The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1881-09-01
Lunatics at Washington.

Aseceub 9VeuIS hG washington CannOt
have failed to call general attention to
the vast number of queer birds that
habitually roost about the Capital City.
ALI the distorted mental action of this
country appears to gravitate to Wash.
ington. Light-witted characters seem
to be NATURALLY thrown into that city on
the top, of wave, like SO many ccrks.
and lallkfed there. No one who has spent
any time at the Capital can have failed
to note them.
They appear at every turn. The
stranger who takes in the city "durine
the season" will see varieties of human
nature enough to astonish him. He will
wish there We're not so many varie-
t1es.aSE Perhaps he drops in at @
meeting of ladies, to hear the woman
sutragists plead their cause. Nothing.
apparently, could be more conducive to-
repose and quiet than that. But it will
not be surprising at any moment to be
startled from his somnolency by the ap-
partition Of female fury fourishing o
pistol in the face of the fair speech
makers, and declaring that she is Com
munist, and means to kill somebody, so
she could get her rights. Such q cir
cumstance happened not many winters
ago. The Washington lunatic with q
pistol Is not confined to the masculine
sex alone.
Quack doctors, women in pantaloons,
long-haired pbrenologists, spiritualist
lecturers, bewilder the visitor at every ho-
tel and street corner, till he begins to
cast an anxious eye towards Congress-
men, and to wonder privately whether
they are not going crazy too
The man who attempted to assassinate
President Jackson, in 1885, was an un-
doubted lunatic. Many of them poster
ne Patent Office. They come with tales
OF miraculous inventions they have made.
Men with wild eyes, and shiny hair and
clothing go about fancying they are the
President of the United States. In some
cases they go to the Executive Mansion
itself, and demand that its occupant be
turned out, and that they be given their
rightful place.
Tumbled-up looking women, with wild
hair standing out like quilts upon the
fretful porcupine, and crazy bonnets,
haunt the departments WITH MESSAGES
from the spirits to the Treasurer, or
President, or General of the Aimy.
They are usually controlled by the spirit
OF George Washington, and he is anxi-
GUS to show us through them how to
boss this country. Newspaper CORE.
spondents have often alluded to this
strange horde of lunes about Washing.
ton. They have been allowed to come
and go everywhere, as they pleased, be-
ing merely laughed at and pitied. 1t has
never been thought necessary heretofore
to shut them up, not even as far as theii
tongues are concerned. But there ought
to be change in that respect now,
There is always q pressure of excitement
at the Capital. Sometimes it breaks Out
In scandals, sometimes in craziness. II
q city where there is always more or less
mental strain Of the kind that is felt
there, nobody can tell when O. harmless
lunatic may develop into dangerous
one. In fact, entirely harmless lunatics
are very rare. Hereafter, it will un
doubtedly be the part of wisdom tc
thrust behind the bars persons with {
k1nk in their brains individuals with q
mission and q roll of manuscript sbould
be strictly watched.
In one respect the pulpy-braine
idiots who drift to the Capital unani-
m,ously agree: They all have bound
lessly exalted ideas of their own import
ance.. It is the leading characteristic of
lunatics the world over. Perhaps. in
deed, one may safely conclude that per-
sons who think great things of their
own abilities and merit, are always more
or less cracked.-CGncianati CONNER
cial.