Famous 'man in the hole' had everything he needed

TULSA, Okla. (AP) - Edward Hammond, a man made famous because he lived in a hole, was laid to rest with military honors at Fort Gibson National Cemetery on Dec. 2, 1993.

Hammond had chosen to live apart from society for much of his life.

Found living in the woods of Osage County in 1983, Hammond, then 73, explained his philosophy to Tulsa World reporter Tom Carter:

"I'd rather be here than uptown Tulsa and put up with what they got up there. Sirens, ambulances and cheap women."

So Hammond dug a 5-foot-wide hole where he covered himself with a plastic sheet. He dressed in extra layers of clothing for warmth.

Aside from bathing in a creek twice a year (in the spring and fall) he was otherwise indifferent to the passage of time, possessing neither a watch nor a calendar.

When reporters visited to check on him, Hammond sometimes declined to emerge from the hole because "if I let anybody visit . the next thing they'd want to do is move in."

Something about Hammond touched the hearts of World readers, who called the newspaper to check on the reluctant celebrity when cold weather came.

He steadfastly refused to accept charity when World readers offered him money, food, clothing and shelter.

In December 1984, Hammond moved to higher ground after heavy rains flooded his original hole.

"I predict he'll be back in his real hole as soon as it dries," an acquaintance of Hammond told Carter. "Nobody wants to be out of their home at Christmas."

In Sand Springs, Hammond was known as "hammer man" because he carried a hammer as he walked along the road collecting the aluminum cans he sold to support himself.

A kindly neighbor, W.R. "Bill" Dunn, befriended Hammond and once offered him a ride home.

"You can't get there by car," Dunn said Hammond told him. Dunn later followed Hammond on foot and discovered his camp near West Edison Street and 49th West Avenue.

Dunn even persuaded Hammond to leave his hole and stay in Dunn's camper in the winter of 1987, but the reclusive Hammond moved out again the following spring and soon became a fixture along Charles Page Boulevard where he could be seen scavenging for cans.

Hammond said he was "metal extractor" by trade.

Rumors of Hammond's death proved premature in 1988, when human bones were found near his original hole. The World's Wayne Greene located him and assured readers that the man in the hole was alive. Hammond asked that his new location not be published.

In fall 1993, Dunn found Hammond on his back porch, having suffered a heart attack. Hammond died on Nov. 24 at Tulsa Regional Hospital. He was 83.

Newspaper reports initially stated that Hammond had died penniless and was destined for a pauper's grave. Family members in California - who had lost contact with Hammond for 50 years - couldn't afford to bury him.

Ninde funeral service in Tulsa held off on making arrangements until after the Thanksgiving holiday to determine whether county or state government would handle the situation.

World readers offered burial plots, but $2,000 was needed for a concrete box and a basic funeral service.

Hammond's neighbor, Dunn, said that he had persuaded his friend to sign up for Social Security in 1988. Dunn called Limestone National Bank in Sand Springs and learned that Hammond had $1,948 in a savings account.

The funeral home contacted the Veterans Administration and discovered that Hammond had served in the military in 1942 before receiving a medical discharge, making him eligible for burial at the national cemetery.

At Hammond's funeral, Tulsa and Muskogee Veterans of Foreign Wars performed last rites.

"We came for fear that no one else would come," said Stan Campbell, one of six veterans representing VFW Post 577 in Tulsa.

Dunn and two other Sand Springs residents also attended the service.

The Rev. J. Harold Bryan of Riverside Baptist Church delivered the eulogy, saying that only God knew why Hammond lived as he did.

He added that many people said Hammond was a changed man after his brother was decapitated in the Pryor tornado of April 27, 1942, which killed 52 people.

That was the same year that Hammond "came back from the service with an injury that jarred one of his kidneys loose . he never was the same," his niece Kay Baird of Oroville, California, had told the World earlier.

"People thought that because he lived in the hole he had no money, but he always seemed to have what he needed," Dunn said.