Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 August 1874 — A Terrible Case of Lunacy. [ARTICLE]

A Terrible Case of Lunacy.

A remarkable case of lunacy has just been made known in Green Village, N. J., by the death of Charles Crowell at the age of seventy, who had been a raving mahiac for over forty-five years. He was kept chained to the floor of his home, and would never allow clothing to be -put on him. He was confined in a small apartment made for his use. No furniture was in the room, the only thing in it being straw. His mother took care of him for the first fifteen years, and during that time he tore to pieces over 100 bedquilts which* she had made for him. At times he would be perfectly harmless, and would allow his mother and sister to stay in his room and feed him. But for months lie would pace his small room and no one dared venture near him. In his room was a very small window through which food and water were given him. -Sometimes he would not eat for a week; at other times enough food could not be given him to satisfy his voracity. His mother died from the great burden, and his sister took charge of him. She, too, died after some years from the constant care and anxiety with which she watched him. The most remarkable fact in connection with the case was that just before he died his mind was clear and he called an attendant by name.— N. Y. Tribune. Reason enough there was for his doing it—George Falkenstein, we mean, who committed suicide at Pittsburgh, Pa., the other day; for he is described as “ a foreigner, unmarried, despondent, homesick and full of drink.” Poor fellow! On his death-bed, a Terre Haute compositor confessed to having maliciously substituted ” those” for “ these” in no less than seven hundred paragraphs. Hihad accomplished Ins fell work through aconspiracy with the proof-reader. It was considered a deed of magnanimity for a San Francisco street crowd to allow a Chinaman to depart with his life, after having killed two immense dogs that bad been set upon him by some of its members.