Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1899-01-13
IMMORTAL J. N.
The Renowned "Llfter of the veiI'
is MortaIIy Sick.


The many friends and acquaintance
of ]. NJ Free, better known as "The
Immortal j. NJ" will be sorry to hear
that he is very sick and perhaps in a
precarious condition. He is at the
home OF his nephew, William Free, in
the east part of Urbana, and his con-
dition Is said to be alarming. His
trouble is such that, for the past two
weeks he has been unable to take any
food but milk. He ridicules the sci
ence of medicine and it is almost i'm
possible to get him to take any remedy
A physician was called to see him a
few days ago, and it was only after a
great deal of parleying that the sick
man submitted to an examination. His
trouble arises from throat disease, and
is believed TO have been brought on
by exposure.
The constitution of any ordinary
man could hardly have stood up under
e everything this strange and interest
ing man has gone through. He has
been wanderer through the states of
the middle west for more than 25 years
In fact many say he has led sort of
daft life since about the close of the
war. He called himself THE Immor-
tai j. NJ" but all the evidences appar-
emily now point to the fact that he is
not immortal A kind of abcess or
cancer now seems to be developing in
MS throat and although he protests
that he experiences no pain the physi-
cians fear that the present trouble may
incapacitate the old gentleman from
making any further use of his rail-
read passes.
Few persons have ever seen man
like him. He has been constant
traveller, and yet he never had any
money but what people gave him. The
railroads furnished him transporta-
and probably every conductor on every
road in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio
knew him. He was never known to be
put off train even if he had no pass.
Neither did he pay hotel bills. All
hotel keepers who knew him expected
to entertain him free, and when he
struck new or strange one who pre-
sented bill, j. N, would protest, and
say he was not in the habit of paving
hotel bills, which would very likely
bring the proposition from the hotel
men to throw off half To this the
immortal j. NJ would reply: well, l
never allow anybody to be more gener
Gus chan myself; I'll just throw off the
other half"
He was a constant frequenter of the
newspaper offices, and he was known
by every newspaper man in three or
four states of the west. They made
paragraphs about him and advertised
his lecture os some mysterious philos-
ophy about 4'lifting the pressure" as
he called it, but the lecture never
seemed to malerfalize. But newspaper
notoriety greatly pleased him.
He used to live at Canal Dover. O..
and 1t is understood that he studied
law and entered the practice there
with very f!attering prospects of sue
cess But something threw his men
tai machinery out of balance, and he
has since been the strange genius
which so many people have known for
many years. He is probably about CO
years DID, has been a man of splen-
did physique 1t is said he has a BROTH
er who is a prominent lawyer in Ohio.
This is the first time Free has ever
been sick and he says that he never
did experience any pain whatever. He
is confined to his bed and to nurse him
is certainly big task. He maintains
happy frame of mind and is the same
immortal j. NJ" that he is when he is
able to be around, He now has plenty
OF time to muse over his past travels
and trials and to hear him tell his ex-
periences is both amusing and touch
ing.-Champaign Qlls.) Gazette.
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