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The Virginia Gazette Letter to Editor September 17, 1736
Richmond, Richmond, Virginia
What is this article about?
A reader's letter describing the astonishing case of John Dean of Collingbourn Kingston, Wilts, who for over three years has stood with his head and shoulders lodged in a partition wall, believing himself bewitched.
Quality yellow The extractor was unsure its transcription reads as real language, even though the scan measures clean. show the numbers
Measured from the scan
— how cleanly the OCR engine read the characters
- Mean ink quality
- 98.0% The length-weighted average confidence across the OCR lines — the mean of exactly the per-line scores whose tails the two figures below report. Typical is 99%.
- Illegible ink
- 0.0% Text sitting in OCR-detected lines that scored below 80% confidence — very shaky reads. Weighted by line length, so one long bad line counts for more than a short one.
- Uncertain ink
- 1.35% Text in lines that scored 80–90% — somewhat shaky reads.
- Matches source
- 94.84% How closely the served text matches the raw OCR of the same boxes, letter by letter, after collapsing spacing and case. This measures agreement, not correctness: the OCR is often wrong and the extractor corrects it, so 100% does not mean perfect, and a low figure usually means poor scan text was rewritten rather than that text was lost (length vs source shows loss). Across pages, this is the worst fragment.
- Length vs source
- 98.54% Below 100% means text was dropped from the OCR; above means text was added to make it read.
Assembled by the extraction model
— whether the stitched-together text holds up; catches layout and segmentation errors, which the scores above cannot see
- Transcription confidence
- 90.0% (typical 96%) How cleanly the extractor could assemble what it was given. Low here with clean ink scores points at layout analysis — the characters were read correctly but grouped or ordered wrongly.
- Comprehension
- 90.0% Whether the piece reads coherently start to finish. Can stay high while transcription confidence drops, when only part of the component is affected.
Clippings
1 of 2
Full Text
From the POLITICAL STATE for the Month of May, 1736.
The following Letter, which was printed last Month in a News-Paper published at Reading in Berkshire, contains Something so curious, that we think it deserves a Place here: The Letter is as follows, viz.
SIR,
THOUGH it might not be amiss to acquaint you with the following surprising Relation, of a Man standing in a Wall; for a Parallel, I verily believe it has none, therefore I think it ought not to be pass'd over in Silence; for I don't remember that I ever saw it inserted in any News-Paper.
IN the Parish of Collingbourn-Kingston, in the County of Wilts, there is now living one John Dean, who has been for many Years past delirious or lunatick, (as some do imagine,) which Distemper has taken such strange Effects upon him, that caus'd him to be guilty of very surprising Actions. To insert them in a particular Manner would contain a Volume; therefore for Brevity sake, I shall only give an impartial Account of one of the most incomparable. Having
Having heard much Discourse about this piteous Object, to gratify my Curiosity I went to see him, as a great many others do; I found, to my great Astonishment, this poor Wretch leaning in a Partition Wall, between Two Chambers; having enquired of his Relations the Meaning of his abiding in that Posture, they informed me (as others have since) that at first he stood with his Head against the Wall, 'til, by Degrees, he penetrated a Hole in the same, thro' which he has gotten his Head and Shoulders; so that he now resteth his Breast upon an inner Joist in the Wall: His Relations, and other credible People affirm, that he has stood in this Posture upwards of Three Years, notwithstanding all possible Means have been used in order to prevent it; by reason of his standing so continually upon his Legs, they begin to mortify, so that it cannot be imagined he can live much longer, unless removed; altho' in this piteous Condition, he eats pretty hearty, and is always craving for Victuals; his Excrements coming from him into the Place where he stands, that renders him a very disagreeable Object.
If any one pretends to persuade him to move himself out of this Posture, he says, that he is obliged to stand there, and that he is sensible 'tis very amazing, but he cannot be easy in any other Condition; and, in his rambling Way of Talk, he will sometimes say, that he is certain that some evil Person has got too much Influence over him, and that he is bewitch'd; which is now the general Opinion of the greatest Part of the Parish: If any one pretends to get him out of the Place by Violence, it makes him almost raving mad; therefore no one durst, of late remove him, so that he is like to perish in that piteous Condition: He holds for the Generality something between his Teeth; when I saw him I think he had a Wooden Dish, with the Cavity of the Dish towards his Chin; sometimes he will talk pretty sensible, and at other Times very rambling, cursing and swearing like a distracted Man.
The Veracity of what I have said, is very well known, to all near the Parish where this poor Wretch lives; nay, there are People continually coming from Places remote on Purpose to see him; and for a further Confirmation to all who question the Truth of this surprizing Object, if they please to take a Journey to Collingbourn Kingston, they may now see him in the same Posture.
Collingbourn Kingston, April 16, 1736. I am Yours, &c. SAM. SALMON.
The following Letter, which was printed last Month in a News-Paper published at Reading in Berkshire, contains Something so curious, that we think it deserves a Place here: The Letter is as follows, viz.
SIR,
THOUGH it might not be amiss to acquaint you with the following surprising Relation, of a Man standing in a Wall; for a Parallel, I verily believe it has none, therefore I think it ought not to be pass'd over in Silence; for I don't remember that I ever saw it inserted in any News-Paper.
IN the Parish of Collingbourn-Kingston, in the County of Wilts, there is now living one John Dean, who has been for many Years past delirious or lunatick, (as some do imagine,) which Distemper has taken such strange Effects upon him, that caus'd him to be guilty of very surprising Actions. To insert them in a particular Manner would contain a Volume; therefore for Brevity sake, I shall only give an impartial Account of one of the most incomparable. Having
Having heard much Discourse about this piteous Object, to gratify my Curiosity I went to see him, as a great many others do; I found, to my great Astonishment, this poor Wretch leaning in a Partition Wall, between Two Chambers; having enquired of his Relations the Meaning of his abiding in that Posture, they informed me (as others have since) that at first he stood with his Head against the Wall, 'til, by Degrees, he penetrated a Hole in the same, thro' which he has gotten his Head and Shoulders; so that he now resteth his Breast upon an inner Joist in the Wall: His Relations, and other credible People affirm, that he has stood in this Posture upwards of Three Years, notwithstanding all possible Means have been used in order to prevent it; by reason of his standing so continually upon his Legs, they begin to mortify, so that it cannot be imagined he can live much longer, unless removed; altho' in this piteous Condition, he eats pretty hearty, and is always craving for Victuals; his Excrements coming from him into the Place where he stands, that renders him a very disagreeable Object.
If any one pretends to persuade him to move himself out of this Posture, he says, that he is obliged to stand there, and that he is sensible 'tis very amazing, but he cannot be easy in any other Condition; and, in his rambling Way of Talk, he will sometimes say, that he is certain that some evil Person has got too much Influence over him, and that he is bewitch'd; which is now the general Opinion of the greatest Part of the Parish: If any one pretends to get him out of the Place by Violence, it makes him almost raving mad; therefore no one durst, of late remove him, so that he is like to perish in that piteous Condition: He holds for the Generality something between his Teeth; when I saw him I think he had a Wooden Dish, with the Cavity of the Dish towards his Chin; sometimes he will talk pretty sensible, and at other Times very rambling, cursing and swearing like a distracted Man.
The Veracity of what I have said, is very well known, to all near the Parish where this poor Wretch lives; nay, there are People continually coming from Places remote on Purpose to see him; and for a further Confirmation to all who question the Truth of this surprizing Object, if they please to take a Journey to Collingbourn Kingston, they may now see him in the same Posture.
Collingbourn Kingston, April 16, 1736. I am Yours, &c. SAM. SALMON.
What sub-type of article is it?
Informative
What themes does it touch?
Science Nature
What keywords are associated?
John Dean
Standing In A Wall
Collingbourn Kingston
Curious Relation
Bewitched
What entities or persons were involved?
The Editor
Sam. Salmon
Letter to Editor Details
Author
Sam. Salmon
Recipient
The Editor
Main Argument
The letter reports the astonishing case of John Dean, who has stood lodged in a wall for over three years, as a curiosity worthy of publication.
Notable Details
- John Dean of Collingbourn-Kingston, Wilts
- stood in a partition wall for over three years
- relations and others confirm the story
- says he is obliged to stand there and believes he is bewitched
- legs beginning to mortify