St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1890-03-08
FEARFUL ADVENTURE
Experience with q Raving Maniac
in an Open Boat
A College student Goes Mad Three Mile,
from shore and Endeavors to Take His
Friends Life-Why His Hair
Turned White.

Known INSURANCE men In WALL street
says the New York Herald. besides hav
ing the interests of several large estate.
10 look after. He is tall and slim il
build, apparently thirty years old, wear
a clean-shaven face, and is quiet and ex
tremely courteous in his dealings. O
late his appearance has changed 50 mucl
that eve casual acquaintances have
his personal friends have been thunder
struck at the change.
Mr.. ~Johnston's law Office Is at 60 Wal
street, and it was there hat that gen
tleman sat in his easy chair and told hi.
story of his awful encounter with
mailman, the result of which has marked
him for life-a young man with the
SHOWS Of three-score and ten browning
him. He said:
Three years ago l vent 10 . friends
country place, nea Bridgeport, for rec.
reation. One day We went sailing and
fishing on The sound, and in the course
of conversation he asked my opinion
about his selecting Law as q study, and
! advised him strongly to do 50, which
he did; thus you see l am inadvertently
responsible for future happenings and
my white hair. My friend applied him.
self assiduously to the study of law II
Columbia and received his diploma
shortly before the awful fight took place
which am leading up to.
I'm the first week in last June l visit
ed his place near bridgeport again and
was informed by his relatives that he
would arrive the next day. As we felt
a Damon and Pythias friendship for
each other l was naturally pleased at
this news, but when they told me that
hard study had unnerved him and that
they feared that the balance-wheels of
his brain were clogged . little I felt
sorry for him and made up my mind to
do all in my power to divert him.
HE came and Was overjoyed to see
me, but l noticed that he was not his
old self. The day of his arrival. about
one o'clock in the afternoon, I proposed
to row on the sound. He a~cquiesced,
and as he was . powerful athlete and
accustomed to rowing . boat l sat down
in the stern and he took up the oars.
What l had said to him in the mean
time appeared to have great weight
with him, and though he appeared ex-
cited thought nothing of it. We con-
versed on sundry topics until about
three miles from shore, when he rested
on his oars and looked me in the eye.
HE then began to talk boisterously
and reviled me and his friends, using
the most awful oaths l had ever heard,
which astonished me, IS I never heard
an oath from his lips before, and I knew
him to be q man without vices. / tried
to reason with him, but this brought on
his first act of violence; and then l knew
] was alone. figuratively speaking, with
a mailman in the middle of the ocean,
for there was not . boat in sight,
and the only thing alive within three
miles of us was . little dog which &C
companied us. With eyes blazing and
his face distorted with insane rage and
cunning he quickly ross from his seat
and struck me three r four times on
the head with such agility and strength
that he bore down my guard.
You can imagine my position, alone
with a l~unatic, = man who in his zane
moments could throw we over his head.
took his blows good-nataredly and told
him that he had changed from . friend
to an enemy, and this only enraged him
and made him more malicious. Never
for an instant did his ~bloodshot eyes |
leave my face, and never did mine leave
his, and in an instant the improbable |
tiles OF the strange story of DR.. Jekyll
and Nr. Hyde were obliterated, to INV
mind at least
Instead OF my handsome, debonair
friend l saw . fiend as incarnate As any |
ever found in hell. The muscles |
and cords of his neck were swelled to an
size; his lips were thin and
tightly drawn over his teeth. much like
a mad dogs; his skin was darker than
in a normal condition.; his eyes
bright pupils contracted, flashing red
ly; his eyebrows drawn down into .
malignant scowl; his forehead . mass Of
wrinkles. and the swelling veins on his
temples seemed + burst.
HE gave q growl. ike . demon,
which reused the little dog, and for an
instant his attention wa called 10 the
iuckless canine, which he maltreated
shamefully. banging it about the boat
until it skunk under . seat All the
while my friend INDUCED in chuckles
and demoniacal laughter, and when 1
to take the dogs part he turned
upon me. and then followed . struggle
is the direct cause Of my white
hair.
The boat vas q iat-bottomed one.
and. therefore, We could not move about
much l felt my time had come. He
slowly bent over me-, with his hands
working convulsively, his movements