It was built after his own plans, they say, when he came to Ogdensburg with his wife, who died soon afterward.

Nobody knows whence he came or anything of his past history.

He is apparently a total stranger here below, holding no intercourse with the world beyond that enclosure.

His wife is said to have been a woman of great beauty, and her death doubtless threw him into a morbid state of mind, from which he has never rallied.

Many years ago he is known to have bought a full-grown African lion from a traveling menagerie, and, soon after, he erected the wall, presumably out of regard for the public safety.