Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1910-12-30
The Immortal j. NJ"

From the Chicago Tribune.
Jacob Newman Free, the immortal +.
iN.," has reached the end of his travels.
lie was finally adjudged insane and will
ispend the remainder of his days in the
state hospital at Toledo. He is now Is
year old.
Thus passes a character known in nearly
levery sizable town in every state in the
west. For more than half a century he
lived as the birds live. No town or state
could claim him as its own. In each he
was at home and among friends. 1t is his
iclaim. and 1t is not disputed. that he
knows more people personally than any
sother living man.
For fifty years he has Travelled up and
down and across the country, riding free
on nearly every railroad and living with
,out expense is the best hotels the towns he
Visited afforded.
Still in his possession are a hundred slips
reading, Good for ]. N" His most treas
lured possession Is a slip of paper signed
by the leading officials of many of the
biggest railroads In the country. 1t reads
The Immortal ]. N; pass him forever.
GOOD on all roads from now until dooms-
lday.
Hotel men In the towns he visited did as
much. He was never known to lave more
than a few cents at a time, but in fifty
years of his wanderings few landlords
have been bold enough to present him with
"a bill. Once 1t is recorded a hotel keeper
Ioffered to throw off half the bill when he
Learned his guests identity. THE I'M
mortal J. N" glared at the landlord then,
declaring he would allow no one TO Guido
him In generosity, and said he would
throw off the other half.
He seldom stopped in cities of more
than 10000 population. believing that in
the large cities his personality would be
lost. There are few newspaper offices in
lHl4 $500 -Aas1 - 49, a-- IL
where he Is not well known. Some years
ago he travelled all over the country ran
;sacking the files of newspapers for his own
obituary. He has been reported dead more
than once.
He is an apostle of truth" pressure"
and keeper of the secret of the veil" For
thirty years he has been promising to 'lift
THE veil" and put ION the pressure Wher-
ever he stopped in the course of his migra-
lions his first announcement was that men
called him crazy and that he was about ito
put the pressure on" This pressure" was
some mysterious force which he alone, he
believed. prevented from crushing out OF
existence all the life of this continent.
No one has ever doubted that he was In
sane. He himself boosted of it. But hts is
AN insanity that up to now inspired only
friendship and sympathy. But behind his
insanity and his fifty years Of aimlesg
wandering over the country Is a tragic
STORY.
: In youth he vas IN infant phenomenon.
AT 4 years Of age he read almost all of the
bible. and during his teens he acquired a
reading and speaking knowledge OF no less
THAN thirteen languages. During the gold
craze in 40 he went west and started q
stage line. Within two years he had ac-
formulated a fortune of $4,000. A partner
robbed him and then -. NJ moved pack
ito Ohio and began the study of law. With
In a few years he stood at the top OF the
bar OF Cincinnati.
One day he was defending a murderer. in
whose Innocence he strongly believed. AS
a result OF his eloquence the man was
acquitted. The same day his client con-
fessed that he was guilty. y. N" rushed
back to tie courtroom and started to ex-
plain. but the strain and excitement had
been too much for him. He was stricken
with apoplexy. Within a short time he
recovered his physical health, but never
his Eaontal poise.