The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-07-27
CLAIMS He is SANE
a. DE LACY WOOD LAUGHS AT
IDEA OF HIS MENTAL
COLLAPSE
ONE MONTH AT FERGUS FALLS
'I Have Run the Gauntlet" Says
the Founder of Twenty-Eight
Newspapers, "but Never
Was Crazy"

A. De Lacy Wood, the man who has
founded twenty-e eight newspapers, made
q significant visit to st. Paul yesterday.
Significant because it was generally sup
posed that he was the occupant Of a lone
" cell in the Fergus Falls insane asylum.
de Lacy" as he is Familiarity called, In
sists that his mental faculties are in as
good state as ever they were and that
he was never deranged. Indeed he gave
evidence of being in a rational state Of
mind and It would seem that in releasing
him from the asylum, where he has been
for month and more, the officials had
not erred.
The veteran editor was committed to
the asylum from Benton county, having
been adjudged insane. He fought bitterly
against going, maintaining that he was
only the victim of his old enemy and was
not even on the verge of insanity. But he
remained at the institution for one month
and three days, having been dismissed
Tuesday. Prior to his dismissal q testi-
monial to his sanity was signed by the
head physician and sixteen of the nurses.
according to De Lacys version. DR.. Pol
lock, the head physician, notified the Ben
ton county probate judge of De Lacy s
condition and he was at once permitted to
leave.
ROUGH SIDE OF LIFE.
Il have had many up and downs; my
career mas Deen a C0eChcTGQ one IOIbultS
has deigned at times to smile upon me,
but I guess, after all, adversely has been
my general lot" said the old man. refiec
lively, and then he reached for a soiled
kerchief to wipe away the moisture from
his almost sightless eyes.
YES" he continued, Il have just about
run the gauntlet of misfortune, and some
of my experiences have been thrilling and
even at times romantic. But as for
L. d, ct NaV,faV 10
nacle Of my career. 1t was really TO-
mantle. There I was. as sane a man as
ever lived, probably not as sober though,
and men rushed to me to convince me
that my mind was unbalanced and that
the place for me was the Insane asylum.
I resisted their argument, but in vain.
! was railroaded off to the "bug-house'
and had to stay there in that Internal
place with a lot of raving maniacs, just
as though l was one of them. Sometimes,
as 1 would look around me and see the
gang Of idiots and then reflect upon my
own lot I would be forced to laugh at
myself, as ridiculous as the situation real
~ was Yes, that was romance for me,
but have never sought such romantic ex-
perIences and I shall certainly not court
them in the future"
De Lacy will go back to Sank Rapids,
where he usually makes his home and re-
main for a short ime, but he asserts his
determination to once more enter the
editorial sanctum.
Much idle comment has been INDUCED
I'm about the hundreds Of papers that A.
De Lacy Wood has started. But in reality
out OF the twenty-eight which he
has founded many have attained
prominence and some are highly paying
property today. Aside from his journal
istic career, this peculiar character has
figured conspicuously in politics and in
the fraternal circles of the newspaper
mon. He has been probate judge Of Cook
and Lake counties; he was at one time
secretary of the State Press association,
and he claims to have inaugurated the
first and second state editorial excursions
Regarding his brief stay at the asylum
De Lacy says he is the second newspaper
man who has ever been committed to that
institution.
This is a sure sign" he says, that
newspaper work is not conducive to in
sanity"