Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 October 1888 — INDIANA'S DARK STAIN. [ARTICLE]

INDIANA'S DARK STAIN.

ln<lfa:)»po’ik journal , In order that the people of Indiana may appreciate the infamy of the present management of the Hospital for the Insane they must understand the character of the managers. Dr. Thomas H. Harrison, president of the board, was appointed as a dirty worker in politics for the express purpose of running the hospital as a political machine, and because of his known unscrupulousness in in matters of that kind. He had no interest in the insane as a class, no acquaintance .with the management of other institutions of this character, and no qualifications whatever for the position. He was not even a respectable politician. He was made president of the board of managers partly as a reward for dirty work already done, and partly to secure further services of the same kind. He is simplv a dirty worker in politics and An active partner of the SulHvan-Coy ring. The other members of the board are B. H. Burrell and Philip M. Gapen. Burrell is a negative hian, and has not figured much beyond approving the general policy of the board. Gapen has co-operated actively with Dr. Harrison in prostituting the institution, except when absent from the state. In 1885-86 he Spent a year in Arkansas, running a saw mill, but regularly drawing his salary of sso a month as a memher of the board, without attending a single meeting. For some time past he has been John E. Sullivan’s business manager, drawing pav from him and from the hospital at the same time, and also looking after Sullivan’s contracts with the hospital. The board maintained close relations with Simeon Coy until he was sent to the penitentiary, and still maintains close relations with Coy’s successors in the ring management, of which Sullivan is the head. Under this management the Indiana Hospital for the Insane has for several yeanFpast been a cesspool of corruption and a breeding ground-for the most outrageous abuses and inhuman practices. The institution, instead of being a noble State charity, dedicated solely to the welfare anil comfort of the insane, has been made a house of refuge for political workers, and a source of profit and plunder to the HarrisonSullivan ring. The welfare and comfort of the insane have been a secondary consideration. To put money into the pockets of favored contractors the insane have been fed on diseased meat and wormy butter. Thousands of pounds of oleomargarine have been furnished the inmates as butter and paid for as such. They have been deprived of their trained keepers and nurses and subjected to raugh -and unkind.. treatment . by inexperienced persons, appointed through political influence alone. Within four years 648 changes were made in the hospital force. Many of the persons thus appointed were ignorant, brutal and utterly devoid of sympathy for ,|h® insane. Patients have been kicked, whipped, knocked down and stamped on, and maltreated in various ways. The insane, sent here from all parts of the State, and for whose care and treatment “thg institution is SQPr:, ported by the people^ as if their interests stood in the way of those of the corrupt ring controlling it? Year after vear tjiey have awarded contracts to John E.“ Sullivan by which Dr. Fleteher says. t.hey “paid the highestprices for the poorest goods.” Sullivan’s contracts under tne present management aggregate several hundred thousand dollars, and out of the profits he has contributed largely to the Marion county, corruption fund, to the defense of the Coy gang and other ring projects. His hold on the hospital board is complete. He.has them under his thumb. At his request they have, in violation of law, loaned him money out of the hospital contingent fund, Dr. Harrisonremarking at the time that ’‘the boys are pretty hard pressed now.” This was when Sullivan had been putting up money freely for the defense of Coy and other indicted members of the ring It is impossible to exaggerate the extent of the rascality, corruption and cruelty that have beep going on in the hospital for years past There is one remedy. Turn the rascals out.