The Osceola times., 1880-12-04
SINGULAR DELUSl0NS.
Monomaniacs Who Haunt the New York
Courts aud Newspaper Oficss.

N. Y. Tribune
The police central Office in this city, as
well as the courts and newspaper Offices,
appears TO have its special monomaniac,
As N the other cases. the deluded person
is a woman, and like the other. she Is n
poor, harmless creature, who eXcites
pity. Notwithstanding the absurdity OF
her disordered faneies and the sincerity
and carnestness with which she narrates
her imagined wrongs. She believes
herself to DC under the espionage OF 2,
600 detectives, who follow her in the in
terest of the German Consul, who she
thinks, has secret offices in police head
quartz rs, and deep designs against her
peace and comfort. She tells all this
with a rational air and quiet manner un.
ill she perceives that she Is not credited
and then grows lite excited and be-
comes noisy
Some wears ago man with similar
mania infested the station houses, and
newspaper offices. He imagined that
h was pursued, not by detectives, but
ky doctors, who wanted his body Tor
dissection, and he would narrate TO any
one who would listen long tales OF the
methods they pursued to capture him.
As proof of the truth of what he would
relate he would produce an old copy OF
tue London Times, in which was Il re-
port filling half a column of trial OF q
physician OF London on the charge OF
conspiracy against him. o, course the
report only disclosed that he was insane,
b II this the poor fellow could not rccog-
nize. He disappeared several years ago.
His natural successor seems to be the
unfortunate creature who appeared at
headquarters recently.
Another unfortunate, familiar in news
paper offices, is an old man who claims
to know where S!ewart's body rests, but
who says the executors refuse to take
possession of it, not to escape paying the
reward, he will tell you with great
earnestness, but because one of them
wants the grand mausolenm which Mrs.
Stewart built at Garden City reserved for
himself. He tells his story with such
plausibiiry of manner and incident and
detail, too that one hardly suspects his
sanity until he reaches this astounding
climax, when his Kramer changes IN
stantly to fierceness.
The little Miss Elite, of the court house
and city hail, is a woman of forty-fve
or fifty, and evidently very poor. She
visits the public buildings once every
month and makes formal demand
of the various officials for the rent of
the use OF the building. Her mania is
that she is the owner OF the public
property of New York. In her demands
| Tor her money she interrupts the pro.
ceedlngs in the courts and other offices.
but she is never violent, and easily in
duced to 20 away. She accep anything
in the Iorm or shape OF n check as pay
ment, but if refused this tender she
| threatens writ of cjcctment.
A very remarkable mania is that pos
sessing a lazy of middle-age of tlris city,
who is evidently one of culture and in
| good circumstances. She is 4 very hand.
some blonde. She first developeC this
mania in 1873, shortly after the publica-
| ton OF the cipher dispatches IN the 1Ti-
| blnc. She appeared one day in this
Office and stated that she had an i'm
portant communication to make, but
| would do 50 only on the promise that il
it were used she should first correct and
approve the report. She then stated
that she had instituted three i'm ,,ortant
suits, each for Sl,000,000, one against
President Grant, another against the
| Police Commissioners, and the third
against the Western Union Telegraph
| Company. This startling statement
naturally aroused attention, and when
she added that the suits involved and
exposed the sending Of the Republican
| ciphers during the campaign OF 1875
she was urged tell the story in detail
| She then told who she was, where she
lived, her connections, and her wrongs
| Just before the election in 1876, while
she was absent in the country, the Po
| lice commissioners, under orders from
| President Grant, had sent officers to her
| house, taken possession of it, and pro
| tccted the agents and operators OF the
Western Union Telegraph Company
while they were putting large number
! OF telegraph wires INTO the walls and
ceilings Of the house. These were sc
carefully concealed that when the mis-
tress of the house returned she did moi
| for long time discover them. She did
so then because of the effect on hei
! health. When asked how 1t affected hel
she stated that she possessed the only
electrical voice in the country, which
for the purpose of sending their cipher
| dispatches without fear of expc sure, the
Republicans used, as they would use an
electric battery.
Her story revealed the mania which
possessed her, but nothing else in hei
manner or language indicated it. In
formed that it would be impossible tc
use the information, she retired in q
| quiet lady-like manner to give this ex'
planation of the disappearance of the
Republican cipher dispatches to tn,
enemy for the qualification of the Dem.
ocracy.
Iu all these instances the victim was
absolutely harmless and generally pa.
| tient and sad OF manner. Each would
have made an interesting. study, and
possibly these mere outlines of theiI
peculiarities may prove of general in.
| terest.
| Our DISCOVERIES
1t is 3SS years since Christopher