OCR Text |
Show SELECTED. A Stkaxge and Sad Case. The Detroit Free Pi ens of a late date has the following : Some two or three months ago, a man named Lawrence ltapps, living near Monroe, became crazy, being given to fits of weeping and melancholy. melan-choly. A watch was kept upon his movements, but the man grew more dangerous, once attempting to kill his brother Christopher, with aD axe, and again very nearly succeeding in setting fire to the house. He at last became so dangerous that the probate judge granted an order for the confinement of Kapps at the insane asylum at Kalamazoo. Kal-amazoo. Yesterday morning, a man named George E. Streeter started with liapps for the asylum. As he was in a bad mood, it was deemed best to take along an assistant, and accordingly the brother Christopher was selected. On the train the two brothers had a seat together, directly in front of the officer, and it was noticed that the insane in-sane man grew constantly calmer, while Christopher grew uiQreand more excited. He continued to groan and weep, deploring the calamity that was soon to separate the two, perhaps for ever, and refused to be comforted by the sympathetic and cheering words of the officer. Lawrence had now and then a glimpse of reason, and when the trio got off for dinner at the junction junc-tion was the coolest of the three. They all sat down at the hotel dining-table, the officer between the two brothers. The table was filled with men, women and children, passengers on the train which stood just opposite the door. The meal had only commenced when Christopher, the sane brother, suddenly sudden-ly uttered a long, loud scream of sorrow sor-row and despair, which started every one to his feet, caused every check to turn pale. As he shrieked, he rose from the table, dashed the officer aside as one might a child, and then the two insane brothers locked together in a mad struggle. Up and down they whirled, shrieking, kicking, striking, pulling each one a giant in strength, each one a demon in his hate ! The strongest men trembled and pushed away from the strange scene, the women screamed and fled, and for a moment or two there was such a spectacle spec-tacle as one never witnessed in his lifetime. The mad brothers struggled and writhed, now one down, now the other, until some of tho passengers cried, "Shoot them!" The officer, coolest of them ail, because he saw that all depended upon him, made several efforts to separate the combatants, combat-ants, which was at length accomplished by Lawrence seizing his brother's hat and springing out of the crowd through the door. He went straight aboard the train, clambering on top of the cars. Christopher was thrown down and bouud, and then came a struggle to secure the other brother and take him from the car. The feat was at length accomplished, and then he was tied hand aud foof and left at the hotel, while Streeter came on to this city with Christopher. The victim was locked up at the Central station, while the officer returned to go forward with the other, and will return to-day and take this one to Monroe. The yells and shrieks of the poor fellow confined at the station were enough to make one tremble, aud he jumped and bounded against the door ct'lJis cell in a way that shouk the building. The 1 whole incident is one ol the .strangest that has occurred for a long time and, but for the torn clothes and rci-utches exhibited by the officer, and the st. ricks and yolLs of the last victim of the fearful disease, might seem like a romauce. |