Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1883-08-30
A Man Cat-A Story for the CredulOus

On Saturday night Deputy Sheriff
Frank Moffatt, of Oakland, arrived here
with an insane patient whose case is
one of the most extraordinary on record.
The crazy man, Roger Williams, is
about twenty-eight years of age, tail
and of extremely slender build. He is
a graduate of an Eastern college OF high
repute, and before his reason was over
thrown he was recognized among his
associates as a man of fine mind and
vigorous intellect. He was employed
in professional capacity in San Fran
cisco for some time, at one period
studying hard for a doctors diploma.
He had several thousand dollars when
he arrived in San Francisco from the
East, but his health failing he was put
to great expense in travelling to health
resorts and paying for medical advice
and medicine, so that his means were
rapidly absorbed. Feeling unequal to
steady work in the city, and knowing
that with a diminished income he could
not purchase the medical assistance he
needed, he concluded to study his own
disease and prescribe for himself. 1t
was with this view that he entered the
service of physician of the lower city.
The application proving too severe, he
left his place, and feeling that country
air and outdoor work would be the
best tonic for his shattered system he
went to work on farm in the vicinity
of Livermore. For a time he seemed to
improve, but after three or four months
he gave evidences of pulmonary disease,
and there was also a wasting away of
blood and tissue that left him almost
a skeleton. Among his fellOw-wOrkers
on the farm was a young man of about
his own age, who had served an appren-
| ticeship with a doctor. They became
warm friends, and in their conversations
it was suggested that Williams submit
to an experiment in TRANSMISSION of blood,
in hope that he would gain strength
| by it. The instruments were secured,
| but no one could be found who was
willing to be bled in behalf of Rogers,
and after some delay it was decided to
use the blood of an animal. It was here
that it was proved that little learning
| is a dangerous thing. At first a calf
was suggested as the blood supply,
but finally it was decided to sacrifice a
cat, or a whole colony of cats. The
operation was performed, the blood be-
| ing taken from number of cats and
| injected into the veins of Williams, The
experiment was to an extent success
| fuk The man gained strength and had
hope of ultimate recovery, but soon he
began to brood over the consequences
of Incorporating the blood of cats into
his own system, and so heavily did it
weigh upon his mind that his friends
| feared for his sanity. He refused to go
to bed, saying that he believed he was
being transformed into cat, and pre-
ferred to sleep on rug before the fire.
At night, when not asleep, he would
wander about the house, jumping the
garden fence until tired out, when he
would climb to the roof and perch on
1 the chimney. He sought the society of
other cats, and at intervals would try
to fight with them, only succeeding,
however, in soaring them away when
he would return to the house until
rested. He manifested the greatest ter
ror of brOom-handles and bootiacks,
and at last his mania so grew on him
that he was confined until examined for
commitment to the asylum. During
the examination he showed a wonderful
propensity for jumping, several times
running on all tours and springing over
the doctors. Once he jumped through
the window, taking the sash with him,
and until he was put IN straight jacket
could not be kept still. All the time OF
his antics he kept up an ear-piercing
mewing, and at the sight of dogs be-
came frantic. When placed in charge
of Deputy Motfat he was tolerably quiet,
but soon after getting on the train he
tried to jump through the window, and
he was strapped to the seat At the
depot here he got loose, and tried tc
escape under the platform, but was
finally lodged in a place of safe keeping
1t is not certain whether the cat blood
set him crazy, or whether a pre-existine
mental weakness fastened upon the incl
dents of TRANSMISSION to set him com
pletely crazy.-StOcbto11 (CaL) hide
pendent.