Eastern times. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1846-1857, 1851-07-03
Maine Insane Hospital.

nS CuisNf ~ NC A>ShStk v, IN re-
viewing pamphlet entitled Three Years in a
mad koase," which emanated from shceu,a.
ker in Augusta BY the name Of HuSr. who was
Sr that time an inmate in our Insane Hospital,
and whose restoration to suity the authorship
efthss book, 20 say nothing of his other con.
duct since ne has been liberated, would raise
many doubls-indalges in many 0nwarran,able
and unJustiiaek insisuatiens in relation 10 the
IostIsu''ea and the manner in which aRpropria-
tions for its beue6, have been procured. The
most indubitable evidences Of the insanity Of
the author of this pamPhle, appear in the BOOK
iiself-which, having been made the basis a
the Mercury's remarks, might be the most con-
elusive answer that need be made 10 them
But there is an unfairness in the mode re-
sorted to in this attack upon the Institution,
arising from the fact that while the Mercury
affects re discredit the statements as TOO pre-
posierous for belief, as being perchance, 1.-THE
ARREST hgments of a poets fancy''-it still
makes use OF them for the purpose of indulg-
ing IN Its lnsinuations against the Hospital
Thus The editor asks
Gan Knocking crazy man down with a
poker recall the equilibrium of his mind, aud
Is the brain mass of metal that is to be
hammered, with hard blows, into shape and
proportion DR.. Bates himself knows better
than this. There is needed in this State
what some more fortunate localities have Sc
eured-a more rational treatment of the insane -
All this is predicared upon the statements
in the pamphlet, and We will quote little
more, 10 wit =
We believe that the Insane Hospital at
Augusta has never been half managed, even
on the knock principle that
II has copied from similar institutions. We
believe that at one time II has been too much
OF an apothecary shop, somewhat too full of
and free with Drugs and Medicines, and at an
other time too much of prize-hghier tavern,
where matters were too often settled by
stand-up fight between the attendants and The
patients" Ii The Maine Insane
Asylum is an institution managed as the most
skeptical perusal of this book leaves YOU TO be-
lieve, II is place the dread whereof is well
calculated 10 make sane men its victims Ii
Is no very pleasant thing 10 think that if ones
self, ones wife, ones friend were suddenly
10 become Insane, and of course sent 10 this
Asylum, they are AT the time supposed TO be-
Come lnSenSlble 10 kindness and 10 blows Ia
care or cruelty, 10 attention or TO torture. Ii
II he true that when reason for time leaves
her throne, the poor tenement wherein she
held her state, may he spurned by any fellow
who can be hired for $50 per month, or NAV
be drugged by any apothecary's appreniice,-
II Is time that the fact be known that the peo-
pie may see that the sums they annually accord
10 The Asylum are spent 10 secure 4 system 50
simple, SO speedy and 50 efficaeious
After thus freely commenting upon the men
tai Authorizations of Hunt, the editor admits,
that
:" 1t may be that the management of the In
sane Asylum at Augusta has been all that it
should be. We do profess to know nothing
of it. Ii may be that the statements of this
book are all lies, or so highly colored as 10 be
worthless as testimony. All this may be so.
But what of that. Some twelve days ago,
SIS 900 were voted on summers morning,
10 rebuild that building within whose smoul-
derlng ruins six months ago, twenty seven of
our fellow beings lay undistinguished corpses
DEAD, MURDERED il may have been or-only
bore The long threatened inquiry as 10 the man
ner of their exit. The tough questions that
inger about the burning of that Asylum were
not thought of in the pleasant excitations of
the morning when this new money was voted.
The appropriation came down as if it were
plaster 10 heal the void in mems minds, and
amid the noise Of the hammers and the trowes
Of the rebuilding The sparse voices of those
who ask WHY IT CANE TO BE DESTROYED, are
10 be slenced."
This admission of our brother relieves us of
the necessity of asserting what we were led TO
believe, from the whole tenor of his article, 10
wit-thot he himself kne,e nothing about the
matter Of ,chich hascds tcritingi His error in
trebhng the sum appropriated for the recon-
structiun of the building, we shall also have
the charity to attribute TO the same cause, ig-
norance, rather than 10 wilful misrepresenia-
ton. The implication that the appropriation
which was made, was only secured BY sys-
tenn of log rolling, is as far from the truth as
most of the other statements of the editor. A
large majority of each branch of the Legislature
was uniformly in favor of appropriating the
sum which was finally appropriated (S25 ,OO0)
the only question that was raised was as to.
the manner in which the money should be ex-
pended.
As 10 the charges preferred by Hunt against
the Institution, it is sufficient to say that they
have been fully Investigated BY large Com
mIttee of each branch of the Legislature be-
fore whom the complainant appeared by him
self and counsel, and had allowed him all nee
essary process for the procuring of witnesses
and after patient and laborious investigation.
the Committee unanimously reported. thai
nothing appeared in the evidence tending 10
impicate, in the least, the management of the
Hospital in any dereliction Of duty. This
may be unsatisfactory TO some peoples minds,
they may ridcue the idea as the Mercury man
has, and consider it as weighing nothing
against the incoherent emanations of INSANITY.
We would not be understood rs intimaiing
that ,he Institution in question is free from
charges such as Hunt makes against il, but we
believe il TO be as much, so as similar insti,u-
uons, It would be no wonder that abuses
should creep in through misjudgmen, inIthe
procuring of attendants, bur if Won would cred
'twhat Hunt says If You believe any of it
you are bound to take The whole-you will Be
obliged 10 believe that the Institution was
started for the purpose of producing insaaity.
instead of e1irIng it-and even much worse. .ia'
w. la Ha