In 1946, James Curley ("The Purple Shamrock") won his bid for reelection as Boston's mayor. Convicted on several charges of fraud, however, he was obliged to fulfill his mayoral duties from a prison cell.

Curley, unhappy with his state-appointed accomodations, demanded that the court release him on the grounds that he was suffering from twelve (yes, 12) potentially fatal illnesses.

Summoned before the court (in a shirt three times too large), the mayor was asked to name even one of his supposed illnesses. Curley's reply? "An imminent cerebral hemorrhage!"

[Curley's last words? "I wish to announce the first plank in my campaign for reelection... we're going to have the floors in this god-damned hospital smoothed out!" (Curley served as the inspiration for Edwin O'Connor's hero-villain in The Last Hurrah.)]

[To convince the community of a severe illness, a member of the Gnau of New Guinea will remove his clothes, cover himself with dirt and ashes, refrain from conversation, and stop eating.]