The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-08-27
A CRAZY MANS FaEAK5.
The Strange Career OF William Mac
kay Porter.
From the Washington Post,

The case of Villa II Mackay Porter, the
Pc sion fice exa miner. wac was arrested
in Belfast for obtaining money under false
| pretenseS, and who has a wife and four
| children living in the city, is stranger
almost than the case of DR.. Jekyll and Mr.
| Hyde. For the last Il years his life has
cen full of odd freaks and deeds. Four times
he has given up honorable and prominent
positions, deserted his family and wandered
away to differe It parts Of the world, secur-
ing his tr Insp ,rtatIo and living entire
" his shire wd1ess. He is now an a limited
lunatc and his two great b Obbies are money
and an irresistible desire to be al va VS.
| travelling.
Outside of these manias up to the time
almost of his departure from this country
he was perfectly competent to transact any
kind of business. and in ordinary conversa-
| ton few people would have cousidereI
uin insane. He spent money, however,
with tina most lavish prOd,gality, aid lived
| ii forty-three ditfe enG places in half as
many years. He is an freshman by birth,
but ca ne to this country when a youth.
He enlisted in theregular army and serve
during tie war in tae Third Massac lusetts
| cavalry, and atterward in the Eigh b Massa-
chlsetts cavalry and the Eleventh infantry.
In the last company he was promoted for
bravery to the rank of first lieutenant and
acted as adjutant on the staff of Gen. 0. B.
Wilcox, now superintendent of tie SOL
diers' home After the close of the war
he was stationed at LyAchb lrg, Va,
in 1868, as military com missioner of tn
district.
His men al troubles aud queer freaks date
from tdat time. He held the posti N for
some -ime, winning the full confidence and
esteem of MS superiOrS, until one m )rning
this stra lge and apparently irresistible I'M
pulse to get away from everybody ID
everything seized him. He threw of MS
epauletS, cha iged his uniform for citi-
IS dress. and stole away unnoticed He
went by tram t. Bosom, wandered about
among the shipping of tie Hub for several
days, spent every cent that he had or could
raise, and then ship ped as galley COOK on
an out-b )und whAli g snip. For nearly two
years the ship cruiSed around in the north
ern seas. His wife, to who n he mad beo
married a snort ii ne previously, gave him
up as lost, and he was discharged from the
ar ny as deserter.
When the ship landed at the isla I'd of
Mauritius his senses began to return for the
first time since he mad sig ed with the
whaler. He at once deserted his posi- 10
| as lok and worked his way to the U nite
States on the ext home ward bound vessel,
coming t. w shington a pareltly in tue
full possession of his faculties. Gen. E. d.
Townsend, who was djutalt general at
the time, interested himself 10 Porter's be-
half and secured him position in the war
department tie acted as chief of divl-
81 II there t IT number of years, and
when he left was c)nslIere wit one exc ID
| ton to know as much aoOLt military mat
Tors as any ma in tle de artment.
While In tle war department, however,
his range mania to wander struck him
aga II, and ne disappeared one morning and
went o Ca ada. There he remained for
seven or eight months, ca Mug his living
by his wits and iIg odd jobs, for he car
ried a way no money. When he turned up
| again he moved his family
| 30 St. l. luis, wnere he was engag d
in the work If a clam agent for a chile.
| Here he had his thIrd attack, his break this
this time lie .diag nj Il To 60 cut to the fron-
tier and enlist a gain as private in the
regular army. His friends no yever, S.
Gu 81 his discharge, and in 1885 he was
gwen position i'll tho pension bureau as
| special pension examiner. Mr. u. l. NJ ur-
| PHI, who was clief clerk of the pension
Office for time under Gen. Blac1's admin
| istratiDn, and VINO was ate W I'd made
supervisor, knows Mr.. Porter quite we'll
Id Is thoroughly familiar with his career
since the former was appointed pe4sion ex-
aminer.
Porter always did his work in the Office
WE'LL" sad Mr.. Murphy last mig t. His
cases and arguments, however, were often
very queeriy cons yructed but in the main
correct. There was otling about him to
particularly in iicate tdat he was insane,
! except, perhaps, that he was a chronic
kicker. Whenever general order was is
sued to he exa1fflners he al ways thought it
was aimed az ii st ain and complained
| about it. lie was Srati mel first as exam
iler at Altoona. Pa. He had only been
there short while VIII n hs wanted to be
ira iserred. He was then changed to
| Wllllamiport. He was there probably
week whel he wrote requesting another
cnange. l told him the departme It wouli
not consent to pay the expenses of his re-
moval 50 often, bu granted him permission
| to change, provided he would pay for his
removal lin elf This he did, going to
Petersburg, w. Va.
''He had been there onlya short while"
continued Mr.. durply, when l received
a certificate from ph ysician, stating That
Porter was suffering from iu < trouble.
aud that it was necessAry for him 10 re-
move to a mi der eli ia e. He was then
asS.gne 20 Ne vbe ne, Y. c., but he grew
t!red that 1856 as g ha ! of other places.
| During his stay there, even after | hal
| given up my place i'll the pension Office.
! he used to send me Telegram after tel gram
waki me up after 2 or O'Clock il tue
morning. He wasted a small fortune on
night messages alone. One day 1 got
large package from him, and o opening
it l fund 1T was a 1 a lplicAtion for PEN
sion. The paper stated that he was suffer
in from heart troubles, lumbago, asthma,
! d a number of other diseases. Tue
Sc was placed before Com issioner Tan
ner, physician vas a )point ID to examine
Porter, and he was declared ms 10.
II continued to get telsSr us from him,
however asking me t. meet him at Old
Poi t. Finally | did so. l had not seen
him for some time. and when got off the
steamer thai noruing and walked into his
| room hardly knew him. He looked like a
c rose. His face was like chalk and les
deathly pallor, contrasted with his heavy
black eyebrows and WHISPERS, gave him a
frightful appearance. Although it was
june he was sitting wrapped up in a
blanket, holding a cane between his legs
with his two hands upon its handle. NV
proSenca yeamad To have a calming affacr