62. In which alluring fashion did 19th century phrenologist and inventor, Frederick Coombs, convinced he was George Washington, try to lure ladies into his arms?
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Answer:
By displaying his legs on street corners
Frederick Coombs, birth date unknown, was born in New York City, but spend much of the early part of his life in San Francisco working as a phrenologist, photographer, daguerreotypist, minor author, inventor and, it is believed, a marriage broker as a sideline. One of his known inventions was a type of electric locomotive. Unfortunately this never went into production, even though he spent some time in England displaying it to possible backers. In the early 1860s, because of a slight facial resemblance to George Washington, Coombs, a very portly, short fellow, became convinced he was indeed that noble personage. He accordingly got about wearing a continental army uniform (manufactured from buckskin) and set up shop in a local saloon where he sat - in a prominent position - studying maps and planning "campaigns" for his forthcoming war with the British. At one stage his friends had to intervene to convince him that the Battle of Valley Forge was over, because he was starving himself to death while reliving it in his mind. Composing letters to the US Congress was also a part of his regular routine, in which he frequently demanded the Washington Memorial be handed over to him.
After falling foul of Joshua Norton, another eccentric in the area who believed he was "Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico" - and who demanded the San Francisco police throw Coombs into a lunatic asylum - Coombs fled to New York City. He died there in 1874, still convinced he was President Washington. In the intervening years, however, and now balding, as well as short and tubby, and quite convinced he was irresistible to the ladies, the saucy fellow paraded himself on street corners, displaying his legs to them as they strolled by, quite convinced that his shapely calves would lure them into his arms.
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