Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 5, 1994                   TAG: 9402050130
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: GOLDSBORO, N.C.                                LENGTH: Medium

AT 96, FREEDOM FINALLY RINGS FOR A DEAF MAN WRONGED

That was back in 1925. Years later, the charges were dropped, but Wilson remained in a locked ward.

Now 96, Wilson was finally moved Friday into his first real home in 68 years.

"I've got an immense feeling of relief," said John Wasson, Wilson's guardian and an assistant director at the New Hanover County Department of Social Services. "My biggest fear was that he was going to die before getting into that cottage."

Not that there's any particular reason to fear. Wilson's health belies his age. In recent years, while still living in the ward, he was given special privileges. He kept in shape by riding his bicycle everywhere, fishing in a nearby river and keeping dogs in a barn on the hospital's farm.

He was excited about the move to his new three-bedroom cottage, even though it's in the shadow of Cherry Hospital, where Wilson spent all those years, unable to communicate except through crude signs, grunts and gestures.

Wilson's situation came to light in 1991 when Wasson determined from reviewing records that Wilson was deaf, and not mentally ill. It took Wasson and a team of lawyers from Carolina Legal Assistance this long to get him out.

Lawyer Paul Pooley tried to cut through the state's bureaucracy in November with a scathing letter to the attorney general's office.

"He lacks the opportunity to express himself and be understood," Pooley wrote of Wilson. Wilson "He deserves better, and he deserves it now."

It took almost three more months, but Wilson now has the most freedom he's had since he was taken from his home in the coastal town of Castle Hayne.

He also has a car and driver.

"If he wants to go uptown and get a hamburger, they get in the car and go there," hospital director Phil Montgomery said. "We have funds he can use. Money isn't an issue."

Wasson didn't want Wilson to be interviewed, even through a sign language interpreter, because it could be traumatic.

The charge against Wilson was dropped in the 1970s, but hospital officials decided to keep him because his family couldn't be found, Montgomery said.

Wilson was in touch with his father and a sister until the 1940s or 1950s, but that link has been lost, according to Pooley and records. The hospital tried to send a letter to the sister in 1970, but couldn't locate her.

"We don't think he got lost," Montgomery said. "I feel like he was cared for. We don't know whether he knew whether he could or couldn't leave. He never tried to escape."

Wilson now is being taught standard American Sign Language. Twice a month, he visits volunteer families nearby. Every day, he works with arts and crafts to maintain his mobility.