Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1884-09-18
WUNDEGtUL NE>MERISlI.
One OF the Most Remarkable Ci't3 on Record
A Victim of >pinnl Nervousness.

W tHN HOllCc Ol lne nOIlCc III Htdu-
quarters, ,hcn AlWhitiicld applied
for protection from August Redcll, a
man from it was impossible to free
himself Whillicltl'S first words were:
"whcrc is the chief of police?" I'M
came from Rcdcl: "Whcre
is the chi, police?' Then every word
spoken by Whitfield was repeated by
Redcll, and every action duplicated.
The captain on watch, under the inn
preston that the two strangers were
trying to play practical joke upon
him, ordered them away. Whitfield
insisted that he was in dead earnest,
and tried TO explain the situation,
whercupon his double using exactly
the same words and earnest tones,
made the same explanation. Finally,
TO learn which man Of the two was
insane, Captain Hair conducted Whit
field into the private Office and closed
the door. At this Rcdcll slowly swoon-
ed and would have fallen to the floor
had he not been caught by bystanders.
The door was thrown open, and Rcdell,
catching sight of Whitfield, revived
imcdiatcly. For the next half hour
Rcdcll did not remove his eyes from
Whitfield, and duplicated every word,
motion, gesture and expression of
Whitfield. The insane man-it was
evident that Rcdcll was nervous,
bordering on the insanc-was obliyi-
Gus to all surroundings, but did not
answer questions put to him by others,
did not seem to hear them, and, in
fact, had lost all mental and physical
power except that of Icing 4 shadow
Of the man who happened then to con-
troll him.
The strangcst result of the rcmarka-
BILE case follows, but it is well enough
to give the start. This was learned
later in the afternoon by an OrcgoHiau
reporter from Whitfield. whose story
is worthy of belief. He is young
man, and works in the shop of his
uncle, W. W. Espcy Yesterday
morning he met Rcdell, whom ha had
not seen since last December, and
they walked around town together.
Two years ago they were out together
in Il tclcgraphic construction party on
the sound, and were great chumS. A
iSW minutes after they started out
Whitfield noticed that Rcdcll repeated
his words and initiated his actions,
but at first paid no attention to it.
dhey, ATE luncheon together, and
Rpdpll rcDpatpl every motion of Whit
held at the table, Whitfield then
went INTO store bought pair OF
shoeS' anu then put them on. Rcdcll
iolioWed SUIT choosing the same STYLE
ana not hcglcctlng to pay Tor them,
winfield, became alarmed now and
exceedingly annoyed by his "double,
went to police headquarters,
After the men had been il the office
some time, and, ii having been dem
onstratcd that the insane man could
not be separated from Whitfield with
out fainting, physician was sent for.
Pending his arrival, Whitfield seated
himself on lounge, and, there being
no other seat in the room, Rcdell
stood opposite him, bending his knees
and coming rs near sitting posture
as he could. In this position he re-
maincd for more than half an hour,
never taking his eyes from Whitfield.
a dozen or more men came in, and
each fresh one wanted to see the
power eXertcd. Whitfield accommo-
dated them until he himself was cx-
haustcd. If Whitfield removed his
hat, or pulled his mustache, or rose
and kicked the door, or laughed, or
looked distressed, Rcdcll did the same,
and he repeated every wold that
Whitfield spoke. Finally n policeman
STEPPED between them, and stood for
perhaps fifteen seconds, so as to OBJ
scurc RedelIs view, when he fell to
the floor entirely unconscious. lie did
not appear to be in pain, though his
arms and legs twitched occasionally,
and twice he went into violent parox-
ysms, which lasted Il minute or more.
After he had lain for ten minutes
Whitfield returned and spoke to him.
Redell moved his lips, framing them
to pronounce the words, but no sound
came. BY this time DR.. c. IL. Wheel
er arrived. Fr, m the information
given by bystandGrs, he got a fair idea
of the case, and he asked Whitfield to
take hold of the mans hands and bid
him to rise. Whitfield did so, and in
AN instant the man was ON his feet
laughing. Whitfield left him, and he
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