STRESSED, NOT INSANE!

JOHN SALATHIEL, THE OLD KANSAS PIONEER

April 30, 1836 - December 9, 1915

Independence [KS] Reporter, Saturday, February 17, 1899, page 1

MR. SALATHIEL VERDICT REACHED THIS MORNING

He Will Not Be Sent to the Asylum - His Family

Will See That He Receives Proper Treatment

In Private Institutions.

Since Wednesday noon, the question of the sanity of John Salathiel has been on trial in probate court and a verdict was reached at 11 a.m. today by the jury, which consisted of Dr. Elly, W. C. Millikan, M.V. Strine, J. M. Walker, A. B. Yeager and H. W. Hazen. 

The verdict was in accordance with an agreement made by all the parties most interested and is that Mr. Salathiel is unfitted to attend to his own affairs; that his condition is probably due to the excessive use of tobacco and close attention to business; that it is not hereditary or caused by epilepsy and that he has never had any medical treatment for it.

His son Thomas Salathiel was appointed guardian.  It is not the intention to send Mr. Salathiel to an insane asylum.  It is believed that a rest from business, a change of scene and proper treatment in some sanitarium will restore him, and he will be taken as soon as possible to Manitou Hot Springs, the sea coast, or some other place to be agreed upon.

For several months past it has been evident to Mr. Salathiel's family that in some respects his mind was unbalanced.  On most all subjects and in the conduct of his business he has been perfectly rational, but he has had strange hallucinations of family troubles for which there has not been the slightest grounds and he has made threats against various citizens which have caused his family great uneasiness and impelled them to take action to avoid a possible tragedy.  Mr. Salathiel, at first, was disposed to make a bitter fight against this legal proceeding and employed O. P. Ergenbright as his attorney, A. B. Clark representing the state, but even the defendant himself seemed convinced by the testimony adduced; that his actions had been strange, and this morning cheerfully agreed to the disposition that has been made of the case.

The simple truth is that his nervous system is badly impaired.  For months he has slept but little and rest and a change are clearly needed and there is every reason for hoping that complete restoration will follow, as his general physical health and strength are good.

The proceeding has excited much interesting in this city, where Mr. Salathiel and his family have resided for many years, enjoying the full confidence and esteem of all our citizens, and everyone hopes that in a short time he will return to us fully restored to his accustomed mental and physical health.

Mr. Salathiel's grocery store will be kept running as usual and Walter Salathiel now with I. G. Fowler, will give his attention to it for the present.

~o~

Note that Mr. Salathiel lived another 15+ years.

REMEMBERING DIDDY

She had such a short life - and such an unexpected ending.  The tribute below was copied from my blog "HOT COFFEE & KOOL JAZZ."  It also belongs here.

I think of sweet Diddy often.  Still, after all of these years.

sunday, october 19, 2008

RIP, DIDDY

Los Angeles Times, October 19, 1960
MISS DIDDY H. KAERGER

Funeral services for Miss Diddy H. Kaerger, 25, a World Airways stewardess who was among the 77 persons killed in an explosion of an airliner over Guam on Sept. 19, will be conducted at 11 a.m. Saturday in Grace Chapel, Inglewood Park Cemetery. Miss Kaerger, born in Los Angeles, lived in Castro Valley. She leaves her mother, Mrs. Martha Keller and a sister, Mrs. Louise Strange.

Diddy was one of my college roommates and a sorority sister at Pepperdine College. She was cute as a button, smart, funny and a friend to everyone. She graduated from college in 1957 and spent a couple of years teaching elementary school. Soon she decided teaching wasn't how she wanted to spend the rest of her life, so she became an airline stewardess.

Life plays tricks on us sometimes. As far as I am concerned, it was a dirty trick played on my friend Diddy.

A HIDDEN BIT OUT OF "DON QUIXOTE"

If I told you that today's Immortal Nobody was born in Calabria, Italy as Giovanni Dionigi Galeni, the son of seaman Birno Galeni and wife Pippi, and that he died in Constantinople, Turkey with the name Kilic Ali Pasha, you might be surprised that this nobody was also named in Miguel de Cervantes' notable book 'Don Quixote de la Mancha."  And that he also built a mosque that even today carries his name.

Giovanni was born in 1519 and died in June of 1587.  His dad wanted him to receive a religious education, but around his 17^th year he was captured by one of the pirate Barbarossa's corsair captains and forced to serve as a galley slave.  It was during these slave years that he converted to Islam and became an able mariner with a reputation as one of the boldest of the Mediterranean corsairs.

Now I learned a little about Ali Pasha when I was living in Turkey, and later read the book "Constantinople Old and New" by H. B. Dwight, Chas. Scribner  Sons, N.Y., 1915 where Dwight, a former missionary with the ABCFM shared his understanding about today's Immortal Nobody.

Kilic Ali Pasha Mosque was built by an Italian who was born in Calabria.  Captured by Algerian pirates, he turned Turk after 14 year in the galleys and changed his name of Ochiali to Oulouj Ali – Big Ali.  He then became a commander of Galleys.  At the battle of Lepanto he saved a shred of Turkish honor by capturing the flagship of the Knights of Malta, turning the squadron of Doria and bringing 40 galleys safely back to Constantinople.  For this exploit he was made high admiral of the fleet, and his name was turned into "Sword" Ali – Kilij Ali.

An interesting sidelight is thrown on this picturesque character from so unexpected a source as the novel  "Don Quixote."  In Chapter 32 of the first part of that book, in which the captive relates his life and adventures, Cervantes tells with very little deviation from the fact, how he himself lost his left hand at the battle of Lepanto, how 4 years later he was captured by pirates and then taken to Algiers, and how he lived there five years as the slave of a cruel Albanian master.  Trying then to escape, he was caught and brought for trial before a personage whom he calls Uchali, but who was none other than our friend Kilij Ali.  The upshot of the matter was that the builder of our beautiful mosque bought the author of our immortal novel, whom he treated with great kindness and presently accepted for him, in 1581, the very moderate ransom of 500 crowns.  So might a half-forgotten building in Tophane be brought back to light as the mosque of Don Quixote.

Kilic Ali Pasha's legacy is thus:

     1) He built the Kilic Ali Pasa Mosque (1580) and Baths (153) in Istanbul;

     2) Several warships and submarines of the Turkish Navy have been named
            after him, and

     3) His statue is in the center square of Le Castella in Calabria, Italy.

Now this story, a true one, shows you the width of the net that holds Immortal Nobodies.