The Lonely Traveler’s Fear of the 'Conspiracy'

Abraham Thomas, a 34-year-old native of Wales, was taken before Probate Judge Wood yesterday on a charge of insanity. He is a single man with no relatives in the Territory except a second cousin, William Edwards, who works in the South Prairie coal mines. In his examination, he stated he had never been married and that his mother was dead. He said he had not heard from his father for 11 years, that one of his cousins died in the Stockton asylum, and that one of his mother's sisters died insane. William Thomas, an old friend, testified that he had known him for seven years and worked with him in the mines at Newtonville, California. He said the man was always considered 'silly.' He saw him on Saturday; he seemed much alarmed lest someone should kill him. He was looking for protection and was anxious to go to jail, but after he got there, he was fearful lest some of his imagined pursuers would break in and kill him. Officer Murphy testified: 'I was on Commercial Street Saturday when Thomas Hancock came to me and said, "There is a man looking for an officer. I think he is out of his mind." When I went up to the man, he said he had walked from Black Diamond to Newcastle, and from Newcastle to Seattle to get away from men who were following him to kill him, and he came here for protection. I concluded he was insane and took him to the station house. He was glad to go, but frightened after he got in there.' James Bogart, the jailor, said the man told him a conspiracy had been arranged against his life in California, that he was accused of killing someone but had never done so, and that his partners were still following him. A medical examination was made, and Thomas was pronounced a fit subject for the insane asylum, where he will be sent today by Sheriff McGraw.