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Thirteen years past, and in 1823, both the revered Mr. Spaulding and his wife died within a month. At the old "priest's" funeral, Josiah was mentioned in public for the first time in a decade, as the newly hired minister praised the dead reverend for the care and attention he lavished on his stricken son. "The younger Spaulding received more from his father than could be expected," the minister said. "For when a human being is bereft of reason, he sinks immeasurably below the brute."

With no one to care for the now 37-year-old man in the parsonage cage, his sister Lydia, who had married the influential Ezra Howes, destined to become town clerk, treasurer and state representative, persuaded her husband to allow Josiah into the Howes homestead across the town common. It was a pitiable sight, the day he was transferred. Some townspeople cried as they watched the chained and naked Josiah being led up the hill from the parsonage into the Howes residence, followed by four men carrying his dismantled cage. The cage was reassembled in the back upstairs bedroom and the crazed man, struggling with his escorts was unceremoniously thrown into it. Once again he disappeared from public view.

The Howes tried their best to care for Josiah, but Lydia was in mortal fear of him. She felt it was her Christian duty to look after the "thing" that once had been her brother, but went near the cage only when it was necessary. Surrounded by filth and demoralized beyond hope, Josiah neither saw nor talked to another human being.

In 1828 Howes learned the selectmen of the town were required, by law, to care for maniacs and he pressed the board to do something about Josiah. The people of Buckland, out of respect for the late Mr. Spaulding, declining to place his son in the town's almshouse, or to consign him to the county jail, as was the custom. Selectmen appointed a committee to investigate other alternatives and the committee reported, "Mrs. Howes proposed to secure the town from being to any expense in the support of Josiah Spaulding, Jr. upon the condition of their paying for his support for the next six months and have his estate exempt from taxation."

At the next town meeting, an article was inserted in the town warrent -sic- -- "To see if the town will make any agreement with Ezra Howes to free him from any expense of supporting Josiah Spaulding, Jr. or to act thereon." The town meeting voted that Buckland would pay Howes $52 and exempt him from taxation during Josiah's natural life, on the condition that Howes idemnify -sic- the town from Josiah's becoming a pauper." Their civic duty accomplished, the people of Buckland once more put Si Spaulding from their minds and their consciences.

Lydia died in 1836, but Howes, true to his word with the town, continued to support his brother-in-law, now 50 years old. Fortunately for the caged man, Howes remarried the next year and his new wife, the former Mrs. Lois Warriner, was not only unafraid of her ward, but expressed a deep concern for him. She kept his cage clean and made it a point to cook his favorite foods whenever possible. Her tenderness had a soothing affect on her disturbed house guest, and there was a noticeable difference in his behavior whenever she was in the room. Mrs. Warriner was the only person Josiah ever established a real communication with, and the only person he displayed any affection or regard for during the 57 years he was "crazed."

Howes died in 1855 but his widow continued to care for Josiah, now an old man. At 69 years of age, he had been in the cage for 45 years. Two generations had passed since Mr. Spaulding had preached his last sermon, and, if the townspeople still remembered Josiah, they seldom mentioned him.

When Mrs. Warriner died in 1864, the Buckland people were again forced to face the prospect of finding him a new home. Unpleasant memories were stirred as they carried the aged maniac from the Howes homestead and transported him to the town poor farm where he would spend his few remaining years. Despite his age and infirmities, selectmen ordered the infamous cage to the poor farm, and there Josiah was again incarcerated.

Word went around Franklin County about the inhuman wreck in the Buckland poor-house, and people came from neighboring towns to look at the "disgusting and revolting maniac, huddled deep in his blanket and crouching in the corner of a cage. Proprietors of the poorhouse conducted tours for the curious, and told them the caged man was treated like an animal because he acted like one.

Josiah died quietly on Christmas Eve, in 1867. No one in Buckland mourned his death. They placed him in an unmarked grave near his father, thankful that the one blot on the illustrious Spaulding name had at long last been removed. His epitaph was printed in the town records. "Josiah Spaulding, Jr., died Dec. 24, 1867. Unmarried, he was for many years insane; and tenderly cared for by his family."