OLD MAID'S ECCENTRICITIES.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 8879, 2 August 1907, Page 1

OLD MAID'S ECCENTRICITIES.

Tao New York correspondent of i the Daily Telegraph says;—The Supreme Court here is wrestling with the problem of deciding whether a wealthy spinster, Miss Fanny E. Wright, of London birth, was mad, when, at the age of 57, she left the bulk of her fortune of £BO,OOO to her lawyer, or whether she was merely eccentric. According to the heirs the old lady was stark, staring mad, but the question for the judges to determine is where the eccentricity of an old maid ends and dementia, as the law understands dementia, begins. Hero are a few of the things Miss Wright’s relations are citing to show the lady’s mental condition, and I select them from a much longer list. Although rich and living in a handsome house, she refused to mix | with her social equals, but preferred the companionship in her drawingroom of tradesmen and workmen. She had a mania for washing her hands, and would stand for hours before a wash-basin. She never used a towel; she invariably opened the door with her elbow, and to open a chest of drawers she used her foot instead of her hand. To amuse her visitors, she would get her hands covered with foapsuds, and tiieu sit in a rocking chair and blow suds into the air. She kept a box full of copper coins, and each one she took out she carefully washed. Daily after dining she used to call for a bowl of water and wash the knives and forks before they were taken off the table. For 15 years Miss Wright had not combed, trimmed or washed her hair. Overcome by a craze for culture, she attended a literary lecture ono night, and instead of a watch she carried a big alarm-clock with her in a paper bag. During the lecture the alarm went off, and interrupted the meeting. In the summer the lady wore extra thick underwear, heavy coats, and a pair of goloshes. When she went to bed-she would begin to undress in the cellar of her four-story home, and take her clothing off as she went upstairs leaving her clothing on the different landings. Then in the morning she would begin to dress upstairs, and finish the operation downstairs, picking up her clothing as she went. She bought many articles of new clothing, but always wor e the old ones. As a token of respect to her dead mother, Miss Wright took the carpets up, and left them lying In small heaps. She ate queer dishes, such as raw eggs and prunes, and often she would" purposely smear her face with ice-cream or chocolate-cream. On the mantelpiece she kept a bowl of bank notes,' and to each caller on leaving she would give one. She believed clocks had souls. Although a teetotaller, she would write in her diary, “Drunk again yesterday; must really take the pledge. ’ ’ In the winter she watered empty flowerpots. Several times during the night she would arise, don a waterproof and commence spring-cleaning. When going for a holiday, she would pack a trunk with empty bottles and leave her clothes at home.

Despite these little failings, which are called by counsel merely an old maid’s eccentricities, it was argued that the lady in a legal sense was of prefoctly sound mind. The case hg§ not concluded.