The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-02-03
HE GROwLs AND BITES.
New Jerseys Dog Man Who Imagines
Himself "a MastiR.
From the New York journal.


From the New York Journal
Insane asylums are filled with people
possessing strange Authorizations. but the
Hudson county, N. j., institution lays
claim to two of note-the dog man and
the human telephone receiver
The first of these curious lunatlcs is J.
A. Eberling, who believes himself to be a
ferocious mastiff, and nature has encour-
aged his idea by covering his body with
hair half an inch long. Eberlng was for
merry a Hoboken grocery man, imbued
with a passion for dogs. and attended
every exhibition of CANNES within a radius
of fifty miles of New York He had four
dogs of his own, among them a mastiff
possessed of a pedigree and a vicious tenn
per.
Eberllngs housekeeper and the mastin
were not on friendly terms and one day,
in a spirit of revenge, the woman fed glass
to her canine enemy. After four days of
agony, during which he was tenderly cared
for, the dog died. Eberling's insanity
dates from that time. He discharged his
housekeeper and a day or two later his
neighbors discovered him, stark naked,
groveling about his house on all fours and
barking In very excellent imitation of his
deceased pet.
The following day Eberling was taken
to the Hudson county asylum, which is
located on Snake Hill, equidistant between
Jersey City and Hoboken, and here he
has developed into one of the strangest
cases ever within the four walls of an in
stitution for the insane. Locked in a cell,
where none but an attendant sees him,
he prances about the stone floor on his
hands and feet, constantly growing, snap
ping and barking at imaginary objects.
At first every effort was made to force
him to wear clothing, but he would tear
the garments from his body unless he
was bound hand and foot. Then the plan
of sewing cloth around his limbs was
tried but he tore the cloth to pieces with
his teeth Efforts to keep him clothed
were then abandoned, and as, while In a
state of nature ne was not presentable to
visitors, he was placed in the cell he now
occupies.
The ASYLUM physician does not regard
his case as hopeless. and thinks he has
observed occasional glimmers Of return
ing reason.
'iThe human telephone receiver is an
even more extraordinary case than that
Of Eberling. James Brennan was a coal
HEAVIER on the docks al Bayonne ten years
ago, when first attacked by the mania
from which he Is suffering. He gravely
states he is the only telephone receiver
connected with all the mines in the
world. AS he tells Of this he qulvers con-
stantly, just as if powerful electric cur
rents were passing through him. He ex-
plains that the battery is in the earth
beneath Snake Hill; that IL Is of great
power, and that the wires connected with
his body near the heart.
Brennan believes he receives 200 mes
sages every day from as many people in
ali parts Of the country. He hears the
bell ring in his head, then he listens at
tentively and sometimes writes out what
he believes Is being said through him.
He says the latest inventions for switch
ing are very trying upon the machinery
in his body, and that the shock of chang
ing from one wire 10 the other is much
stronger than before the improved
switchboard was used. A peculiar fea-
ture of his case Is that on every subject
except the telephone he is perfectly sane,
and when not receiving messages he is
an interesting talker. His longest WIRE
he says, reaches to Dublin, Ireland.