Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1891-04-23
LOST HIS MIND.
Joe Mulhatton Becomes Insane at
Chicago.
The Malady Of the Famous Originator
of Tall" Stories Results from a
Fall Some Time Ago.
soMErnINe oF HIs REcoRp.

CHICAGO, April -. --Joseph Mulhat-
ton is insane lie is locked up at the
detention hospital to await formal ex-
animation into his mental condition.
Mr. Mulhatton is a travelling sales
man. He became widely known some
years ago as the apotheosis of the
drummer's talent for telling tall yarns.
His extraordinary ability in this
professional requirement excited the
unbounded admiration of his fellow
drummers, which was appropriately
expressed by making him their candi-
date for the presidency of the United
States during the last national cam
paign. Last January ne was thrown
from a street-car in New Orleans, and
the fall caused conclusion of the
brain, which finally resulted in insan-
ity. lie has been in the city four days
and was staying at No. S1S Wabash
avenue. II. b. Mulvaney, a lodge
brother, found him roaming about the
streets in a demented condition, and
while caring for him at his room Null
hatton took revolver from his trunk
and attempted to shoot Mr.. Mulvaney.
The police were called in and Mr.. Null
hatton taken to the detention hospital.
He is quiet and appears to realize his
condition He is said TO have ample
means and it is thought ne will be
taken to private asylum.
LOUISVILLE, KY, April 22.-Every-
body in the United States has heard of
Joe Mulhatton, the famous newspaper
~
cago Monday night. Mulhatton is
of rather eccentric appearance. He
always wears a Prince Albert coat and
dresses neatly. In his manners he is a
typical drummer and has always been
counted an excellent and reliable sales
man. He has been ION the road" for
fifteen or twenty years, and in spite of
his reputation for telling tall stories
he is regarded as exceedingly hon
est and conscientious in all his
business transactions. He is a
member Of the Baptist church
and is a regular attendant at the serv'
ices of the Walnut Street church in
this city. He is also a member of and
active worker for the Kentucky
Humane society. He is a native OF
Pittsburgh and he once told a
reporter that he began his news
paper romancing there. He first
got into notice here by prodigious
fakes of wonderful caves full OF
bones of prehistoric men and animals.
Many of the most prominent newspa-
pers in the south and west were inn
posed upon by his exceedingly circum-
stantial details of his discoveries.
Once he wrote thatoil wells
of extraordinary productive ca
pacity had been sunk near Glasgow
Junction, and this brought visitors and
scientific inquiries from all parts of the
country before the lie was exposed
Then he wrote stories of robbers muir
dering well-known drummers. Next
he told of wonderful meteors which had
fallen to the earth in Texas and other
parts of the south. He kept up
these stories until he had become
so notorious that he could no longer inn
pose upon the southern newspapers.
Occasionally one would knowingly
print his fabrications. but this was not
soften He did not like to give up his
hoaxes, however. and only few months
ago succeeded in imposing a remarka-
HE story uDOn the BOSTON Herald