Shortly after Christiansen's visit with him, Robert sent a letter to me at the Quad-City Times. Despite the nearly perfect penmanship and gift for legalese, it was difficult to make out what he hoped to convey, except that he didn't want me to use the video Christiansen shot with her cellphone.

The rest of the four-page letter was disjointed — from declaring the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia a murder (with collusion by members of the U.S. Congress) to requesting compensation for use of his image at "one (1) thousand, good pre-1935" U.S. silver dollars.

In the letter, he referred to himself as "commander."

I'm not qualified to evaluate his affliction, but Robert clearly was struggling with something.

Even so, he went on with his life the best he could. When kind-hearted cops gave him a warm coat, he thanked them. But they never saw him wear it. Others said they offered him cash, but he would not accept.

Rock Island County Coroner Brian Gustafson said the money Robert had on him when he died will likely be enough for his burial. Even if he'd been as broke as many presumed, police said, they would have come up with the money.