Goes Insane, The Terrible Result of a Joke

1878

A special dispatch to the London Free Press from Ottawa, Ont., says: The man Somerville, belonging in Thorne, Pontiac county, who became insane through a practical joke being played on him, passed through this city last evening in charge of a friend, on his way to the asylum at Long Point, near Montreal.

A short time since a party of shanty men were on their way up the river, Somerville being one of the number, when they all got on a drunk, more or less. The day following, Somerville was told he had shot a certain magistrate while intoxicated, and that he would likely be arrested. In order to avoid this, he was advised to clear to the woods, and during the night, he did so.

It was fourteen days before he was found again, and then it was discovered that he was a raving maniac, having become so through fear of exposure and want of food.