The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-07-11
PURSUED BY FIRE.
Anderson Is a Victim Of Unc0m-
Portable Hallucinations.
Thinks a Mob Is After Him With
Coal OIL and Torches.
CONFINED IN JAIL.
VIII Be Tried Tomorrow on
Charge of Insanity.
Believes His Sufferings Just for
Sins Committed.

Walking up and down in the little
eight by ten padded cell in the county
Jail. j. f. Anderson, who was arrested
late last night on charge Of insanity,
constantly means, IT'S just guess
thar i should suffer as I am for have
been a wicked man and the rest Of my
life must atone for my earlier sins. Not
only must / surfer for the rest Of my
natural life but until the world is burn
ed into an unacceptable mass and all
signs Of life are past This Is awful IN
itself but the hand Of every human be
ing in the world is against me and
have not single friend. not even my
wife, who has turned against me and is
trying to get a divorce, and she viii
get II, for everything that I do and say
Is misinterpreted and all that I may
say Is misconstrued and taken for false.
when 1 was young my mothers
teachings were those I followed and
they were good, Anderson continued.
ssbut like most boys I drifted away
from them and into the paths of sin
which I have since followed and now
the day Of reckoning has arrived and
there is nothing that can save me ana
I must burn always. and even now L
can hear the flames roaring and crack
ling about me and the heat is so IN
tense that cannot bear il.
Even while I am here on earth those
who were once my friends are seeking
10 destroy me by fire and are following
me night and day with lighted torches,
and I would be willing to let them burn
me if death would but end my surfer
ings. but it will not and must suffer
on and on until the world is destroyed,
and I am to be the last living being TO
survive and must besides my own suf-
1erin2 witness that OF every living thing
which has life and an existence.
II haven't a friend in the world, and
the hand Of everyone is against me
The best friend I have is the man who
locked me in this place, unpleasant as
1t seems. and he is the only man in
the whole world who viii give me as
much as a drink Of water, even though
the flames are about me and he can
watch my agony as I burn. He has
been SO kind to me 10 place me in here
so that the mob which is following me
1nd wants TO burn me with coal OIL
and torches can not get to me- but 1
guess that my sunerings are Just,
though they are so terrible. 1t would
do me no good to kill myself. for death
viii not stop my suffering and there
win be no relief until the world is de-
stroyed."
Between the means which tell of his
mental suffering, Anderson softly re
peats the prayers which he says were
taught him by his mother before he
drifted into the wicked paths of the
world And even though his mind is
cIouded and his reason dethroned he
yet retains all the marks Of good
breeding and his answers to questions
are in low tones and the language used
IS of the best
Anderson declined to answer ques-
tions as to his home or family .connec-
tons He has been about town for
number Of weeks, hanging around the
Air Dome a good part Of the time. Be
cause Of his strange actions two of the
employees there, Matthews and Burgess,
took him to the police station last night.
snd he was later confined in the county
fail. He viii be tried on an insanity
charge before Probate Judge Hayden
tomorrow.