The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-09-27
SOME QUEER PEOPLE.
SaE NATIONAL CAPITAL THE GEN.
TER OF CRANKDOM.

Dull MonOrOny OF Ofncial Lie.
From the Nelo York Star.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 22-The national
capital is the center Of "crankdom." Peo-
pie with hobbies and fixed peculiar ideas
abound here They form a large element
of the population, and in one sense an i'm
portsnt one. Eve.y inventor with an i'm
possible flying machine or a divice for Oh
taing perpetual motion comes TO congress
with it sooner or later, and once here be
usu ally remains, besieging the halls Of legis-
lation with i'm ginary claims.
The men and women wDo have claims
against the government are the ma Ority
of the era ks. Their claims are of all kinds.
Some of hem are purely imaginary. Some
of them are based on services performed
and already sufficiently recompensed.
Some have real merit, but the claimant,
through constant shooting at one target,
has come to magnify the target bevond all
natural proportions. In addition to these
people, there are the men and women with
peculiar IDEAS about certain branches Of
the government aud the way they should
he managed.
Charlotte Smith is in continual pursuit Of
the heads of the bureaus In the different
departments, always with some other wo-
mans grievance to redress. She is a
busting little woman who dresses in black
and usually carries In her well gloved hands
a brndle of saapers. Sue makes it her bust
ness to see that the working women in the
departments are given an equal chance
with men, aud she usually carries
her point. S has great In
fiuence with certain members of. congress,
whose little faults and vices she has learned
throug the house servants who are mem
bers of the Woman's League, aud whenever
she calls on the heads Of departments for
recogni ion and fails TO get 1t, she pulls a
string or two, and they bon see the advisa-
bility of letting her have her own way, at
least in part SIC has an ample tear re er.
voir, on which she frequently calls with
good effect. Mrs. Smitn was sister of
Bob Odlum. who was killed by a jump
from Brooklyn bridge into East river.
DR.. Nary Walker is another remarkable
woman. During the war she rendered
great service to the union army in the
hospitals of he wes5. She asked no COM
pensatlon for her work and received none
1t was during this period that she adopted
the bloomer costume, which was the first
step toward her 1nvesture In mems gar
ments After Q war she came to Wash
ington and made application to Secretary
Stanton for a commission as army surgeon
she had graduated as a physician
and had done physician's work during the
war. The matter was referred to Judge
the legality Of such an appointment. He
decided that 1t was pc fectly legal and
Secretary Stanton had a commission issued
to DR.. Walker as major and surgeon in the
army. OF course, the appointment was
purely honorary There was no emolument
attached to it, DIR. Walker had so ne
money then, and she asked none of The
government. Shortly afterward she
hung out her single and en-
tered on the practice of medicine, still
wearing the bloomer costume. She Joined
hands with Belva Lockwood and other
enthusiasts in the organization of a
Woman's Rights Association, in which she
became quite prominent; but S disagreed
with her o-workers on the subject of dress.
and sc soon Separated from them. At
this time DIR. Walker douned the full male
c stume, which has distinguished her since.
Practice was not good, and she
went to Congress for pension, whice she
succeeded in obtaining. s also obtained a
clerkship in the pension Office, which She
held for a number of years. Her ideas de-
veloped in so peculiar way, however, that
her services we're dispensed witt Since
that time she has constantly pursued con-
gress with a claim for an additional pension.
which she fl IDS it difficult to obtain. Sac
demands the rights acc rded to those who
wear the male costume, but insists upo1 her
privilege as w man. She has been
known to order a man to drop the cigar
he was smoking because its fumes offended
her, and because he had mo right to smoke
in the presence of LADY," Sic is now
denied admitta ce to most of the depart
ments and to the white house. She has not
bothered President Harrison very much.
but she used to make Pre- Sident Cleveland's
life burden. she would appear regularly
at his public receptions, and demand an i'm
mediate audience on the subject of her
grievances.
Another woman who used to frequent
President Cleveland'S receptions was the
widow of Gen. Ward. b. Burnett. Gen.
Burnett was distinguished soldier, who
died in 1884. His widow conceived, even
befoi 9 his death, the idea that the govern
ment was indebted to her in large sums of
money, and she has been for many years
laying siege to the pension Office. Fail
ing there, she appeals to the Secretary of
the Interior, and from him to the Presi-
dent. She has succeeded in seeing Secre-
tary Noble only once, and then for but a
few moments. She managed to gain an
interview with Judge Chandler, the Assist
ant Secretary of the Interior, recently, and
Informed him that he was "a fool.n Mrs
Burnett is somewhat violent. and her wrath
is direc ed almost Unfortunately at all
with whom she comes in contact
Another personlge of some renown is
John Pope Hodnett, who has a claim
against the gov arnment for many Thousand
dollars for services which he claims to have
rendered to the workingmen of the district
many years ago. He was an organizer of
labor meetings in the time of the old b ard
of public works, and championed the cause
of some laborers " hom the contr ctors did
not pay; but he has no possible claim
against the government.
One of the old-time cranlIs of Washing
ton, who is now airing his ideas in the st.
Elizabeth Insane Asylum, was a man named
Plnchover. he was a crank of magnificent
ideas. He had claim against tine govern
ment, he said, for sum which ra nged from
40,000, 600 TO $l00, 600, 600, according to the
iberalIty of the mood in which he found
himself He wet about the capital for
many years with a long tin C climber under
his arm filed with papers relating to bis
claim. He furnished a great deal of
amusement to the employees of the
two houses of Congrys, for many
years. He had a penchant for beer,
which he was not always able to CRAFTY
for lack of funds. Gen. Clark, the clerk Of
the House, used to amuse himself bribing
Pinchover with a glass of beer to eat hard
boiled eggs, shell and all He used to
crunch them up and swallow tn I'm with
apparent avidity. Some of TIE newspaper
correspondents would write out railroad
passes for him, and he would present them
In all sincerity on the trains running be-
tween Washington and Baltimore. He in
sisted on his right to ride on them, and con.