Journalism at its Best…
From the Wisconsin State Journal, July 10, 1890:
A Man Blessed With Four Children In Two Years
Hans Olson may or may not be insane, but his actions at Mazomanie were so peculiar that it was thought advisable to have his mental condition inquired into, and he was brought here this morning by Sheriff Vernon for that purpose. Drs. Keenan and Twitchell were called to the county court for the purpose of sounding the length and breadth of his mental caliber.
Hans lived down in the town of Perry. He says he has been married two years and has four children, a record which one wicked wag says would warrant a verdict of “justifiable insanity,” if such a verdict could be rendered by the doctors. Hans says he has been abused by his wife since the second pair of twins entered on the race of life; that he has been compelled to take up his bed in the cellar, while she slept in the garret. These things, he suspects, may have made him cynical and worked upon him until he talked too much about it. He loves the dear children, but he thinks too many of them at one time would discourage any man that had to contribute to their support.
It is said that Mr. Francis Ritchie, register in probate, firmly believed the fellow to be sane until he made the announcement of four children in two years; then he backed down, declaring that the man would have to be unusually strong if he kept his mental balance under such a strain as that.
