Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1889-10-10
SOME QUEER PEOPLE.
THE NATIONAL CAPITAL THE
CENTRE OF CRANKDoM.
Men and Women With Imaginary
Claims, or Full of Impossible Re-
forms, Haunt the White House
and the Departments.

forms, Haunt the w hitC iAo"7N
/ and the Depar tments.
, The National Capital is the centre Of
"crankdom.' People with hobbies ana
} fixed peculiar ideas abound here. Ihey
form a large element Of the population,
; and in one sense an important one.
Every inventor with an imposs bic fly
, ing machine or a device for obtaining
, perpetual motion comes to Congress
with it sooner or later, and once here he
usually remains, besieging the halls OF
legislation with imaginary claims.
The men and women who have claims
against the Government are the MAORI
ty of the cranks. Their claims are OF all
kinds. Some of thcm are purely mag
mary. Some of them are based on SER
vices performed and already sufficiently
recompensed. Some have real merit,
but the claimant, through constant
shooting at one target, has come to
magnify the target beyond all natural
proportions. In addition to these leo
Die, there are men and women with pc
cnl;ar ideas about certain branches OF
the Government and the way they should
be managed.
Charlotte Smith is in continual pur-
suit Of the heads of the bureaus IN the
different departments, always with some
other woman S grievance to redress. She
is busting little woman who dresses
in back, and usual Y carries IN her we'll
gloved hands bundle Of papers. She
makes il her business to see that the
working women in the departments are
given an equal chance with men, and /
1 she usually carries her point. She has 4
( great influence with certain members of
/ Congress, whose little faults and vices
she has learned through the house ser
wants who are members of the Woman s
League, and whenever she calls ON the
heads of departments for recognition
and fails to get it, she pulls string or
two, and they socn see the adyisabi ity
of letting her have her own way, at least
in part She has an ample tear reser
voir, on which she frequently calls With
good effect. Mrs. Smith was a sister OF
Bob Odlum, who was killed by a jump
from Brooklyn Bridge into the East
River.
Another woman who used to frequent
President Cleyeland's receptions was the
widow Of General Ward b. Burnett.
General Burnett was q distinguished
soldier, who died in 1884. His widow
conceived, even before his death, the
idea that the Government vas indebted
to her in large sums of money, and she
has been for many years laying siege to
the Pension Office. Failing there, she
appeals to the Secretary Of the Interior,
and from him to the President. She
has succeeded in seeing Secretary Noble
only once, and then for but a few mo
ments. She managed 10 gain an inter
view with Judge handler, tho Assistant
Secretary OF the interior, recently, and
informed him that he was "a fool. Fl"
Mrs. Burnett is somewhat violent at
times and her wrath is directed almost
indiscriminately at all with whom she
comes ia contact.
Cne OF the old-time cranks Of Wash +
ingion, who is now niiing his ideas in
st. Elizabeth Insane Asylum, was a man
named Binchover He was a crank Of
ideas. He had C aim
against the Government, he said, for !
sum which ranged from forty 10 a hun 1
bred million, according to tie iiberniity l
of the mood in which he found himself. 7
He went about the Caritol for many
years with long tin cylinder under his 2
arm, filed with papers re ating to his !
ella m. He furnished great deal OF I
TO the employees Of the two
houses of Congress for many years. lie c
had pen liant for beer, which he was
not always able to crafty for lack OF
funds General Clark, the clerk Of he
House, used to amuse himself bribing
Pincho,er with a glass OF beer TO eat T
hard boiled eggs, shell and all. He G
used to crunch them up and swallow r
them with apparent avidity. Some o. v
the newspaper correspondents would a
write out raj road passes for him, and Il
he won d present them in all sincerity a
on the trains running between Wash f
ington and Baltimore. He il sisted on ?
his right to ride on them, and conduc d
tors learned to know and humor him. C
Clara Morris, the old woman who "
keeps the notion stand in the passage "
between the rotunda and the old Hal Of o
the House of Representatives, is one Of h
the oldest characters in " Washington. 6.
She visits the halls of the two houses of s.
Congress at certain hours each day, and p
attracts great deal of attention by her u
peculiar address. For long time she P
used to sit in the gallery of the Senate A
every afternoon waving little flag 1t r
was TO give her an occupation that the t.
priv ege OF keeping a notion stand WAS 2
granted her. She Is not SO demonstra- d
tive now. "Ant Clara, as she is COM Il
monty known, was contemporary with h
Clay and Webster She is shrewd a
enough in business matters She has S,
given her son and daughter excellent d
aud sent one of them to col B
Iege and the other TO Europe to com "
plete their preliminary training. ii
The Executive Mansion is besieged Il
with cranks at all times of the year. "
Sergeant Dinsmere can spot crank at 4
4 thousand yards, and as he is constant I
y on duty at the main entrance Of the a
Mansion during tie day, they never get S
/ chance to see the President Most OF IL
she cranks who come to the White Ia
House are possessed of the idea that Il
hey have been given some post of re- Il
by the President possibly W