The morning news., 1897-05-20
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IN LOVE WITH JENNY LIND.
A Man Whose Life Was Ruined by a
Practical Joke.
From the New YORK journal.


Jenny Lind is dead, but in a filthy hovel
on the road from Glasco, Ulster county,
to the Hudson river. at Ulster Landing,
lives a lasting remembrance Of her in
poor mad hermit, who lost his mind
through a practical joke which aroused
in him violent love for the great singer.
The mans history Is full of such incidents
as your true practical joker can enjoy He
has done no end of grotesque things. He
has suffered unmeasured ridicule and in
Jury. Rare indeed is the joke that can
compare with this one in the quality and
extent of the real human misery result
ing from 1t.
Early in the sos, when Jenny Lind was
creating a mad furore here by her Won
derful singing, there lived in Kingston, ~
Y. a young carpenter named Tobias Van
Steenberg. He never had a very strong
mind but was a good and steady work.
man, thrifty and prosperous. He had ac-
cumulated several hundred dollars in the
savings bank, and had built himself
good house He was not the sort of man
to make an enemy, but he was as good
a mark for a practical joke as a Jester
could hope to find. Several young law
yers in Kingston had noted Van Steen-
berg's peculiarities, and made him the
butt of their jests. AS most of them were
briefiess, they had plenty of leisure to
devote to the young carpenter, to whom
they gave the nickname of Boot"
One day he was seen looking earnestly
at cheap cut of Jenny Lind in one of the
shop windows, and the young lawyers
saw an opportunity for another practical
joke, so they began to talk to him about
Jenny Lind, and soon made him think
she was in love with him. They after
u IN "a n
from New York inviting him to visit the
great singer in the city. He at once drew
his money from the bank and, disposing
of his property, started for New York.
The joke was certainly progressing very
well, but it would seem as if some one
might have had prudence enough to call
a halt before Van Steenberg had quite
ruined himself. In those days not so much
was known as now about the effect of sug-
gestion and "the fixed idea" especially
upon a weak mind, yet plain common
sense would have served well in this con-
tingency. Nobody but the jokers could
do ANYTHING with Van Steenberg. His
friends and relatives were powerless. for
he had passed into that strange mental
state where only one spring of action can
be touched, where only one impulse rules
the conduct
AS soon as he reached the city, poor
Boot" began to haunt the hall where the
low her carriage in the street. At one of
her public receptions at the Revere hotel
he declared his love before the crowd pres
ent and said he had come to New York
to marry her, and ended by groveling on
the floor at her feet. She had never seen
the man before, and, of course, had him
elected from her apartments.
He then began to haunt the hotel lobby
and attempted to speak to her as she pass
ed out of the hotel, until the proprietors
of the house had him put into the street.
His next move was to place himself where
he could watch the singers windows, and
he would not move from his post for hours
at a time. Later on he seems to have got
an idea that Miss Lind would love him
better if he was a musician, and then he
appeared in front Of the hotel with a hand
organ, which he would grind for hours at
a time. He soon became public nuisance,
and was arrested and taken TO the Tombs.
His friends in Kingston were notified TO
come and get him.
Boot was brought back to Kingston,
but his mind was destroyed. and he would
do nothing but wander about town grind
ing his hand-organ. lie soon became such
a plague to his native town and to his own
family that one Of his brothers smashed
the machine He then settled down into
a state Of harmless lunacy until the war
broke out. when he became imbued with
the idea that he was general, and began
to organize the boys OF the town into a
company OF soldiers. He made his head
quarters at the state camp grounds, and
gave orders 70 both officers and men,
which they good naturedly pretended TO
obey. He then took on new phase OF
lunacy by gathering everywhere he could
brass buttons, which he sewed on his cap
and clothing until he fairly bent under
their weight.
He became such walking show that
his parents finally quietly destroyed hs
button-bedecked suit.
All through the war he paid no atten-
ton 10 anything but military matters
making incoherent stump speeches when
ever he could get anyone to listen TO him.
After the war was over nnd the troops
had disappeared he began TO show signs
Of violence, and was turned over by his
relatives 10 the postmaster. who sent him
10 jail and finally 20 the madhouse az
tached TO the county poor house. He was
released from there after few months.
and instead Of returning home he went
into one OF the country towns and built
himself shanty, where he has continued
20 live.