent night a motorist approaching the city from an outlying suburb saw in the glare of hie headlights a strange creature lying on the roadway. He narrowly averted running over it, and stopping his car and going back, he found a man lying unconscious. He was garbed only m a couple of sugar bags, with the remains of boots tied up with similar material. His hair was long arid matted, and there was other evidence of extreme -destitution. Police and medical attention was called. The man was taken to hospital, where he was found to be oil the point of starvation. Later the man told a strange story. He gave his name as Loughlin Dolan, an Irish immigrant, about 32 years of age, and since his arrival here three years ago he had been living in the bush, his chief means of nourishment during the whole of that time being rabbits, apples, and water. He arrived in Adelaide from Liverpool with about £2OO, intending to go to relatives in Western Australia, but for some reason which he would not disclose, but which he indicated had worried him, he decided to “go bush.” What became of most of hie £2OO is not known, but he had £7O tied in a small bag round his waist when found. During his three years in the bush Dolan was absolutely out of touch with the world. He had seen people, but had carefully kept out of sight. He read neither newspapers nor books, and wrote nothing. He said that he did not travel far from the spot where he was found, but he was always on the move, and did not build a permanent shelter. When rabbits became scarce in one place ho moved to another where they were more plentiful. It waa on one of these transfers of camp that Dolan, fainting, fell on the road, and so came back to civilisation. His matches had run out soon after he began his wild life, and afterwards he made fire by rubbing sticks together, or ate his food uncooked. The w-earing out of his clothes had led to his clothing himself in the bags in which he was encased when found. Of liis previous life Dolan w'ould say little beyond slating that he had been brought up on a farm in Ireland. For about eight months before he came to Australia lie worked as a gardener in Liverpool. He had been in love with a girl in London, and they had intended marrying and making a home in this country, but whether a change of mind on the part of the girl was the cause of his decision to turn his back on the world and lead so singular, as well us single, a life, Dolan would not even hint