Saratoga in 1901 :: :: University of Virginia Library

“It will be remembered that a
day or two since the N. Y. Commercial
Advertiser published a
very singular letter from its Saratoga
correspondent, “Lan—,”
in which a shocking story was
related about snakes and rubbish
of all kinds being thrown to the
surface of Congress Spring by the
action of electricity. It struck us
at the time that this letter was
queer, but we were disposed to
make light of it and treat it as a mere joke—a sort of epistolary
extravaganza. But it is a more serious matter than we supposed
—not for the spring, but for poor “Lan—.” The letter was
simply the ebullition of a disordered imagination, crowded with
vague and distorted images. The fact is—shall we write the
word?—we must—the truth shall be told—

“Delirium Tremens!

“The story is out now. Everybody at the hotels knows all
about it, and we may as well present the circumstances just as
they are.

“It appears that Lan—, John G. Saxe, John T. Hoffman,
Judge Bernard and Col. Johnson, together with our reporter
(Captain R.?), went out to Moon's one day last week, where
they found Mayor Carroll, of Troy, and all together sat down to
one of the most effulgent symposia, we presume, that ever transpired
within the walls of that classic retreat.

“Well, to make a long story short, “Lan—,” whose fine
organization was perhaps more susceptible than those of the
stout bacchanals who were with him, succumbed.

“His fancy became heated, and that night his friends, on their
return to the Congress, noticed a peculiar wild light in his eyes,

and several times he was seen to cast furtive and fearful glances
in the direction of the Congress spring, and to give a quick, convulsive
start at intervals.

“His reason was at that moment tottering!

“He soon retired to his room, and his foot-fall was heard till
after three o'clock, A.M. It was then he wrote that notable letter
about the “Strange Developments at Congress Spring.” In the
morning his friends noticed him—saw something was wrong.

“An immediate consultation was had, and the result was that
Lan— was asked to take a ride, was put into a close carriage,
and with four friends accompanying, was hurried to Ballston and
placed in a secure room in the upper part of the Sans-Souci
Hotel, where he is at this moment, under the care of an excellent
physician. Sheriff Noxon pays him every attention, and he
is under the impression that he is in an hospital, having suffered a
mysterious injury of some sort, which requires his utter isolation.

“One of the saddest as well as most singular features of his
case, is his uncontrollable desire to write letters to the New
York Commercial Advertiser, in which he labors still under the
most curious hallucinations. The horrid phantasmagorical fancy
about the Congress spring, and the snakes and things that came
out of it, still clings in his mind, and he thinks, insane man, that
he has been exiled.”

VALE!

This editorial, with my letters dated from Ballston, completely
deceived the residents of Saratoga and vicinity. When I came
down to breakfast this morning every one looked at me with
astonishment. They thought I was in Ballston. Before me was
the Ballston Journal. In it was my obituary thus:—

“It seems that the Saratoga correspondent of the New York
Commercial Advertiser is in trouble. Saturday morning,
the Saratogian gave a lengthy description of his doings and
failings, and it appears that the most exciting articles he has
contributed this season—those about snakes in Congress spring,
etc.,—were written under the influence of delirium tremens.
When this fact became known to his friends, they brought him
to this village and placed him under the care of Sheriff Noxon,
who has done everything in his power for the unfortunate victim
of Saratoga drinks. We think the term “watering-place” misapplied,
for precious little water do the gentlemen at the Springs
indulge in. This will undoubtedly be a good lesson for `poor
Lan—.”'