In Neal Gabler's semi-official biography " Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination " Disney is quoted as recalling a " mildly ret*d " cousin?? of his who , in his Midwestern youth , he would see occasionally as said cousin , despite his status , traveled at will around the area/region ! (I'm not sure if the quote literally referred to him as " hopping freights " though .) This only a very brief reference , quoting a reference in a " Walt Disney Remembers " kind oif article in a post-WWII issue of the Saturday Evening Post .
Now , this would've been the 1890s?? 1900s?? - I am thinking that , as far as the language they used then , this cousin might've been more accurately , by to-day's language , diagnosed as " one of us " .
Really - Can anyone , please , find out more about this cousin ?
What kind of influence could he have been on the Mouseman
? Maybe it's a little bit too " Yeah , we're bigtime ! " too imagine he inspired Uncle Walt's great imagination , buutt...
The original article's reference may've been brief , and an contemporary piece in the " sweetness and light "-ish old SatEvePost may not have been real deep by to-day's standards but...
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Renal kidney failure, congestive heart failure, COPD. Can't really get up from a floor position unhelped anymore:-(.
One of the walking wounded ~ SMASHED DOWN by life and age, now prevented from even expressing myself! SOB.
" Oh, no! First you have to PROVE you deserve to go away to college! " ~ My mother, 1978 (the heyday of Andy Gibb and Player). I would still like to go.

My life destroyed by Thorazine and Mellaril - and rape - and the Psychiatric/Industrial Complex. SOB:-(! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!