Alone--it is wonderful how little a man can do alone To rob a little, to hurt a little, and there is the end.
Book #6 of 20 in the SDE Classics Science Fiction Collection
A curious man, wearing a long coat, a wide-brimmed hat, and whose face is entirely swathed in bandages save for an obvious fake pink nose, walks into an English inn to the shock of many of the townspeople. Beakers and chemicals in tow, the man demands his solitude. It's strange enough as it is until his money begins to run out and mysterious burglaries occur within the town.
The Invisible Man, written in 1897, chronicles the bizarre interaction between the citizens of a small town and a man who had discovered how to turn himself invisible.