The Old Leather Man: Historical Accounts of a Connecticut and New York Legend

Fascinating documentation of a mysterious figure

In 1883, wearing a sixty—pound suit sewn from leather boot—tops, a wanderer known only as the Leather Man began to walk a 365 mile loop between the Connecticut and Hudson Rivers that he would complete every 34 days, for almost six years. His circuit took him through at least 41 towns in southwestern Connecticut and southeastern New York, sleeping in caves, accepting food from townspeople, and speaking only in grunts and gestures along the way....