Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 October 1890 — CRIME IN A HOSPITAL. [ARTICLE]

CRIME IN A HOSPITAL.

AN INHUMAN MURDER AT THE RICHMOND HOSPITAL. I ■ ' He Was Too Talkative and a Brutal ■ Attendant Inflicted Fatal njuriee While Others Looked Ou. [— • : ! A Convalescent Fatient Tells the Awful Story, and an Autopsy Completely • Currobera.es H.s Statement. ' Specials to the Indianapolis Sentinel, Tuesday, say: Much excitement prevails .over the announcement that the late Jay Blount, an inmate of the hi ihmood insane asylum, came to his death from the brutal i treatment of an attendant named Woods. 'About two weeks ago it was made known that Blount was dead, but no suspicion oi foul play was thought of until a discharged Inmate named Joseph* Hannon went to Muncie, sought out Lawyer Templer, a ‘former partner of Blount’s, and told a tale which caused Templer, Chief of Police Kobinsdn, Dr. Bowles, and others to go t 0 Richmond and -exhume the body of the icorpse. Hannon stated that Woods bad knocked down Blount, who was obstreper ous, and deliberately kicked him in the aide; that Blount received fatal injuriesfrom the assault. The examination of the •orpse disclosed the fact that five o. Blount's ribs on the left side were broken; that the flesh just over them was fearfully bruised, and that his left lung had been afflicted with ecchymosis, and occupied on iy half of its cavity. The right lung v;anormal. These discoveries tit Hannon’s statement. The Sentinel rcorrespondent called on Supt. Weils at the insane hospital Monday morning, and, in reply to inquiries regard tag the death of Blount at.tha£ institution Bept. 29, he made the following statement. “Thomas J. Blount was admitted here Tue-dav. Sept. 28, 1890, and died about midnight of Monday, Sept. 29, 18 0. He was comparative’.v quiet on entering the hospital, but soon became very boisterous. I saw him the same afternoon he was ad mitted, and found him very weak, unsteady on his legs, loquacious and with a coated tongue. He became more and mw boisterous, his appetite failed bun. and he could not sleep of nights. On Wednesday night a sleeping draught was given him with but little effect, and the s’lne was ordered for Thursday night. On Thursdayevening about 9 o’clock the attendant of the Ward, Charles Tomnkins, reporte 1 to Dr. Driller that Mr. BFunt was not being affected bv the medicine, and that the quantity they had on hand would probable not be sufficient. The sleeping draught was a solut’on of bromide of potassium Dr. Druley then came and consulted me on the adyisnb’litv of efect’ng mornh’a. I accompanied him to the ward, found 'Mr Blount in bod.’Mr. I. A. Wood, the nirht attendant, h 'lding his arms across his breast. Mr. Blount was complaining tha’ the attendant had used him mi''en’!e'minl•nd savin? that ho would not. remain in bed: that he had het'e-beds at. homo. etc. Mr. Woods denied mistreating the natient Fridav Mr Blount, was given a bath hr Mr. John Mvr'h. assistant dav attendant, who stated that he fnunn no hrut’es on the body at that time except an bld one on the leg. ’ ..." “Saturday, dur’ng a tonwo’-a-v atq-'non of the attendant. Mr. Blnunt at,t<“" tn get out. of bqd ami wn« found on the floor B’tndav morning Dr. l’att°rson and rovse!' Visited him and found his vnl=n frill and bounding, making ninetvstwo beats nor pr'nnte, while h ! s tmnnerst.nro was nbo-t jOho . On making maninn’ations of the •ide. Dr. Patterson thnurM. bo fl ( .f,oofpP creo'tus. i. e.. a feeling o* ronehnoss, a« th ou e-h O'' c bon o woue <»ra tin c a<” in st nn ■ ■other, nnobabl v indica'ing a fraotnrn. of a rib. The nhest, W'S also cxtons'x'olv dta coinrod. TJo n w rahldlv worqg bthhdnv nio-bt. about I°, o’c’ock. Tbr (•«*<■ was irnmed’aMtv t-'ves'i-’ated. Pnndav mnrnfncr. nftw flnflin/r tbo prlApnini 7i' rroni+us end flw dtscp’orqiwn of tbe n , ’ost w’f 1 *hn ynsn’t-nbnve And it w ne coneb’d'd. foil "win or h’S flib«.-nAn t don+h that, h’s doa’b yvas caused by inflammation of the lunes.” The doctor had ec'wce’v odishnd whop hwas summoned to .the city: to an-enr at, n legat-Tnvestf’c-nttnn of= the -affairhrlil fore Mavar , Thi°t.l own’to conducted hprosecutin'* Attorney Jackson. When the [nvostieatiorr nd'nnrned all lir>s wore sealed in pnticination of Grand .Tn*”action, but, this m''Ch was loonned. bnw. ever thntc.. V» Templer. of Muncie, Taw, partner of ttp dead mm end who knows - good do-’l more then the rnhllo abort the facts of the erso. did a full share gs the questionin'*, and after the <nvo«ti<*»tio’' ho remarked that the opt’ook -was very • orions for J, A. Words, the attendm*. Woods leftf'e insfituf’cn the Morden sot. Ih’vip'* the ■Srndflv inyrst’eation referred to bv hr. Wells. He «a!d ho wns c-oing t-Loe-nnsnort wbor« be wn» employed in the fTorthorn hospital prior to cnTn’ng here The nutans'’ held at "Blountsville, con clnsivel” thin<*, that Bloop* Was killed bv some one. his side being eoTnnlotolv nnlriflod and the third, fourth fifth and s’xtb ribs broken. The offic'"’ at th° bosnftei pre doing all in their now p to aid in the investigation and Mordav afternoon the parties in the inonlrv vfa’tod the hos’-ftnt and viewed the room in which Blount died. Chief of Police Morr'sey. 1 of ’Loe-ans. port, received a teleernm Monday’ n’p-ht frn*n the atjiorfties at Richmond. Trd.. •skin? him tn arrest I. A. Woods, an at’’ fondant, nt Long Cliff insane ssvlum Woods was found And placed in fail.'"A semnd telegram from Ridhmnnd save that Woo'’s was formerly an attendant in the Richmond a«vlnm. and while in that cann -city he brutally beat T. J. Blount, an in mate, sn bndlv that he d’ed. Woods wr® • een bv a renorter in inil. He sn'd thi* 1 for the lasteight months he has been an attendant at Long Cliff with the exception as onamonth, when he was employed in the Richmond asylum. He said he wa the attendant in the ward in which Blount was confined and kneivhim but never, •truck him or in any wav mistreated him. Woods, was raised in Logansport and is well known. Woods was taken to Richmond. Specials to the Indianapolis Journal say: a moxstkolM chime. On the 2«? d of last month Thomas Jay ’Blount ivas admitted to the Richmond .Hospital for the Insane. He had been of [unsound mind for about tivo years and a (half,and was some eighteen months ago (tinder the care, for a brief time, of Dr. IW. B. Fletcher, of this city, who pit. inounced him incurable, saying a foreign 'substance of some sort was growing on his Ibrain which would eventually kill him.

The patient was taken back to his father's home in Blountville, where he remained until little more tban a month ago, when he was, as noted above, sent to the Richmond Institution. He jjas in poor health, not at all strong, and there is no evidenceto show that he was in any way violent His only offense was, according to the reports of attendants, that he was loquacious and boisterous, not an especially grave crime, it must be admitted. He was given chloral and bromide to induce sleep, this treatment being continued several nightsOn Thursday night, September 23, he complained that an attendant named Woods had abused him, which the latter denied. According to the officials Blount was all right until Saturday, the 27th. when, during the temporary absence of the attendant, he tried to get out of bed, and yvas found on the floor. On Sunday, Sept. 19, they .allege, his condition had changed remarkab'y for the worse, and on Monday, toward midnight, he died. The story told by Thomas Hannon, how. eves, has » decidedly different color. Mr. Hanncn, who came to the institution the same day as did Mr. Blount, was, soon after his arrival, given the liberty of the hospital and discharged Oct. 18 as cured. He was injured by falling out of a barn loft and striking on his head, the injury unbalancing his reasoning powers temporarily, but in no way affecting his faculties of ob nervation or memory. This Dr. Wells frankly admits. Hannon's room was al most directly across thecorridorfrem that of Blount, and upon the night of Friday, Sept. 26, he charges that,, while the latter was standing by his doer in his nightclo’hes, Wctod ordered him to stop talking, and fol.owed up the order with a savage assault. Hannon ran part way across the dormice ry hall which separates the rooms, and says the sight he saw and the sounds he heard he will never forget. The dormi tory is brightly lighted by electricity, in candescent lamps being used, and he could seeinto Blount s room, the'pannels being left out of the doors for the purpose of per. mitting the attendants to watch the pa tients. He heard Blountgasping for breath and crying to Woods not to kill him. Hor rifled and afraid to venture further be.cause of the presence of three other at tendants who stood looking on in stolid in difference, Hannon says he stopped in the center of the dormitory and saw Wood 3 repeatedly kick the limp and prostrate figure of the poor maniac, the sickening sounds of the kicks striking terror to his heart. He said they made a crunching noise, and that when Woods finally desisted Blount appeared pretty nearly dead. How long the victim remained unconscious Hannon does not know, because he ret'red to his room and went to bed. not daring to make any inquiry. He was not sur. prised to hear of Blount’s death, and the scene he had witnessed haunted him from that time on. a —Hannon -was discharged on Saturday, Oct, IS, and went at once to his home at Bentonville, Fayette county, remaining there, however, only over Sunday. His mind was made up, and on Monday morning he proceeded to Muncie, where he knew Blount had formerly been engaged in the practice of law. Seeing the old sign, “Templer & Blount,” he sought Clayton B. Templer, and finding him at the courthouse, told him the story briefly. So imdid it appear that Mr. Templer was reluctant at first to accept it, but Han non was terribly in earnest, and informed him that if no one else pushed the matter he would do so. In fact, he had at first thought of lay ing the case d'reetly before the Wayne county authorities, but bad concluded Mr. Templer could accomplish more toward seeing justice done than he ipould, therefore, went to him. That gentleman hesitated no longer, but had the voart .stenographer of Delaware county take Hannon’s statement in detail, the latter making affidavit to it.

TUB AUTOPSY. The next step was to notify the proses .cuting attorney of Wayne county, Richard A. Jackson, who obtained from «udge Comstock, of the Circuit Court, the assurance that she would summon a special grand jury in order that the matter might >be placed before them without delay. The next step was to exhume the body, which wus done last Saturday. Poor Blount’s remains had been followed to the grave nearly four weeks previous by a large concourse of friends, the bar of Delaware county doing him special honor, never dreaming that in the coffin before them lay the mute victim of an attendant's brutality, a travesty on our vaunted system of benevolence. The autopsy verified Hannon’s story, revealing the crime in all it 3 hidcousness. It is not necessary to make further comment upon what tue autopsy developed. The official finding speaks more loudly than it Would bo possible for any one except the silent vict.m himself -to speak. It is as follows: The body is well preserved. The face is covered nearly all over with green mold; the eye-balls have collapsed; the hair on the scalp is but little loosened; the beard is readily removable. After removing the mold from the face it is not much changed in appearance from that which it would present a few hours alter death, excepting the eyes; there is still decided post-mortem rigidity or rigor mortis; the anterior surface of the body is thickly covered in patches with green and whitemold ; the abdomen is but little distended with gas; numerous yellowish post-mortepi stains are found on the body, and several very dark staiqs are also seen on the left chest wall and on the right chest wall; the nates are flattened out and the skin is beginning to slip from the flesh. On the posterior aspect of ths body post-mortem hypotasis is well marked* on the left lateral asspect of the chest wall seven or eight dark, circular, almost black snots are seen;, on the left chest wall, IK inch to the left of the nipple, is the upper end of what is believed to be an adhesive plaster two and a half inches square, which on beirg res moved discloses a deep ecchymosis which o'eeds when incised; below this last named ecchymosis is a spot four inches square that is less distinctly ecchymotlc, and bleeds slightly when incised; on dissecting the integument of the right anterior surface of the chest a layer of fat is found, and nothing abnormal; on removing tig-

sues from the left side of the chest down to the ribs was found deep ecchymosis from the third to the seventh ribs; the soft tissues were almost pulpified ; on removing the sternum the right lung looks normal and fills the right side of the chest cavity; the left lung does not fill the left side of the chest cavity, and the lower lobe, is firmly hepatized. On, opening the pericardium no water is found in it,, and the heart looks healthy. The third rib is broken five inches from the center of the sternum and the fracture is diagonal; the fourth rib is broken four inches, atid also five and one-half inches from the center of the sternum; both fractures are transverse; the fifth rib is broken five inches from the center of the sternum; the- fracture is transverse ; the sixth rib is broken transversely five inches from the sternum: the seventh rib is broken traversely six inches from the sternum. The surfaces correspond.ng with the broken ribs on the inner aspect of the chest wall are deeply ecchymosed, and the pleural surface of the left chest wall is deeply injected. There were present at the above named autopsy: J. T. Bowles, D. H. Yockey, George Robinson, J. W. Davis, D. S. Lake, Ben Hamilton. Horner Bowles, C. B. Templer and S, M. Drake, and the autopsy was made by myself, with the assistance of Dr. D. H. Yockey. T. J. Bowles.