The Savannah morning news., 1901-12-27
ODD INMATES OF PooRHoUsEs.
Man who Believes He Owns 1t All
and Blind Woman Cook.

From the Chicago News.
A blind colored woman, 81 years old,
has been doing the cooking for the De
been an inmate for the last eleven
years.
The name of this odd character is
Louisa Splinter, and she is without any
sense of sight. During the time in
which she has been an inmate she has
been doing the cooking for the big
family, and it is asserted that the
household has an enormous appetite.
The woman relies on her sense of smell
to help her out, and with the pinch OF
her fingers her seasoning is as exact
as that of any chef in the land. In the
chores about the kitchen she has the
help of a man. who pares potatoes and
does other little jobs The bossng
however, is done by the old nanny"
who learned the art of preparing good
dishes in Dixie.
Mrs. Splinter was sent to the poor
house from Hinkley, and the only
known hindrance to her making a good
living is her blindness which, however,
does not prevent her serving the
County of De Kalb in a most efficient
manner.
III Tire SdiliC lAlullOn Is dnOIneF OQQ
character, who is valuable hand and
has been for forty years. His name is
Charles Rosenbeck, and he is known
as an insane inmate. His deusion is
that ne owns the poor farm, and no
one has been able to get this notion out
of his head. 1t is doubtful whether If
is really desired. He leaves the house
after breakfast and returns only for
meals, spending all of his time with the
stock, of which there is a fine herd.
lie is said to be one of the best herders
IN DE kalb county, and knows how to
handle bunch of cattle in any emer-
gency. No beast ever evidences an ali
ment that Rosenbeck does not know
how to relieve
The man has been off the farm only
twice in eight years. Occasionally he
asks for little money, which ne
spends for trifies of one kind or an
other. He is harmless, never having
shown violence of any kind.
one of the inmates of the Kane
county almshouse at Geneva is another
odd character of the near Chicago
county institutions. He is crazy, but a
good worker, doing odd turns about
the kitchen. However anything ne
may be doing is instantly dropped the
moment horse is driven into the ward.
He is passionately fond of horses, and
when strange beast is seen at the in
stitution he gives the newcomer a
critical inspection and then begins TO
Whitney and to do turn of evolutions
in which his heels are mostly in the
air. This man was sent from Aurora.
and his name is Charley Dale. For his
eccentricities he is known all over
Kent county.
The other day prominent Sycamore
citizen received queer communication
from the insane asylum at Elgin. A
patient heard that De Kalb county had
voted to build a new court house. He
hailed from this county, and he at once
became interested. He wrote the Syc-
amore man that the people of that
town (his former home) needed money
to hold the county seat. and II they
didn't watch out Ike Elliwood and
Jake Hash, the De Kalb millionaires.
would move ii, bag and baggage down
to their town. He suggested that II
was costing Sycamore a lot OF money
to keep him in the insane asylum: they
had no business to send him there, for
his was only a plain case of booze He
wanted the Sycamorian TO go to Elgin,
get him out, and save the cost OF his
keeping and buy a decent court house
for Sycamore.