Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1896-01-26
billy SCANLON IS DYING.
The Old Time Footlgbt FaTorite Is
Slowly Surrounding
To the InrOads Of That Dreadful
Malady, Paresis-A Brief Sketch
His Career, and the Physical
and Mental, Decay of the Past
-Four Years Was Once the Most
Popular Singer in America.

New York. January 25.-Wu.iam J.
Scl1loa. who was probably the most
popular romantic Irisl comedian and
vocalist the American stage has ever
known, is lying in the Bloomingdale In
sane Asylum. in Whiue Plains, at the
point o., death.
He has reached state of total paret.c
collapse. and while mis- death may not
come for a few weeks, i, can hardly be
far off.
Mr. Sca3lon has been an inmate Of the
asylum for q r.fe over four years.
Gradually his disease has assumed a
more serious form, until new his mental
decay is complete.
Three weeks ago ne was stricken with
paralysis, and as his physical powers
laye been waning yer since, his com
mi-ment to the institution the physic-
iaus look for his death at any time.
DYING BY INCHES.
With q Vitality. which is not infre-
qu7r-iy n9-el in similar cases, the help
less man clings to life, under condi-
t.Cns which in one mentally healthy
would have brought d=ath shortly after
lhe paraiyeic stroke.
He lies or his bed with wildly staring
eyes. unable to move hand or foot or
even the lips which, for several years.
have mos, Of the time done nothing but
muJt-r incoherent sentences and pitt
full s-2-ches of he old song which
made Billy Sc3nlon loved through
out the land.
The food which s given him is mostly
cruel, and it is forced into his mouth by
means of a tube
He has not intelligence enough to
swallow. He appears to be like a man
I'm q trance, and his staring eyes are
never closed il Sleep. 1t is a living
ds7ih. although far more cruel than
death itself.
When Scanlon was first sent to
Bloom nsdale. when the institution was
In this city. he was in excellent physi-
cal condition. Though his mind was
practically gone, he was vet able to
lake long walks about the spacious
grounds surrounding the madh0use.
There were, it is said, brief-very brief
returns Of reason. He sang a great
deal then. but IN a voice that was crack
ed and UrtUneful.
BY A STRANGE AFFINITY
he and Harry Kernel. the eccentric
comme1ian. who was also paraJ.c,
seemed drawn together i'm their m.sfor-
tune, and. while neither is supp1s to
have had the in-ellg nee Of babe.
they YET were constant comOanic-s.
Kernel died two years ago. and Scan
Ion app l~cd TO miss his friend keen'y.
His physical health was impaired, and
with hs ,Oss Of exercise there came a
corresponding loss of mental force. if
such # may De termed.
s. half d1zcl years ago ScanlCn was in
The heydey Of his fame and prosperity
II had made several fortunes. and was
O popular idol. especially among the
Irish citizens lis songs ve~o sung in
drawing room and concert h3ll. and his
photogra adorned hundreds OF mat
.uee girls boudoirs
He was Spleciid specimen OF man
hood: t3L m1gn.fcently p-co1rtioaed.
and handsome n face as WEI. Gir,s
used 80 raw over his smile. and i, was
said that whom playing a New York
engagement he received an average Of
500 letters g day from enlmored fe-
males His favCr;Je play was Ma
vlurnee1.' ana his most popular songs
So are "Peak-3-Boo" NY Nellie's Blue
Eyes" and "Ga.ier.ng the Myrtle with
Nary" His voice wss an exquisite
tenor. not powerful but of exceeding
II
amour of personal magnetism