Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-09-08
A Man Cat-A Story for the Credulous.

"A 1AAsA. java OVOEy AVT Glo CEtuulOuSs
On Saturday night Deputy Sheriff
Frank MoAatt, 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, tall
and OF extremely slender build. He is
agraduate of an Eastern college of high
repute, and before his reason was over
thrown he was recognized among his
associates as q man of fine mind and
vigorous intellect. He wat employed
in a professional capacity i'll 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 q 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 IN 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. 1t was here
that it was proved that little learning
is a dangerous thing. At first a cali
was suggested as the blood supply,
but finally it was decided to sacrifice q
cat, or a whole colony of cats. The
operation was performed, the blood be-
ing taken from a number of cats and
injected into the veins of Williams. The
experiment was to an extent success
full. 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 il
weigh upon his mind that his friends
feared for his sanity. He refused to &c
to bed, saying that he believed he was
being transformed into a cat, and pre-.
ferred to sleep on a 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 or
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 bootjacks,
and at last his mania SO grew on him
that he was confined until examined fol
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 a straight jacket
could not be kept still. All the time o.
his antics he kept up an ear-piercine
mewing, and at the sight Of dogs be:
came frantic. When placed in charge
Of Deputy Moffat he was tolerably quiet
but soon after getting on the train hi
tried to jump through the window, ane
he was strapped to the seat. At thu
depot here he got loose, and tried tt
escape under the platform, but was
finally lodged in aplace of safe keeping
1t is not certain whether the cat bloot
set him crazy, or whether a pre-existins
mental weakness fastened upon the Incl
dents of TRANSMISSION to set him com
pletely crazy.-Stockton fCa1.) Lnde
pendent.
RoIiuiOnS in Tnd3o