William Brinkman

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Old Print Article: “A Blind Steeple Jack,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle (1902)

October 2, 2010 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies | Permalink

"The blind man has sold 3,880 pounds of peanuts and 31,000 popcorn balls." (Image by Jack Dykinga.)

Most of these old print articles I bring you are about monkeys burglarizing apartments and immigrants brawling in barber shops, but this one from the January 9, 1902 issue of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle is really heartwarming. The Eagle reprints an account from a Midwestern newspaper about a remarkable blind man who resided in Kokomo, Indiana. An excerpt:

“William Brinkman, the Kokomo, Indiana, blind man, who two years ago married Jennie Lamb, who beside being blind, is totally paralyzed, has disarmed his critics, who insisted that he had his hands full in taking care of himself without assuming additional burdens. In two years, Brinkman, unaided by charity, has paid for a home and improved it to a present worth of $800. The blind man has sold 3,880 pounds of peanuts and 31,000 popcorn balls. After preparing the morning meal and guiding the food to the mouth of the helpless wife, he rolls the peanut roaster downtown, returning home at noon and night for the other meals. He does all the housekeeping.

Beside that, he tunes pianos, repairs clocks and organs. Recently he took an organ of 420 pieces apart, cleaned it and had it together and playing in four hours. He declines all offers of charity. A short time ago Mr. Brinkman performed the perilous feat of climbing the Court House tower and repairing the town clock, when experts had failed. Mr. and Mrs. Brinkman became acquainted at the state blind school and with them it was a case of ‘love at first sight,’ as both expressed it.”

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