Jasper County Democrat, Volume 12, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 June 1909 — AN ALARMING “INSANITY" RECORD [ARTICLE]

AN ALARMING “INSANITY" RECORD

Seven People Taken to Asylum From This County Since Jan. 1, and One More In Waiting. No less than seven people have been taken to the Insane asylum from Jasper county since Jan. 1, 1909, and there is one more person now confined in jail here awaiting

the necessary acceptanpe from the asylum authorities. Considering our small population this record is an alarming one, and one that we do not believe can be duplicated by any county in the state. It has become, apparently, a mighty easy thing to have a person declared of unsound mind and sent to the asylum in this county, and while The Democrat does not desire to criticise more severely the doctors who conduct these insanity inquests, yet we do feel that they ar» not as careful as they should be. it is an easy matter to find witnesses who will swear that they have seen a neighbor do peculiar things or act in what they might think an unusual manner. But simply because one acts peculiarly, has religious or political views at variance' with his neighbors, is a crank on some subject, or his relatives want to be rid of him, does not follow that he is insane and should be railroaded off tv an insaiie asylum. It is a terrible thing to send a person of fairly sound mind to an asylum where there are some at least really insane people, and an insanity board should be perfectly sure of its ground before committing a person to sucn an institution. /When once incarcerated in such a place it is not easy to be released, and it may be a long time before the doctors there get around to examine an inmate as to their condition. Eight persons declared insane in Jasper county in less than six months! And one other barely escaped by his - superior intelligence and clearness of presenting his side of the case to the insanity court, and he was banished entirely from the county. .This is a terrible record for so short a time, surely, and it is sincerely hoped that more care will be exercised in the future in conducting these inquests.