The San Francisco call., 1904-10-07
Former Chum Of Mil
liOnaireS Accused
Of Theft.
Author Of Sensational
Stories OF Natures
Queer Moods.

=.
To-day he is the hardest problem in
human nature to bring to a logical con-
clusion that has ever presented itself
to the keen scrutiny of the local police
detectives
Ten years ago Mulhatton was a
wealthy prosperous travelling sales
man for one of the largest hardware
houses in the country. His salary was
$4,000 a year. He was the author of
stories in the Fort Worth Gazette con-
corning ''the largest meteor that ever
struck the earth" They created a SEN
sation in all Europe, as we'll as on the
North American continent. He was
known as ''the father of newspaper
fiction" for his clever literary creations.
which, though made out of whole cloth,
raised the curiosity of the English
speaking world.
To-day Joseph Mulhatton is an un-
couth prisoner in the Central police sta
ton. Wednesdays Call told the story
OF his brief and unfortunate career in
San Francisco. He was arrested at the
Mstigation Of man named Wantz, who
is proprietor Of a cheap lodging-house
on Clay street. Wantz says that Null
hatton has been a member of the Sal
walton Army, a phrenologist and a
roustabout. The charge against the
prisoner is burglary. Mulhatton took
off his coat while trying to explain a
mystic chart to a sleepy audience, and
when he put it on again the garment
had been substituted by another that is
said to have contained "a sum of
money and a bank book" With this
valuable find in a somewhat fiyblown
business Office he made his way to
the street, where the arrest for the des-
perate crime was made by Mr. Wantz
and a policeman.
But Joseph Mulhatton, once a chum
of millionaires, is apparently suffering
from a mental collapse. He does not
look like a coat thief, nor does he talk
like one. The instincts of gentleman
are there. for the wrath of the past has
cast its faint shadow over his muddled
brain. No mental spectroscope can
thoroughly define the dark rays that
are peculiar to this strange combina-
tion of lights and shadows. This morn
ing in the Police Court Judge Mogan
will determine whether the man is
guilty or innocent. The impression
seems to be that some one has blum
dered, for friends of Mulhatton say
that he never had the cast of a thief.
Two of these gentlemen are prominent
business men of this city.
"YES, I'M JOE"
eyes, am Joe Mulhatton, who for
years was a leader among the travellers
of the East" said the prisoner as he
approached an interviewer yesterday
afternoon. ''It has been ten years since
was in Louisville, and 1 have almost
forgotten about my relations with
Belknap & Co. and Hart & Co., the big
hardware men there. I was with
Belknap & Co. before leaving for the
West. but lost my job-well, you know
why"
Mulhatton then related how he had
wasted his money and become a wan
derer a salvationist a circus follower
and finally a phrenologist He had suf-
fered from injuries incurred through
the kick of a horse and had not been
in good health since that time. He went
to Arizona, and for a while was en-
gagged in mining, until his trial for in
sanity, brought about because of his
mental weakness, evinced during a deal
involving a mining claim.
why did you write the queer stories
of the rival to Mammoth Cave. which
were published in Frank Leslie's Mag
azine, and the story Of the Seven Mon
keys of Joe Parks ranch? was asked.
Just for an advertisement" was the
slow reply. Il was a drummer, and it
was my plan to keep myself before the
public. The stories that gave me the
name of the king of newspaper fiction
were harmless, you know-well, harm
less to my business. Just did it in fun.
and yet there was reason for it. I'll
tell you, sir, 1 really didn't mean any,
thing by them"
Mulhatton, who is small, stout and
bewhiskered, sat down on the bench of
the Jail office and thought a while. 1t
was a good opportunity to study him
in a Densive mood. He has a small.
rather expressionless face, with a small
red nose and overhanging eyebrows
His hands talk for him, and while his
words roll from his tongue convulsively
they are somewhat incoherent, and the
index fingers are forced to furnish the
expression that is lacking.
"Barnum was publishing a story
about the great work of his trained
elephants" continued the prisoner with
a sweep, of his right hand, "and I con-
ceived the idea of having Joe Parks.
the great Louisville cotton planter. i'm
port seven simians to do his cotton
picking. The Courier Journal published
the story and Joe Parks had to leave the
country for few weeks, but really I
did not intend to harm the poor fellow.
After this I had the big cave story in
print, and it was copied all over the
world. The yarn was that cave larger
than the Mammoth had been found and
that river existed therein on which a
full-sized river steamer could navigate.
The meteor story brought me orders for
details from Paris and London. wrote
that the aerolite was an acre square
and stuck out of the ground eighty
feet"
ONCE WELL KNOWN.
A gentleman who is a partner in a
local business concern, who is well ac-
quainted with Mulhatton, had this to
say of the man: