The Man Who Claimed to Be 1,000 Years Old
A local worker stumped the city registrar by claiming a millennium of life experience, citing the doctrine of reincarnation.
The story, cleaned up
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According to the registration books at the city hall, Tacoma has a citizen who holds the world's record for age. He is just an even 1,000 years old. S. C. Hitchcock, 811 South Seventh street, a workman by vocation, declares he has reached the 1,000-year mark. When he told his age to the registrar, the latter demurred, but Hitchcock insisted it was all right. 'Where were you born?' asked the registrar. 'I was born in Iowa the last time,' said Hitchcock. There is no way of refusing to accept the statements of the voter as to his age, and although Hitchcock did not look over 60, he was put on the book at 1,000 years. He has been in the state 20 years. Hitchcock is a believer in the doctrine of reincarnation.
“I was born in Iowa the last time.”
Hitchcock’s story reflects the eccentric individualism that occasionally punctured the dry formality of municipal record-keeping in early 20th-century Tacoma. His claim, while clearly a test of the registrar's patience, captures a local flavor of metaphysical belief that persisted alongside the rapid industrialization of the city.
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