A Wonder of Relationship.

1895

In an old scrapbook which contains a number of clippings without date I find the following: "William Harman, who committed suicide at Titusville, Pa., a short time since, did so because some one had convinced him that he was his own grandfather! Here is a copy of the singular letter he left: 'I married a widow who had a grownup daughter. My father visited us often, fell in love with my stepdaughter and married her. Thus he became my son-in-law, and my stepdaughter became my mother, because she was my father's wife. Soon after this my wife gave birth to a son, which, of course, was my father's brother-in-law, and my uncle, for he was the brother of my stepmother. My father's wife also became the mother of a son. He was, of course, my brother, and also my grandchild, for he was the son of my daughter. Accordingly my wife was my grandmother, because she was may mother's mother. I was my wife's husband and grandchild at one and the same time. And, as the husband of a person's grandmother is his grandfather, I was my own grandfather!" Was it any wonder that the poor man rid himself of such tangled relationship? — St. Louis Republic.