Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 September 1888 — THE INSANE OF INDIANA. [ARTICLE]

THE INSANE OF INDIANA.

HOW THEY ARE TREATED AT THE HOSPITAL NEAR INDIANAPOLIS, v Tentiraony Produced During the InVeetlg**tlon of the Inatltution by the Legl*latui4, —Duller with Miiggolt in It anti Decaying Flah Given to the PaUents to Kat—A Sickening Exposure. • One wlm follows Washington streqt in Ind-irtriapWis westovef the White rivTT and for some two miles beyond will virtue to two great buildings in the midst 6f grounds beautiful with trees and flowers. Entering he finds companies of men and women negligently dressed and wandering with apparently careless step, now in straight lines, then in curves, now near at,.hand, then far off. A Confusion of suppressed sounds comes from the.-ie groups—a chatter, ashrill laugh, a disconhected sentence m sudden outburst, an unnatural cry, together .gome to the ear and oppress the heart, For this is the home of tiie possibly 1,000 curable insane of Indiana. erected by the state at a cost of over $4,500,000, manned by 350 servants of tlie state and governed by a board of three .trustees,- before whom in effect the stale with generous pity lor the unfortunate 1 -, piles $200,000 Tvery year with I art one word— —spend t**-" ATxd 4,0 from cvrrycorner of Indiana the family sends •to tiiis hospital its broken tiioniber— its m 'tuber that is of it and yet is not of it; whose form is real, but whose spirit is a mocking shadow: whom it loves, and 1 for whose love it longs again.. To touch one of these witlra hirrair tsf" ifiifivltßg hand, or to be callous to their comfort , is lo trample upon the tenderest feelings of the family,, and is a crime against common humanity. Yet they have been beaten, as the angry car-driver beats his mules. And they have been fed. with less humanity than hogs are fed fififpens. it is the duty of the general ;usseiiibly to. watch the public institutions,-and ea:!;v-ire 1387 both houses Ix'gan to examine witnesses as to theinsanc hospital. . iio investigation lasted two weeks, and the evidence makes 2,000 printed pages, it started under the gravest difiieulues. Of the 4.000 itvsa tie wards us the state whose sufferings niftier all "ir vrrnugs and whose realization •>f .Btem were as keen a ; though they iuul-been sane, not one coaid be called as witness. Neariy every witness was a Tie, d of the 'ooard of trustees.; The witias-a.es who knew al! the facts were in the pay of tin* hospital' 'and' the hoard . oitid- stop' t his pay instr.i'itly. In the • •ase us one. witness. Roth pan assistant steward).- they—had - cut. down iiis pay rrnuimi.eously with iris stubborn stand that contractors should furnish supplies" !]> to contract. They raised it again after the investigation began, and cut it off entirely after lie had testified ♦> facts damaging to the lnanagemetit. Any ill condition shown under such crrctim--tar.ces is of itself conclusive evidence of a many-fold worse condition still conv I*■ gGlfiM. . \Mtli these facts in view let us look .1 a SjK'cimon of the evidence l>y which is shpivn tile riractice of Feeding these' gjtdi-'lffsJouiLsu repalsive and untit that to road of it is to make it difficult to sup press a cry for vengeances • In The testimony of“ Mary A. Siiannon, -:n attendant at the hospital,, lakeh by .the house, page 16$, is the foliov.'ing". Q. I w ill ask you’whiieypu liave l)(>en an attendant it you have ever observed the butter served upon the ward with skippers in it If A. Yes, sir, - —-—. h>. Dicl -you discover that as it came up, or after it had been put upon the tahk'f A. After -it had been put upon the table. • Q. And some of it was used? A. Yes, sir; for one meal only it;was used. k Re-exumination, page 170: Q. You say as sOon as you discovered it it was taken away—that hatter had gone through the steward's office, Mr. Hall, and had gone into the kitchen, and had come up trom.Llie kitdiexi into yourwurd? A. Yes, sir. Q. That was the read it traveled? A. I suppose that is the way of it. Q. It was never stopped until it came into your ward and got on the table? A. It got 011 the table, and some was eaten. . - • Q. One meal eaten off of it? A. —Yes. sir: and wr came very near eating some of it ourselves. From the testimony of Mary Barclay, ap attendant, page 170: Q. State if during your experience there you know of any butter being served to your ward with skippers in it. A. Yes. sir. Q. When did you first discover that It had skippers in it? A. I discovered it at the breakfast table. # * "Of. It, haidPheen used on the table? A. Y'es..sir. From tlig testimony of Mary Green, an at ten da lit, pa go 17 2: Q. State if during your experience in that position—you —have- observedbutter served upon your ward with skippers in it? A. Yes. sir. Q. At what stage did you-observe it—when Vt was first put ujxm the table or later on? A. It was put on tlie table when we came up for breakfast, and after breakfast was over we discovered it. We ate one meal off of it. From the testimony of Dr. Sarah Stockton, a physician at tlu) Mwspitah page 173: Q. State, if during your connection with the institution, you have ever observed in your ward, or in any of them, butter with skippers in it. A. I did. but not on the wards. I did not see the butler upon the wards, but a report was made .to me by the attendants of the ward that it had worms in it. as they expressed it. The butter was very bad, and it had worms in it, and I told them that they must not put it upon the table for the patients to eat; that they must discard the butter entirely ”Snd write on the ward reports that the butter had been ordered bv me out of the wards. I 1 presume they did it. I was sick the next day, and I did not see the ward reports. but during' the next day I went to the store-room and asked to see she butter which had been sent to the table, and was shown butter that had worms, in it. Q. Did any one there make any excuse for sendng such butter as that to the table? A. Nd, sir. #*„* # - # Q ; ii appeared upon the ward A. I presume it appears upon the ivard reports. The butter Had been ported bad for bergru days, and then ! Ibid the atienddnta to fmxrtt that I had ItiUrad ft 08 th* warij tfafti than war#

worms m it, and th.e next morning I did not see the report. I was not out of my room, and I did not see the butter until l saw it in the room and ascertained that it Was true that the butter which had been served contained worms. • 111 tiiis manlier was the sickening truth brought out —not alone of butter full of noaggots, but of wormy currants mid ■'prunes by the barrel, decaying fish* Worthless dried apples by the ten-barrel fat, musty, mouldy and j>oor Hour month after month in lots of 160 barrels, iiork lievond any cavil or question from hogs kitfiTd- frtwn Tfaratea mfecteil wjt,h cholera, butter in lots from 600 v 4,000 nonnds, strong, rime id and rotten when brought to the hospital and received by the steward, but still kept and fed to the i insane; of patients disappeared and never found, patients brutally beaten, SB,OOO paid for worthless boilers, public money wasted and worse than wasted, and so on through a long list. - , In August.lS’-ili.im.iwenty-onedays,sev-enty-two wards Reported on butter alone, “butter not good," or •‘butter strong," or “butter'very, 1 very bad," and so'on. This month tin* contract was with Krause & Bro. for 4,000 pmmds'of creamery butter at 15 cents. In September 1386 on twenty-one, days forty-ftce wards re- ; ported butter in the same terms. The 1 contract tiffs month was witli J. It. Budd i fin- 4,000 pounds of creamery butter at ; 18 cults. In June, 1886,, the 4tutter 1 furnished hud maggots in it. The con- | tract that month was with J. E. Sullivan 1 for 3,01i0 pounds, more or less, of choice ! country butter, at 12 cents. In October, j 1886, the butter furnished .had maggots | in it. Tlw contract that month was ..witli Kxi. usct for 44100 - pounds ! choice cKN-inierj' iintter at Hi cents. Does ! any one i*c-live »veet creamery ! butter had been delivered such repm’/s I would luive followed? D:Vps r.ffy ojjiirtie--1 lieve that butter full of maggots or rotten IhiUcj- ii\ a 4,000-pound lot such as ! was received and used in still another case-can Hi 1 inspected and received by a steward With three assistants, and by him sent at regular times to the kitchen, and .by the cooks sent to the wards and I put upon tlie tables, and yet-its charac- ; ter not he known? The testimony of Until, an assistant steward, found on page 1.255, settles that: Cj). Wliat is the fact as to your having shown some b.ul butter to Dr. Harrison at any 5me —maggoty butter? A. Yes,' sir. Q. !:-!ate the cimimstmtces, and liow much ib I von show him. and how did you sla.-v. it to him? A. 1 do not know liow muidi 1 showed hiiii. b.i! Ihaitiag-goty. butter that has Ijeett talked about here so much, and referred to, I tliink was in August. q>. Micte. how you showed it to him. A.—The hntfiT wao-iii the store, andDr. Harrison came in. and 1 showed, him the butter, and I think l took a maggot out of it and showed it to him. Q. Wlutt did Dr. Harrison say?. A. He said it was bad. Q. Did he order the butter to be rejected? A. No. sir,. Q. Was that served on the wards after that? A. Yes, sir. Ignorance is.not theii‘ / ;defense, -Their defense in all its brazen . insolence is found iii' the senate evidence in the testimony of their witness. W; f. Ripley,' page-Stiil. In answer to (juestions bv the Txcii d's attorney lie said: "It lias got to be good butter to get skipper.-, in it. Skippers' never get into poor butter or poor cheese. They will light on top us the butte,r and the ski[c liers will work down about a half inch and they will wokk and they will eat all the oil out of the blitter laying along tlie top of the butter, and make it wlirfe; YF it is nice yellow butter the part that they are in gets white; it loons like butter had been heated and poured 011 top: that is the way it looks'after the skippers have worked the substance out of ilie top of the butter.; and that extends about a half inch down into the firkin, and you Can skim 'that off and .the balance of the butter is as good as it ever was.” * > T ... . * Q. But the rich butter that is rich in oils and fats, that is the kind that the skippers have partiality for? A., That is the kind that the skippers hunt for. . ' Q. Tlie skippers, as we.ordinarily call them, are maggots, when looked at by a man who wants to calf-them maggots? A. Yes. sir. * * * —Sn are rtro people of Indiana and the helpless insane mocked at. For this is the outcome of this exposure of unanswered and unanswerable facts. The Indianapolis Sentinel Congratulated the trustees because the deadlock in the get)- , era! assembly wi«dd enable them to hold over. The Democratic members of tlie hfiusft ciimuiittoe reported: “Taken all together, e management of the board has been attentive, conscientious. humane, economical and efficient." And in the senate committee the Democratic chairman wrote: “The management lias been prudent, successful and economical," am) further that it is characterized with aIramatte and-wisirregard for the personal" comforts of its patients." The employes who showed, a disposition to, want evils corrected have lost their places; among these are Dr. Fletcher, the superintendent; Sir. Roth, assistant steward, and Mr. Stewart, the engineer, Tlie men who furnished the hospital with rotten supplies furnish rotten supplies now. The same fioard nn'iler whose management patientswere beaten, worhtlcss boilers iviw bought anti repttlsiw foot!-was fed; are still Ex? ' pending the $260,000 a year. The same steward through whoso office sour meat, ■•■ wormy prunes, rancid bultter, strong butter and butter full of, maggots went up to the tables of the insane, passes up the supplies to-day: Harrison, Gapen, . Burrell and their man Hall face the people of Indiana to-day. They are not abashed; Not by so much as the quivering of an eyelid have they shown regret. Not by a hhir's breadth have they varied their course except to tighten their grip by-getting rid of honest employes and covering the hospital for the insane with a darker veil than eyer. Unrepentant, shameless and impudent* thgy defy the people of tiiis state. Let the people put its hand on them and bring them down. There is no apical left but to the ballot. It would lie unjust and untrue to say that the evils of this institution are not repulsive and horrifying to the ayera'go Democrat and Republican alike. But it must also lie admitted tliat those who control and will control the Democratic party have sustained and shielded this board and will continue to sustain and shield it if they have a chance. No fair man can compare the evidence with the hardened lying’of the rejxn ts of the ; Democratic committeemen and 001'ae to any other . conclusion* The last state convention of this party had uo criticism to make of Uww outrageej nor any im-

provements to propose. Instead, it sat under the eye of the whole state atod coolly said Mutt its party ivould. continue to use the places of the care-takers of the insane ax parly spoil, ■“ On the other hand the Republicans promise that they will inaugurate a new system —that they will take the public institutions out of politics. The Reptile, Ljcarr tiranch of the last general assembly passed a law which would have accomplished this. It does not seem .that voters have any chpiCe. It is every man's coti-si-ientious duty to dyfeat—not our Democratic neighbors and fellow-citizens, for ■Ttarwmitrt 'this ht'liaha Democratic hiachiue of which the, ihsane hospital management is part. Let the trial be made and let its see whether these public enemies are stronger than the people of this state. Lccrys B. Swift, A tariff for sSarvatidu’has never been popular in tiiis tree country. —Wheeling lnteli'gencer. Gett. Harrison is a groat ..favorite with the commercial travelers, who are most enthusiastic and successful missionaries. —Buff alo' Express. The New York Press declares that it possesses absolute pnxif. that Jay Gould is tlie earnest advocate of Cleveland's reelection. The money sharks and-monopo-lists aw-nH on the side of the free trade candidate.—Toledo Blade. Any Democrat • can vote the -Republican ticket tiiis fall without the possibility of being called a turn-coat. This campaign is taking the form, more and ini T'ju t.vexyxlay,of the memorabhream-" paign when Abrahum Lincoln was elected to save the Union. Last December when the president issued his famous free trade message, .Democracy called it a key-note, and gleefully. called themselves free traders. Now their noses are red with -wrath, and they blush mad clear behind the ears at a hint that they, are for free trade!—Chicago Inter-Ocean. A Democratic' contemporary sneeringly remarks: “Benny Harrison goes, a-fishing—ha-ha.” Well, one Grover Cleveland left congress in session, boarded a special car and a millionaire's yacht, ami- went a-iigiving for awhile week, while his $50,000 salary went on, and the same organ called it “taking a much-needed rest," and did not “ha-lia,” once.