The King of California: An Institutionalized Dreamer
A laborer from Enumclaw with grand delusions of immense wealth and heavenly status is committed to the asylum at Steilacoom.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
James Rooney, a middle-aged laborer with 'exalted ideas,' was committed to the asylum at Steilacoom by Judge Langley yesterday. He is Canadian, and was brought down from Enumclaw by a justice of the peace. Rooney's hallucinations were on a large scale, and when the examining physicians went into his cell at the county jail he made their visit a lively one. He shouted out that he lived in heaven and was only on earth for a short visit. He was, however, well supplied with this world's goods in imagination, and prattled about his untold millions of money, bushels of diamonds, and acres of land until the Count of Monte Cristo would have been envious. He stunned the doctors when he announced in an off-hand way that he owned the whole state of California, Midwinter fair, orange groves and all. In the midst of a torrent of foolishness, Rooney would often break off suddenly and declare that he saw his wife and children standing around him.
“He prattled about his untold millions of money, bushels of diamonds, and acres of land until the Count of Monte Cristo would have been envious.”
Historic accounts of mental health crises in the 1890s often treated the subject with a mix of public curiosity and institutional finality. This story highlights the isolation of migrant laborers in the late 19th-century boom, where losing one's grip on reality often meant being shipped to state institutions like the one in Steilacoom.
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