Los Angeles herald., 1909-05-19
CHARGE INSANITY
AGAINST SON OF
RICH fasteners
MYSTERIOUS MAN SAYS HE
HAS OCCULT POWERS
WOMAN WRITER CAUSES ARREST
OF FELLOW 5oARDER
LandIady of Fashionable Private Hotel
In Pasadena Declares Stranger
Is Three Weeks In
Arrears

Joseph Eaton Chaplin, who admits
that is not his true name and who is
said to be the scion of a wealthy east
ern family, is in trouble because ne eX-
hibited a knowledge regarding occult
ism and expressed the belief that souls
could commune in midair Chaplin was
examined by the lunacy commission
yesterday. He was charged with in
sanity by Katherine Rolston Fisher.
magazine writer of Pasadena, after she
heard him expound some of his theories
and when the landlady of the fashlon-
able boarding house, the Howell, 24l
North Marengo street. Pasadena, where
they boarded, told her Chaplin was three
weeks in arrears for board.
Chaplin passed two days at the county
hospital undergoing observation pend
ing his appearance before the commits
sion which was to determine the con-
dition of his mental machinery. lie
told the hospital attendants, and re-
iterated his statements yesterday, that
his mind was all right, that he came to
Pasadena from New York four weeks
ago to write articles for an eastern
paper, and when he discovered several
of his table associates at the Howell
believed in 'spooks" he could not resist
the temptation to let his imagination
run riot.
woman Appeals TOR warrant
Their first appreciation for his knowl
edge changed into doubt as to his
sanity, and when he told Miss Fisher
that he had an original theory about
souls in the concrete and how they in
fluence one another by means of air
waves, that he had manufactured eggs
which could not be distinguished from
the real article, and that he was con-
Ecious of events Transporting at dis
tance she appealed to Justice Mcdonald
for warrant The justice was at first
reluctant, but when Miss Fisher in
duced Chaplin to accompany her to DIR.
Thomas j. Orbison's office and obtained
the physicians opinion that Chaplin was
subject to decisions the court granted
her request and Chaplin was arrested.
During the examination yesterday
Chaplin said he was merely joking
when, in response to a statement by
one of the Howell boarders that she
could commune with her husband in
Los Angeles while she was in Pasadena,
he said he could wig wag a thought TO
a friend in New York.
Miss Fisher, who caused his arrest,
also tried to aid him in his efforts to
be released from the charge of insanity.
"Since he has been in the hospital I
find he has greatly improved, she said.
81 think he was suffering from brain
flag. I like him and have been sending
him flowers.
Refuses to Reveal History
When Judge Wilbur suggested
Chapins return to the hospital for
further observation and until he makes
up his mind to give his correct name,
Miss Fisher protested and offered TO
bear part of the expense if he was
placed in a private sanitarium.
The landlady of the Howell, who was
also a witness, said the statement of
Chaplin which struck her as being most
peculiar was wen he said he would pay
his board when his trunk arrived from
the east. That was four weeks ago,
she added, and the trunk is still en-
route.
Judge Wilbur, at the suggestion Of
the physicians who made the examina-
ton, continued the matter for one week,
and in the meantime Chaplin will be
under the supervision of Joseph z.
Kerr, assistant secretary of the Pasa-
dena Y. NJ. c. A.
Chaplin stoutly refused to give any in
formation concerning his name or past
history, and Judge Wilbur stated this
information must be supplied to the
commission before he will be dis
charged. He is said to be the son Of
wealthy parents living in New York,
and told the commission he came to
California in order to escape from do
Ynestic trouhles