Man Gets Bats in His Belfry, Acting Crazy

Idaho, 1906
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MAN GETS BATS IN HIS BELFRY

IMAGINES HE IS THE CREATOR AND WANTS MANY THINGS CHANGED.

Fellow Giving His Name as Frank Merriman Goes Crazy at Wooley Ranch and is Brought to Town.

Last Tuesday afternoon John F. Burton came to town from the upper Wooley ranch with a fellow who has bats in his belfry and seemed ready to be turned over to the officials for safe keeping.

Very little could be learned of him and it was almost impossible to get anything coherent out of him, and the only name that seemed to stick in his mind for any length of time was Frank Merriman. He is known to have worked in the vicinity of Henry during the past summer and winter, but is not known to have shown any insane tendencies before. He came to the Wooley ranch about ten days ago on a dilapidated pair of snow shoes and said he was going to travel on them to Colorado, but was induced to stay and when his hallucination took a form that pointed toward the dangerous he was brought to town.

He seems possessed of the idea that he is the creator and when anything does not suit him he wants to kill it or change it to his idea. One thing about the buildings in town did not suit him and he wanted them all cut down to one story with one room 8 x 12. He was taken to Pocatello yesterday afternoon by Deputy Quigley and will not doubt be taken to the asylum at Blackfoot at an early date.

--The Soda Springs Chieftain, Soda Springs, Idaho, March 29, 1906, page 1.

Comment: Headline "Brought to Town," town might not be the word, illegible.