The Portland daily press., 1895-05-02
IS pecial to the PRESS.)

Special to the PRESS
Brownfield, May 1.-"I shall take my
two little ones to the top of higb hill,
stand at one end of line drawn in the
ground and let God decide which one
must be sacrificed" Such was the state
ment made by Rev. Sidney L:nscott OF
West Brownfield, in whose disordered
brain the belief that he must offer one
of his children as a sacrifice, is Just
now the chief idea. He is what the
neig bors call "Rible crazy" In other
words he is suffering from acute mania
on religious topics. Years ago, Mr.. Lin
scott had an attack of insanity, but he
completely recovered. Some years after
he married and now has two little chill
dren. Mr.. Linscott is r Seventh Day Ad-
ventlst and is one of the preachers of
that denomination. His living, how
ever, has come from the small farm OIL
which he lives and where he has -four
ishing maple orchard. A man of upright
character and scholarly disposition, he
has made the study of the Bible an i'm
portant part of his life. So strict was
he in the observance of the doctrines
peculiar to his sect, that on Saturday,
which he observed as the Sabbath, he
would not even talk of secular affairs.
Whatever may have been the cause OF
his insanity, it manifested itself first
in an increased devotion to bis studies
of the Scriptures. Mrs. Linscott says
that during the winter, her husband
would frequently arise in the middle of
the night and. saying that he could not
sleep, go to his desk and begin writing.
continuing his labors sometimes all
through the hours of the night and far
into the nextday. great pile of man
uscript, EN- bodying his views on scriptu-
raj subjects is the result of these mid
night labors of man already partially
insane. His delusion that he must make
a sacrifice of one of his children, shows
how near death the little ones may have
been during the time their father was
engaged in these labors
Last Wednesday people first became
aware of the fact that Linscott is vio-
lently insane. On this day he appeared
in the village street preaching and de-
nouncing secret societies. He took the
forenoon train on the Maine Central for
Portland, but his actions were SO strange
that he was put off the train at the first
stopping place and sent back to Brown
field.
Since that time Mr.. Linscott has been
watched, but he has twice escaped from
his keepers. Once with five men sitting
in the room at about midnight, he calm
ly walked through doorway which
the watcher supposed led to another
part OF the house. Instead it commu-
nicated with the outside and Linscott
made off in the darkness, taking to the
thick woods and making his way for
a mile through the dense underbrush
to the house of his father. where he
| L. bo bo
Numerous scratches on his face, indicate
how the poor man struggled along III his
fight through the forest. Only last
night he escaped from two watchers and
broke into his wife's room.
Last week a young man named VIM.
Kennard was employed to watch Lin
scott. He saw one night what might
his insane fancies. Kennard was sit
ting in a chair, leaning back with his
eyes half closed. Linscott supposed
that Kennard was asleep, softly stole
from the sofa where he was lying aud
crossed the room to the cabinet in
which he has kept his razor.
Lord, do you wish me to cut his
| throat?" said the preacher, and then
added as if repeating an answer: "The
| Lord says no."
Lord, do you wish me to jump upon
| him and crush him?"
| Again to his disordered mind he re-
ceived an answer in the negative. He
| then asked if he should run away, and
was in the act of leaving the room when
Kennard stopped him. The razor. which
Linscott supposed was in the cabinet
had, of course, been removed.
| Kennard has been obliged to return
to his own home and since then the
neighbors have been taking turns in
watching their toWnsman, two being
on duty by day and two by night. Lin
scouts friends have naturally been re-
luctant to send him to the insane asy-
lum. but as there is reported to be no
today, he will probably have to be
placed in confinement. He is apparently
broodlng all the time on the sacrifice
that he believes he has been called upon
to perform. Once ne called upon the
watchers for knife with which to cut
off his little boys head and, upon being
told that there was no suitab BILE knife in
the house, directed that a case knife be
sharpened. AT another time, he an
nounced that he must kill either one of
his own children cor his brothers. little
boy, adding that he should prefer to kill
his nephew. He is confined in own home
where his wife and children are still
living.
Besides his brooding over religious
topics, it is said that his generous dispo-
sition may be partly responsible for
Linscott's condition. 1t is one of the
tenets of mis- sect that mono of their
poor people shall be allowed to become
paupers. About year ago, two women,
mother and daughter, in need. and
members of the Seventh Day Advent
church, were given home by Linscott,
the society helping to meet their exren-
ses. The mother is very old and the
daughter herself an elderly woman, is
bedridden. Some time ago, Mr.. Linscott
went TO one of the selectmen and told
him that the care of these women was
killing his wife. Il was evidently great
ly disturbed about the matter and dis
cussed the posi- bility of his having to
put the women in the towns charge.
They are still at his house, fnd so tho
modest dwelling shelters strange fami-
ly, the two women, poor and helpless,
the father, threatening to take the life
OF one of his little children, and the
grIef-stricken wife and little ones. Both
MI. and Mrs Linscott are estimable peo-
pie and have the sympathy of the COM