The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-09-14
THE CAPITOL QUEER.
Female Lunatics Who Haunt
Corridors Of Congress.
THE sAaD or sHAnTY HILL.


WAmrssros C11Y. Sept A-fCopyrighted
1SoQ1-Eysry corner Of the national capi-
II 4 haunted. Its twelve acres Of floor
5000 snd IL miles Of corridors and lob
- are 6lIed With ghosts. Its dome has
whispering gallery, where the walls give
forth the walls Of dead statesmen, and it,
populasIon Of spooks covers the mighty
1esA Of nsayiy . century. II has it, live
ehoefe g we'll % is desd ones, and It's
adueer" are = numerous - those Of m In
sans asylum.
CorexEssnAH MASsUa's BETx IofR
Take. for Instance, the little woman who
wants 70 b mads the "Nstional Poet Of
The United States." Her name II Doctor
6arah A. Uirich Kelley, and she Is one
d Ire queerest Of ill the capitol
aueessL She - . pale, weassnsd little wo-
man. dressed in shabby widows weeds and
I,ack q her queerness Il said TO BE- the con-
ventionai big government claim which
makes 20 many cranks. Apparently de-
serted By her own kith and kin she wan
dess about Washington. infssting The news
pouer o6lces from editorial sanctum TO
pssssroom at Ill hours Of the day and
sixht. She calls herself the Sweet Singer
II Pennsylvania" and her latest feat Is
rose-red pamphlet which IL entitled "A
Gsstesman's Love, Or . True Autobio-
esphy. By Sarah A. UIrich Kelley, the
vofid-renownsd Bard Of Ehanty Hill
This book Of nine pages gives Mrs.
KeIIey'S story Of her alleged Irritation with
Charles Msnsur. ''ths handsome, brown
cred statesman from Missouri" ut was"
she says. ~ case Of love ct first sight |"
TIE renowned statesman paid . visit TO
D.. Kelley and asked her TO diagnose his
disease ciairvoyantiy and was smitten
with her charms. She then describes Rep
resentstive Nansur III eulogis:ic terms, and
states that she could not marry him be-
cause she was at the time hiding away
for her lite from an insane husband,
"who claimed all her heart. but in his in
sane decisions imagined she loved him
not, and imagined also that it was right
for him 70 hire wicked men 10 murder her,
because she loved him not" He
spent $a3,60o, she writes, in
dstectives In eleven years. and
Il VS. for this that she was posing in ST.
Louis - widow when the Hon. Charles
Nansur called upon her. She told Con-
e1essman Mansur this and he said: I'm
gled you are . widow for I've fell in love
with you" She tells him its no use. she
can't marry him, and he, by . desperate
effort refrains from shedding tears and
Ieayea Now sixteen years have gone and
she meets Mansur 1t Washington. She
finds him married and states that she has
NOT seen his wife and supposes she never
shall ~ women are usually jealous Of poor
harmless widow ladies like herself OF
course this IL silly twaddis. but 1t IL very
annoying TO Nansur, and he Is laughed at
by his fellow statesmen whenever Mrs.
Kelley il mentioned.
The ostensible business upon which DR..
Kelley remains at the cspitoi is that Of Sc
curing legislation on bill creating Mrs.
Sarah A. UIrich Kelley national poet OF
the United States. She wants to be our
post laureate with salary of Is. 900 year
and . house TO live in. This she gives a.
the excuse for frequent visits 10 editorial
rooms, and the necessary occasion Of the
yards OF poetry which she invariably car
ries about with her. At first,
amused by her extraordinary litera.
tufe and her claims - poet iaur-
este. the local press printed considerable OF
her poetry. but finding that the
softly-treading. softly.speaking doctor
was like the rest of her type.
disposed TO take an elf or every inch
given, she has been pretty generally
eliminated from the non-paid contributor
column.
oUR LITTLE MISS FLIGHT.
Little Miss Flight. the shadowy creature
who haunted the courts of chancery in
Dickens story. has her prototype in the
national capital. So many years has ihi,
little red-haired, gray-eyed woman fitted
in and about the corridors. commits &c
rooms and legislation chambers of the
capitol that she has ceased to DO o novelty
and 30 endures long seasons Of neglect from
insatiabie correspondents. Nearly seven.
teen years ago she was written uF
by Gilbert Pierce, the present new
North Dakota senator. How many
years Mrs. Emma Green Littlefeld Carter
has proclaimed herself as head of the gov
eminent, and superintendent of the
national legislation, no one seems TO know
first saw her leaning against the desk oil
Superintendent Ellis Ia the ladies' recep.
ton corner OF 6ta,uary hall. She had Jus,
written card. which. being given to the
V8kG WIN tuSGuLttOuS VI Iiuu neT MEM
bsr." would share the fate OF hundred.
similarly sent, and be carried out OF sight
torn mp. and the answer brought bacl
mo. in"
Having sent her card to the congress
man who never comes. the little woman
sits down. nervously lingering the "bill'
she carries In her hand and ready to cha
with whomsoever she happens to fancy. L
IL said that In oil these years OF fruitles.
waiting she has never exhibited astonish
ment. disappointment or impatience
Neither In dress, expression or modulatior
OF voice does she differ much from the so
called level-headed feminine claimant. A
close-6tting black gown, q white ribbon a
the throat. spray or cluster of flower.
decorating her belt. and a jaunty tip-bacl
bonnet and stylish red veil. make her very
ike her sister who claims to have a mind
4 TALK WITH A PROPHECIES.
"The cyclone will be here at s." she re
marked. somewhat irrelevantly by way o.
introduction"
'sWhere did you get your information p
asked lady. glancing nervously out at tn.
clear sky.
.Oh. the Saviour" replied the seeress
He generally gives me direct warning OF
all great calamities. / had day on Lin
coins assassination and four hours or
Garfeld's. The yohnstown food was told
TO me that same morning. You know, oil
course, how to get such messages. AL
ways stand under q sycamore tree" Mrs
Carter, who claims to he the descendant oi
Nathaniel Green, says her husband
was q staff officer under General
Banks She Is also more or less distantly
related to Queen Victoria, Louis Napoleon
and James, G. Blaine. Her principal bust
ness Is that of q national detective and hel
connection with the Silcott case she refers
to with particular pride. Nothing" says
Mrs. Carter pertaining to the department