Fremont weekly freeman. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1850-1853, 1850-12-14

insane OF the otate Dy the erecuon or Two ad-
ditional Asylums,-one in the Northern, and
the other in the Southern part of the State"
! By report of the Superintendent made
| January Is, l849, in answer to call of the
Senate for information on that subject, it ap-
pears that the number of applicants for ad-
mission then pending, which had been post
poned for want of room, was one hundred and
| forty-five. This number must be far too
small to comprehend all there are in the State
who need the aid which it was intended by
! the Institution to bestow. This cannot be
remedied without turning at large all the in
curables, and probably not even then: as the
number of this class is much less than the
number of insane in the State who are out
Then, but few of those incurables can be dis
charged with any safety to themselves or the
public. But why turn any away? They
can be supported there cheaper and more
comfortably for themselves and their friends
than they can be any where else. The aV-
erage number in the Institution during the
year ending November Is, 1649, was three
| hundred and taCenty-tnre while in the pre-
vious year one hundred and forty-fye appli-
cations far admission had been postponed for
want of room in the Institution. How long
shall a citizen of Ohio who applies TO the
j State Benevolent Institution for the admission
Of a husband or wife, father or mother, a
son or a daughter, be turned away with the
heart crushing answer-There is not room
In the year l848, the Legislature of Massa-
chusetts appointed a committee "to consider
the whole subject connected with insanity in
{ the Commonwealth That comm ttee after
a careful examination of the whole matter, re-
ported the whole number of the insane in that
! State to be fifteen hundred and taOelve-that
, in the five Institutions for this purpose in the
/ State there is satisfactory provision made for
eight hundred and .fJty-tbree patients-that
r sixty patients are provided for at private asy-
lums-that no suitable provision can be made
: for the insane in the county jails-and that
: six hundred of the fifteen hundred and twelve
insane persons in that State are unpfovided
for in any asylum dedicated to that purpose
That committee having thus ascertained the
: destitution of the afflicted, with promptitude
S honorable to themselves and worthy of thei.
: State, recommended the erection of such
buildings as would provide for the wants Of
f the people. If the same ratio exists here as
in Massachusetts, there must be over foul
!, thousand in the State, and more than three
thousand six hundred for whom there is nc
Z
walls here or not, it is manifest that there are
7 very many who cannot receive the benefits ot
} our present Asylum, spacious and well con
? Quoted as it is.
There is one other feature Of this matter
, which, according to the present law, seems tc
require some attention. The law requires
that before a person having family can bt
; admitted as a State patient, that it shall bt
l. Al. l, J,l, l.hf
is worth one thousand dollars 1t may witt
great propriety be asked, why compel any one
10 pay for going into his own house? Ha:
not the whole property of the State been tax
ed to build the house, and do not all pay il
D proportion to their property for its support
= Take case, and one which may occur to
thousand families under the present law; thu
head of family is admitted to the institution
and the family left to support themselves, ant
6 raise the money to pay the expenses of thei
: afflicted head. In two years the whole OF th
# little property viii be expended; the lunati
J.; may be discharged as incarable, and returner
II upon the hands of the family, palsied for tn
Y want of the little means which had been eX
hausted in this effort to restore him to health
/. Or he may be discharged as recovered, to sin
d again under the accumulated pressure of los
;, of property, and a family in want. In two c
# the annual reports of the directors. this sub
v iect has been pressed upon the Legislator
d asking that this distinction may be removed
.r 1t has long been my opinion that both jnstic
e and policy require that the law be so amend
J. ed as to admit all as State patients without re
d gard to property. l therefore recommend
/ to the consideration of the General Assembl,
% And | also recommend to the Legislature I
If enter vigorously upon such measures as WI
e the most speedily secure the erection of th
d necessary buildings for the wants of the Stat
One other reason for at least this should NJ
: be omitted. There will of necessity always
+ a certain number of incurables, who must
s. cared for somewhere These, by the presel
, law, whenever there is a lack of room, if sa
W or harmless, must be discharged to make roo
in for recent cases. But this is only committin
" the lesser inhumanity of throwing out upc
J. the world one believed to be incurable to pr
e. vent the rejection of one who only may
,e cured. And who can say when he who's
IS mind is dethroned is safe or harmless? WI
knows at what moment some frenzy may tai
ID possessesion of the man, and he, by fat
IS. blow, destroy the nearest friend, or whoevC
ID shall be in the way? Safety, economy, ar
ol humanity, therefore, all require that this who
ID class of the afflicted should be sustained an
ol kept by the State in asylums provided for tn
le purpose.
e, The operations of the Penitentiary ha1
n. been unusually successful, considering the f
IN tality by cholera last year, and the sickne
1c ff,rcvE,iiifnga portion OF The present. For mo-
M than year from the time the cholera cease
h. in l849, not a death occurred in the instit
ton from any cause. In June, however abor
n the time the cholera commenced in the eli
Or and vicinity, diarhoea began TO prevail in Il
ID prison. This was followed by the prevalent
Ne of dysentery of an aggravated nature, close
le resembling cholera, and sixteen deaths occu
red from the latter disease, and five from ot
IN er causes, within a very short period of tim
,e The sickness was doubtless much aggravatt
ID by the unusual panic among the prisoners o
of casoned by the memory of the frightful seen
ht of last year.
We In consequence of the fatality by cholera ar
to other causes, last season, the present ye
Io,y