The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1893-06-03
LOCKED UP AS INSANE
BITTER EXPERIENCE OF A FORMER
RUSSIAN MAJOR.

sorting to Il Clever Lie He Wa Set at
Liberty-His Ruse Was Successful.
F. E. 0. Sucrow, the son of a gallant
Russian colonel, and who himself was
one a major in the same army, has
recently been released from the Wards
island insane asylum hy a clever ruse.
It's success, he thinks, is proof enough,
If he had no other. that he is mentally
sound.
Major SUc-oW Wasatol t1me wealthy.
Until within a few years LIE did not md
it necessary to work for a living. He is
Of noble family and was q great yachts.
g He can recite ofrhand the ON
plete record Of all the international
yacht races and says that he has twice
been around the world i'll a yacht Of his
Owl He is about IS years old and
speaks and writes well in English. He
lives at 43 Great Jones street. He
has not been on good terms with hi:
family for years, and his annual income
was stopped two years ago.
When this happened, he sought some
business enterprise. and his attention
was called to q discovery for making
hair grow on bald heads, which had been
successfully tried in two or three cases.
He bought a controlling interest IN the
restorative and commenced to boom it.
He had read a great deal about DR..
Channcey M. Depew and thought it was
a pity that SO great Il man should be com
PEELED to go through life baldheaded.
Furthermore, he considered that his for
tune would be made if he could be the
means Of giving DR.. Depew q genuine
pompadour.
With this object in view Major Sucrow
fixed up q package of his restorative and
called on DR.. Depew. The package, which
was neatly tied up, vas about II inches
long, 8 inches wide and 8! inches thick.
His visit was just after the attempt to
blow up Russell Sage by dynamite.
When DR.. Depew saw the package and
heard the majors foreign accent, he
thought it was a crank and remarked
hurriedly:
my dear fellow, | am very busily en-
gagged today on important business that
cannot be delayed. Leave me your name
0lAA 0aAACSS, dIIa 1 shall SCllu yOu d 1ttttI
making an appointment for an interview
for some other day"
Sucrow went away and waited for the
letter, which never came. In it's place
appeared an agent of the department of
charities and correction, who questioned
him concerning his personal history and
as to the effectiveness Of his tonic. SUI
crow was then taken before DR.. Wash
burn Of AZ Irving place and declared
insane. He spent one night at the in
sane pavilion at Bellevue hospital and
was then sent to Wards island. He
was examined several times by different
physicians at Bellevue and at Wards
island and was questioned as to the story
he had first told.
my statements were all true" said
Major Sucrow yesterday, land so / had
to conscientiously persist in them"
After his transfer to the island he kept
the attention Of the physicians there cen
tered upon him by his frequent declara-
tons that he was not insane, accompa-
MED by applications for his release. For
the first five months of his incarceration
he made these applications at least every
week, and sometimes as often as twice or
three times a week. At the end of five
months, just as he was beginning to de-
spair Of ever resaining his liberty, he hit
upon a new idea.
Il began to change my SYSTEM" he
said. For the next month l did not say
a word about insanity, nor did l make
any further request for my discharge.
At the end Of the mouth l went to Mr..
Peppard, the head attendant, and asked
for permission to write to DR.. Wash
burn. It was readily granted, but
knew that the missive would be opened
and read before it was sent, if, indeed, it
was sent at all.
1.-The substance of my letter to DIR.
Washburn vas that l now realized |
was not in my right mind when / was
committed, that the statements | had
made about belonging to a noble Rus
sian family and having once been rich
We're decisions that had now been dis
PEELED, and that | had made a great mis-
take in having anything to do with the
hair tonic business. | told the doctor
that | was a humble mechanic and could
earn about SIS per week at my trade.
also said that this was a good time of
the year to secure employment, and
wanted to be released. Afew days later
wrote letters to Drs. Adamson, Camp
bell and Petit Of exactly the same i'm
port. had the story down fine and did
not vary a single detail in any Of them.
"A few days afterward DR.. Petit sent
for me and made an examination, during
which he asked me to tell my story
again. Then at short intervals Drs.
Adamson and Campbell examined me
and asked nl1nstianS raoarGinn NJ atast