The Boston courant., 1900-01-06
CRAZY JOURNALISM.
NEWSPAPERS PUBLISHED BY LUNA
TICS FOR LUNATICS.

Dotted here and there over the earth
are little colonies whose inhaDltants
are cut of from all intercourse with
the everyday world by their own
idiosyncrasies. Each individual lives
in world Of his or her own creation.
which, in the majority of cases, only
two outside interests ever succeed In
reaching namely, the asylum doctor
and the asylum magazine.
In some cases the proof sheets are
just glanced at by the head doctor De
fore the magazine goes to press, put
they are written, printed and published
by the inmates themselves.
Although America produced the nrst
two lunatic journals, to Scotland De-
longs the credit of having started the
first paper of this kind which has sur
vived its infancy. In fact, the blrth OF
lunatic journalism took place when the
first number of The New Moon was Is
sued from the Crichton Royal asylum
Dumfries, on Dec. 3, 1874. Since that
date the following have been success
fully launched: The Morningside Mir
ror, from the Royal Edinburgh asy-
lum; The Excelsior. from James Mur-
rays Royal asylum, Perth; The Fort
England Mirror, Grahamstown, South
Africa; The Murthly Magazine, from
the Perth County asylum; Under the
Dome, the organ of Bethlehem Royal
hospital, London. and The Conglomer'
ate, which belongs to the Middletown
asylum. New York.
These magazines touch the journal
istic ideal, as, being written by the
readers for their amusement, they can
not fail to hit the popular taste. We
find that those mentally deranged like
about four -ninths Of their reading to
take the form of travel and heavy
prose articles Of strictly theoretical
nature. The rest Of the contents comes
In order of quantity as follows: Hu-
NOR, local notes, poetry, chiefly In q
light vein; special articles on local the
atricals and fiction.
The most striking feature about
these journals is the almost total abb
sence Of gloom and melancholia, and
we have it on the word Of the doctor
Of one Of the leading asylums that this
Is not owing to such contributions be-
ing tabooed. But now and again one
comes on poem or tale drenched with
melancholia and morbid insanity. In
one Of these journals appeared story
written In the first person about hero
undoubtedly the writer-who had his
head twisted round the wrong way.
The consequence was he Invariably
had to walk In the opposite direction
to which he wanted to walk. This ter
rible fate haunts him right through the
story, causing him to lose friends,
money and everything else which man
holds dear and ends up by his, in his
own mind. numbering the girl who was
to save him from himself.
According to the story, the heroine
was standing on the edge Of a great
precipice. The hero is standing near.
Suddenly the heroine becomes giddy
and tOtters on the brink. The hero
tries to dash forward and save her.
but Of course runs the other way. Here
comes a break in the narrative, which
Is finished by the following sentence:
"And the gates of an asylum for those
mentally deranged shut the writer of
from his friends in the outer world"
Apart from such tragedies as the
above, the whole Of these journals are
saturated with humor. In one we find
the following among Questions We
Want Answered."
"When does the queen of Sheba in
tend to recognize the royal rank of the
Prince of WalesY Did Marie Corelli'
really tweak the doctors nose? Why
did 'Ranjf throw the ball at w. G.'s'
head during practice at the netsT Per
haps it should be explained that the
celebrities referred to above are not
those known to the public. but other
persons who claim their personalities
and are detained In the asylums for
that very reason
A writer In The Fort England Mirror
gives the following reason for his de-
tention: 81 met young widow with a
grown stepdaughter, and the widow
married me. Then my father, who was
widower, met my stepdaughter and
married her. That made my wife the
mother-in-law Of her father-in-law and
made my stepdaughter my mother and
my father my stepson. Then my step
mother. the stepdaughter of my wife,
had a son. That boy was. Of course.
my brother, because he was my ia
ther's son. He was also the son Of my
wife's stepdaughter and therefore her
grandson. That made me grandfather
to my stepbrother. Then my wife had
a son. My mother-in-law. the step
sister of my son. is also his grandmoth-
er, because he Is her stepson's child.
Ny father is the Drother-in-law Of my
child. because his stepsister is his wife.
l am the brother Of my own son, who
Is also the child of my step-grandmoth-
er. | am my mothers brother-ln-law,
my wife is her own child's aunt, my
son is my fathers nephew. and I'm
my own grandfather. And after try
ing to explain the relationship in our
family some seven times a day to our
calling friends for a fortnight, | was
brought here-no. came of my own
will"
Another declares that he never found
rest from his mother-in-law before, and
he intends to hoodwink the doctors as