Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-23
THE TWELFTH CRANK
COLORED MAN NAMED DENNIS
ARRESTED AT WHITE HOUSE.
Examined by Physicians and Commit
ted to Hospital for the Insane
His Rambling Story.

Secret service detectives have been on
the lookout for some days for supposed
dangerous crank who had addressed sew
eral letters to President Roosevelt. This
morning the writer Of the letters appeared
at the White House and asked to see the
President. Detectives Taylor and Con-
nell met him and placed him under al
rest.
II suppose it will be another case of lit
tie Joseph coming out of prison." was the
remark of the prisoner.
The man gave his name as Elijah Richard
Dennis, and says he is from Pascagoula,
Miss. He is colored and twenty-five years
old. ;,
remarked an officer when he heard OF the
arrest Wen now be ready for the th'r-
teenth."
Dennis says he has had several visions
about blood, he said, and he saw tne
crimson fluid everywhere he went he
was in Pennsylvania at the time ne re-
ceived the vision. and he saw plood tlere
as well upon the rocks Wheh he le"|iA'u
South Carolina.
In another letter he gave the fresiue zen /.
the information that ben Tillman has
been proclaimed king of the anl-ChIis. :
that he will rise to receive death Wouhn,
and will afterward be strengthened u ies'u
war;
Predicted a Famine.
In PENNSYLVANIA, he said, he told the peo-
pie to prepare for a famine, but they palo
no attention to what he said. Since then,
he added, people there have been frozen ana
starved to death.
Again. he said he was asked by the Loru
'Why is this blood come crying unto me!
Dennis says he told the President not TO
answer his letters. especially the one ne
wrote from South Carolina. While In South
Carolina. he stated, he was prosecuted py
the people because of speeches he MADE.
Dennis says he was a sinner at the time
of the first revelation, but he has since fol-
lowed the path outlined in the Bible, and
his coming here last night was only to fui-
fill a promise he had made to tell the Presi-
dent to be on the watch. In his vision; ne
told the authorities, he was designated as
"noticer," to notify the proper people OF
danger.
He conyersed about the Tillman-McLau-
rim trouble in the Senate, and said the Lord
had told him to inform the people not TO
pay any attention to Russia, but to keep an
eye on the south.
The Lord to Convince Them.
''The people Of the south say they were
not whipped" declared the colored man,
land they are going to lead an uprising. in
which the Lord is going to convince them
that they were badly whipped" He added:
Those who rise, the swords shall enter
their own hearts"
Dennis says the only enemy he has is
Satan and he thought he might get rid of
him by going away. He said he had been
to the West Indies twice, and had crossed
the Atlantic where he had been subjected
to insults on account Of the flag he repre-
sents. He spent some time in the vicinity
of Scranton, Pa, and was shanghaied by
oystermen when he reached the Chesapeake
bay. His treatment on the boat, he said,
was not good, and he had some difficulty in
getting away from it.
Dennis reached here last night on Ches-
apeake and Ohio train from a place near
Richmond. and spent the night at mission
on I'd street He had his clothes on his
back and a nickel in his pocket, all his
earthly possessions, and he said he knew
the Lord would provide for him.
Nothing was known of the mans color
until he appeared at the White House this
morning. 1t is said that he was thought
to have been foreigner. and was regarded
as a dangerous crank. Detectives had made
an effort to find him before he reached here
This afternoon he was turned over to the
police and committed to st. Elizabeth's
Hospital for the Insane. The prisoners
father. Richard Dennis, has been notified of
his arrest.