New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-03-20
STATE LUNATIC ASYLUM At UTICA.

To the Editor Of The N. " Tribunal
SIR In your paper of the Sd inst s an article with
this eaptiop Rumored Barbarities in the Utica In
care Asylum" Then fellows copy Of the petition
presented to tie Legislature by the Coroners Jury in
The case of Norris Tarbell, patient from Madison
County. who DIED in the Asylum IN December last.
To this are added these remarks which appear to be
editorial; "there has been for some time, current
rumor of brutal eain ent from tie hands OF tue ua-
derkeepers in that Institution, and an investigating
" committee has been appointed. There is, also,
" rumor that the under, ward keepers are u the
habit when patient will not go into CELL at their
request or Offers any resistance, TO jump upon him,
thrusDg their knees into his sides, aud otherwise
brntslly treating and disfguring him; and then
placing blanket before the gass ooor In the cell,
" 70 that the principal keeper cannot zee him, when
he passes through the different parts OF the lnstta
" tioI."
The New-York State Lunatic Asylum mot the Utica
Iufare Asylum) now, as it slwaJ has been, under
the auag Of nine hi. hly respectable ctZens OF
this State, appointed by the Governor and Senate:
They are 9s2 Of reroachsbe character 10 9noll ana
private life. Sine lem, at least have beeo, andafe
distinguished well for benevoleDce and fathtulnes5
TO Duty as for intelligence aud public enterprise The
first medical superintendent eminent in his pro-
fess0n, ard was admitted, in Europe as well as in
the United States 10 be in the very front rank OF those
wbo having the subject OF insanity a speciality,
bad charge Of hospitals for the insane. The present
Superintendent educated in the best medical
schools OF the country had hospital practice and
peTeuce il OF large ces before he was called
~ his present otice; is extensively known throus
the State; is Acknowledged to possese high professional
attsrmens; 10 OF irreproachabe private character,
and man is more kind and benevolent 10 disposition
than he. He has, for hie assistants, well educa ed
gentlemen and ply sicans, who qualified, By chsr-
acter disposition and aainments for the offices which
they fill.
Since the opening CT the Institution in January
lS43 five thousand eight hundred and eighty in
sane beer tied IN ifs kaa Of
" bch number two thousand three hundred ana forty
have recovered, and eight hundred and fifty have
bfen discharged p an improved condition. There was
daily average OF five hundred and nine patients du-
ring the last year. and there now nearly quite
five hundred and twenty within its walls. These suf-
fe' gathered together from all the counties of
this State and OF course, are connected with fathers
mothers, husbands, wives children, brothers, sisters
and frien6s who afflicted and anxious their ac-
count.
Ia it just, or, in any fepse, right and kind Mesers
Editors, to send not only this State, but the
United Statee. in the columns of your widely circu-
lated and Influential journal such a paragraph as /
have quoted from last Saturdays TRIBUNE, without
satisfactory evidence of the truth of the rumors which
you meDtioni In 60 grave case ought you not TO
have been more than usually careful You have dis
tuIbed and distressed many, very many homes. Ger
ainly this should not have been done without sufi-
oient reseOD OF course, no objection be made 10
the publication of the petitions but that in fairness
should have been left with the statement that COM
Institution, they should be discovered and exposed
and if they arise from cruelty, wifuness Ignorance
want of knowledge or skill, Of watchfuIness, or
then there is guilt some here and the
guilty should be punished; but the attainment of this
end does not require sucn terrible message you
have sent forth.
Now there is not word of truth in the rumors
" hch you have circuated; have there ever been
any occurrences IN the Asylsn to usHfy or afford
any foundation for them. DC is not intended here 10
speak OF in the Gaze of Tarhe way other for
that is in the hands of tbs Legislative Committee who
urged by the managers ana officers OF the Insttu-
lion make The most rigid and searchiI examination
There is no such thing as " celf' within Asylum
wallis nor 10 there any room or place occupied by a
patient which bears resemblance to " cell" Every
room. thus occupied, ID we'll warmed wel-ventated
well6gbted, and comtor!aby-furnished apartment
There il not glass door in the Instution except
few bafgses doors which lead from the end of long
balls into dining and sitting 1t is confidently
asserted that during the whole seventeen years Of III.
existence of the Asy not single patient has ever
been kept by attendant for one moment from the
sight of the Superintendent assistant physician who
wished TO see BIN; or, fn the language OF your para
graph by the the undeI-keepers" from the view of
le principal keeper" These designations, by the
by Objectionable. IL is prison language and con-
Seys the idea that the Institution prison. instead of
hospital for the sick. The chief officer ia the Su-
lelneI dent who, Of couIse, is required 10 boz we'll
educated physician. He has three assistant Jhyei-
,ans The patients are in the mue diae of az
e ndants no are sucn by Office well by name.
As to the charge Of these attendants jumping
patients and thrustiDg their knees into their
Ges, it be met here only by denial. 1t is denied
aud in the widest sense. Thers is not
shadow of truth in the rumor. That there some
instances Of unkindness among sixty TO seventy attend
Ats, having charge of more than five hundred insane
persons, many of whom are violent ard abusive to
degree which they who without experience in ref
TO them scarcely conceive of is very prob
able No knowledge, or skill or fathfulness or De.
vice. can pre- vent this. No father or mother of large
family is competent to protect children, at all times
from the unklndness of nurses and servants. How
ever, the slightest abuse of patient by an attendant
when known, is invariably punished by immediate
dspissa. All means that can be devised are used to
acquire knowledge Of abuse and unkindness, and to
nsuIe faithfulness.
The writer CT this is confident that it would give the
ofthe Asylum great pleasure to receive
a visit from any of the editors of The TRIBUNE,
and especially from its responsible editor" and 20
open TO his inspection every and corner of the
Institution, and show him the management of all is
., psItnents. VERITAs.
Uhoa, March 8, leo.
REPUBLICAN MEETINGS IN COyNECrICur --MeetinPs