As soon as Alderman Kerr made the requisite order to that effect, the poor
imbecile who had been shut up in his cage for so long a time was placed in
a carriage and taken promptly to Blockley Almshouse.
The attendants and officials who received him aver that in all their
experience they have never seen such a heart-rending sight as was John
Herriges when brought to the institution. And this, it will be
recollected, was after the poor wretch had been submitted to the partial
cleansing that his relatives gave him immediately after the visit paid
them by Mrs. Gibson in relation to the captive.
At once, upon his arrival at the hospital of the almshouse, he was
stripped of the slight filthy salt-bag petticoat, and his body submitted
to a thorough but careful scrubbing, after which the flesh was, with equal
care, rubbed until the natural color of the skin began to make its
appearance through the deep stain of accumulated filth of so many years.
Next his hair was clipped short, after which fully half an inch of solid
filth and dirt, as hard and tough as leather, was scraped away from his
scalp. After all this was done, which occupied a long time, he was dressed
in a clean suit of the material used for the clothing of the inmates and
placed in a cell, in which, also, he was securely locked at night, to
prevent him harming either himself or others. But this was ascertained to
be entirely unnecessary, as the poor fellow was as docile and quiet as a
lamb.
After his face was cleaned off, the peculiar pallor of his countenance,
resulting from the great length of time he was imprisoned in his noisome
cell, was almost unearthly and strangely striking.
The muscles of his body were like so many flabby strings, from being never
brought into exercise, rendering him very feeble, though naturally, to
judge from the size of his frame, he would be a man of great physical
strength.
At first, after his release, his favorite position was a kind of sitting
squatting posture, with the hands resting upon the knees, the back bent,
and head hanging down.
If ordered to get up, he would do so promptly, but rather slowly, as he
was obliged to remove his hands from his knees and place them on the back
of his hips. He would get up and stand like a bent over statue.
"Now then, John, walk along."
At this order he would shuffle forward for a step or two, or about the
length of the cage in which he had been confined, and then manifest a
desire to turn round and shuffle back, like a sentry walking his beat.
An attendant took his arm, however, saying:
"Come, John, walk straight now; lean on me."
This kindness appeared strange to him, and he made great efforts to
straighten up and walk the same way as his friend, looking meanwhile
surprised, perhaps to think he could get so far, and that some one could
speak kindly to him.
His appetite was good, and he would eat whatever was given him with
evident relish. In fact he could be compared to nothing more than an
automaton, a human machine, as will be seen from the following
conversation which a gentlemen held with him.
"John, where is your right arm?"
"There," was the reply, as he turned his head and looked at his arm,
partially raising the member.
"Raise your left arm."
Instantly he would raise it.
"Hold your head back."
He did it.
"That will do, John, now open your mouth."
It was done.
[Illustration: The Policeman releasing the Victim from his cage.