The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1880-02-27

/. boarding IN Imaginary Fortune.
Within about two miles OF this town
lies tract of marshy, low land, which,
on account of its situation, is called the
"swamp." The few people who can
stand the constant risk of malaria, and
dwell within the confines, are termed
swampers'' These people are of the
poorest classes, and subsist mostly off
the benefactions of their neighbors in
the town. Several of the inhabitants
have established q reputation for eccen
tricities of character, but none equals q
man familiarly known as '' Luny Jake. :"
That he is crazy, and has been for years,
is not particularly noticeable matter,
but the manifestations of his lunacy as
sumo such an odd and unusual form
that he has always attracted marked at
tention. Before he lost his reason he
was miner, and it is generally believed
that the theft of part of his acquired
treasures by some of his swamp neigh
bors was the immediate cause of his
mental ruin. The natural effect of all
this was that his greatness embodied the
old desire for gold. He is go]d-blind.
To him every thing wears agolden hue,
and, like the Arabian of the fable, all
things are converted into gold at his
touch. He has q meek, quiet look that
does not betoken much insanity, but the
shape of his face is exceedingly repul-
sive. It is long, coming almost
to q point at the chin, and
the cheek bones project to an
unusual extent. He wears costume
which he made himself out of canvas
and old meal-bags. A shirt of canvas,
somewhat like those worn by the college
boys in football games, covers the up
per portion of his body, while pair of
trousers formed out of meal-bags keep
the wind off his limbs. The bags
proved too short for the purpose evil
IDENTIFY, for they only reach short dis
lance below the knees. A hat, full of
holes and ragged around the rim, COW
ers his head. A coat, given him proba-
bly, by some sympathizing stranger, and
much too large for his shrunken form,
completes his dress.
This is the figure with which every
resident here has become familiar.
The boys still follow him through the
streets, and laugh at him as he gathers
pebbles and bits of wood, believing
they are coin of great value, but the
older people are so accustomed to the
sight that they scarcely give him a
second glance. He walks along the
streets, and stops to place in basket,
or sometimes small sack, every stone
of medium size. He calls these gold
eagles, and chatters to himself about
his enormous wealth stored up in his
little hut in the swamp. He calls at
the stores and asks for advertising
cards. These he imagines are bank
bills of various denominations. There
is one of the leading drug-stores of the
town which Jake frequents more than
any other, because the bright-colored
cards of patent medicines there offered
for distribution seem to enchant and
captivate him. He is permitted to take
a reasonable quantity of these, and he
goes away, always muttering about the
increase of his registered Government
bonds. He is perfectly harmless, never
attempting to assail any one, and even
declining to resent the insults given him
by the urchins along the streets. 1t is
this fact of his peaceable disposition
which has kept him out Of the asylum.
His home is a small, broken-down
shanty in the swamps, in which are Sc
creted, with the utmost care, thousands
of stones, cards and sticks. He cries
and wrings his hands when any one
tries to enter the house. 1t is said that
he spends half of the night in counting
and recounting his imaginary fortune.
None of his relatives, if he has any, ever
offers him any assistance, and his con-
dition is really pitiable. 1t is not prob
able that he will live long, as he is re
duced almost to skeleton.-F2enaingtos
IN. III Cor. N. Y. Times.