Women in the 1800's were predisposed to bouts of hysteria. Just the women, apparently, because wombs.
Or maybe not.
This article, published in the Logan, Ohio Hocking sentinel in late July 1897 explicitly states that EVERYBODY in Euclid was on edge due to the recent sightings of what then could only be described as a "Wild Man,".
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| July 29 1897 Logan Hocking sentinel |
The brief clip reads:
Search for a Wild Man.
A primitive being half covered with matted hair, wild eyed and demoniacal in appearance, has been frightening men, woman and children in Euclid Township, a few miles east of Cleveland, Ohio. The wild man approached the house of Charles Hazen in Euclid. Several women screamed and the wild man was put to flight by farmers. Again he appeared in the same vicinity, and a posse of 100 citizens, armed with guns, rakes, pitchforks and clubs, set out to round up the wild man. The man fled to a dense wood north of town. Search will be continued.
"...a posse of 100 citizens, armed with guns, rakes, pitchforks and clubs...," Huh. I always wondered what they did before they had Facebook groups.
A Wellington, Ohio paper called The enterprise also published the news of Euclid's Wild Man, and they mentioned that he had been getting everyone whipped into a frenzy for 3 weeks (incorrect). Oh, he's also buck naked.
News moved slowly in the 1890's. Our Euclid Wild Man was actually on the prowl starting the evening of Saturday, July 17th, 1897. The story hit the front page of the July 21, 1897 Cleveland Plain Dealer.
The Plain Dealer article above states that Charles Hazen, along with his wife Annette Hazen, children, and 2 nieces (Lulu and Flora Baisch) had returned from an outing at the lake to their Euclid avenue residence. Mr. Hazen was out putting the horse away for the night, a task which took about 10 minutes, when he heard screaming from the women. He wasn't alarmed because you know, girls will be girls I guess.
Inside Mrs. Hazen had gone to another room and the girls came screaming bloody murder out of the kitchen, exclaiming that a giant, naked man had come into the kitchen. Mrs. Hazen ran to the kitchen and spied an elbow going out the door, which belonging to no one in the family, convinced her they had indeed had an uninvited guest. He wore only a bandana on his face, according to the young witnesses.
The girls took turns fainting and wouldn't be consoled until after 2 am. Later one young woman described his eyes as "Satanic".
Euclid Deputy Sheriff Barry was going to tag along with the posse of 100 armed Euclid farmers who chuckled when it was suggested that upon finding Euclid's wild man, they should get in touch with law enforcement.
5 long days pass and then on July 26th, good news is splashed across the front of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
According to the July 26th release, men had scoured and turned over every inch of Euclid village but the efforts didn't bear fruit. On Saturday the 24th of July, Euclid Constable Hermly and R. A. Hunt saw a man who fit the description on Euclid road, between the French farm and the Brush property. Upon attempting communication it became clear he did not speak English and seemed "dazed". He didn't put up a fight, though, and when motioned to get into the buggy, did so.
Hermly and Hunt wanted to run their captive by the Hazen family, or by Col. Henry Brush, who believed the 'wild man' had once been in his employ. Nobody was home, everybody was at church. Feeling that if the villagers spotted him there would be street justice old Euclid style, they felt it best to get a move on, and they took him to the county jail. Jailer Barry could not speak the mans language either, but was able to determine his name was Michael Zaboda (sic), aged 34 years, and was a Slav.
Michael was probably more like 44 or 46, and it can't be determined if he lied about his age or it was lost in translation. His name was actually spelled "Zabadal".
He was 6 feet tall (perhaps this was towering 123 years ago?), and very tan due to his exposure to the summer sun. An interpreter was brought in and it was discovered Zabadal had a wife and 5 children and lived at 12 Berg Street.
Sheriff McConnell contacted a grocery proprietor on Berg street and the owner of the store confirmed that Zabadal had in fact lived down the street.
Zabadal was found to have "no particular mortgage on sanity", and he had been previously institutionalized. He'd also had prior run ins with the law and had spent time in jail.
His insanity was believed to have been caused by a blow to his head, given by none other than his wife. After this cranial whack, he began to abuse her, chase her around with butchers knives, and attempted to murder his children as well, going so far as to scoop one up with the intention of drowning said child in a river.
Zabadal had a patchy memory but said he had found work in Euclid from a man named "Jim". Jim canned him shortly thereafter, but Zabadal said he was owed $30, and was hanging around until he got it. He slept in barns when the weather called for it, outdoors otherwise.
On his person was 49 cents and the cloth matching the description the Hazen girls saw him wearing on his face. He remarked to his captors that he wore this cloth as a bandage for an injury on his face, although he had no such injury.
He was amicable through the entire process, laughing regularly. He was not charged with any crime, and was being held on the charge of insanity.
The next day Michael Zabadal was adjudged insane by acting probate Judge Chandler. He was examined by Dr. J. H. Lowman and testified that he was mentally unsound, though likely harmless.
In another odd turn, while Col. Brush positively identify Zabadal as the man who had done work for him, Mrs. Hazen and Mr. Priday both thought they had the wrong guy. No more sightings were reported after this, though, so it was mostly likely Zabadal. How many other naked, 6 foot tall, bandana wearing men could the small village of Euclid having running around at once?
In mid September of the same year, Zabadal was "released"...
But not released by anyone with authority. He took off while farming on infirmary ground when the eyes of his caretakers were turned in another direction. He escaped on the 17th of September 1897 and was caught on the 18th by the village marshal of Glenville.
If you have ever tried to track down family through genealogy, you know how tricky surnames are. They were Americanized, misspelled, or left out completely. Such seems to be the case with Michael Zabadal. The last record I found, he was a ward of the state, listed as "insane" in the 1900 census in the city of Cleveland, and I also found a city of Cleveland directory from 1892 that has him listed as Michael Zabata and his correct apartment address, 12 Berg.
Michael died a resident of the hospital that held him for the last part of his 60 years on Earth. He died September 16, 1911 of heart disease and is buried at West Park Cemetery. Euclid never heard from the Wild man again.
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