The Leather Clad Man

You’re probably expecting me to tell you a tale of horror right about now. Some Texas chainsaw massacre type of deal. A skin suit wearing psychopath or some other such story.

Not today. Today we are going to talk about the enigma that was the Leatherman. All he did was walk.

First Appearance of the Leatherman

He first appears around 1857 and from then until his death in 1889 he travelled the same route. A 365 mile route to be exact. A circuitous journey between the Connecticut and Hudson Rivers. Encompassing over 45 towns. Why? Nobody knows.

A vagabond, the leatherman wore a full suit of leather. As you can see below from a 1885 picture taken of him.

To add to his mystique, he didn’t really speak to anyone. It was speculated that he was either French or French-Canadian due to the very limited things he would say and the fact he was found with a French language prayer book after his death.

Following his route, he would stop in towns with metronomic regularity. Usually about every five weeks. Nobody knew how he made his living. He had no visible means of supporting himself. But stop he would. For food and supplies before pushing off again.

He declined to eat meat on Fridays, leading to speculation that he was a Roman Catholic. As his legend built, people along his route would feed him as he passed by. He was so popular, some towns in Connecticut even exempted him from the “tramps law” passed in 1879.

The Leather clad man lived in caves and survived the harsh climate by heating them with fires. Most other vagabonds of the area lost extremities to frostbite, but not the leather man. These caves of his are still there. To this day they are still known as leatherman caves.

In 1888, the Connecticut Humane Society had the leatherman hospitalized, believing him to be unsound of mind. Ultimately, he was found to be sane apart from emotional turmoil. He had money and wanted to be free, so they had to let him leave.

The leatherman passed away in 1889. His body was found on March 24th, in a cave near the town of Mount Pleasant, New York. The death was attributed to mouth cancer.

Death and Disputed Identity

He was buried near route 9 in Ossining, New York. The headstone read:

FINAL RESTING PLACE OF:
Jules Bourglay
OF LYONS, FRANCE
“THE LEATHER MAN”
Who regularly walked a 365-mile route
through Westchester and Connecticut from
the Connecticut River to the Hudson
living in caves in the years
1858–1889

Mystery solved? No. The name only appeared in a story published in 1884, but was retracted later. The leathermans death certificate has no name attached to it.

In 2011, the grave had to be moved due to it’s proximity to route 9. The plan was to test his remains to throw some light on who he was. When the grave was exhumed, no remains were found. Only some coffin nails and soil.

These were reburied at the new site. The headstone simply reads “The Leatherman”.

Over the years speculation has abounded about who he could have been. The prevailing story has him as a peasant boy wanting to marry a wealthy girl. To win approval, he joins the fathers leather business and makes a trade so bad the father has to file for bankruptcy. So he takes to the road. Dressed from head to toe in the very items that brought about his ruin.

Pearl Jam even wrote a song about him, called unsurprisingly, Leatherman.

Personally, I don’t think we will ever find out who the leatherman was. The empty grave only adds to the mystery surrounding him. Where did his money come from? Why didn’t he talk? He’s almost a precursor to the story of Forest Gump.

A singular focus to keep on travelling. Round and around the same route for over 30 years. Why? Because he could.