The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1865-12-12
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Abduction In PitssbnRS.

Our PittSbnrg exchanges Drtng US Ok
tended accounts of the shameful abduc-
tion o. Mrs. Shaw, the wife Of p Fifth
street merchant Itseems that TOR some
years past Mr.. Shaw and his better half
have lived together very uuhappAy, and
that at times he beat and abused her in
a shameful manner. On Friday Inst Mr..
Shaw called upon two of the Pittsburg
policemen and informed them that he
wished to have his wife immediately con-
veyed to the luuatic asylum. Shaxpro-
duced the certificate of twoof the;bad-
ing physicians of that city, stating 1hat
Mrs. Shaw was insane How hesob-
tained the certificates, as yet remaias a
mystery, as neither of the physicians
ever examined the woman, and one of
them never saw her In obedience to tbe
request the policemen repaired to Shaw .
house where they found his wife Dusty
engaged scrubbing the floor, with hef
dress and sleeves tucked. Shaw said she
was dangerous woman, and advised the
police to Immediately seize her, ,whenthey
did SO, despite the heartrending cries and
pleas of the helpless woman. She was
hurried to street car and FASTENED to
the Asylum
The Dispatch thus relates what en-
sued
The Board of Managers was in session
when Mrs Shaw was brought to the Asy-
lum, and Doctor Reeds presence being
required in the Board Room, his first in
terview with her was rather hurried
one, though sufficiently extended to Gre
ate the gravest doubts in his mind that
the woman was insane. The first step,
of course, was to see the authority upon
which it was proposed the deprive the
woman of her liberty, and upon the Doc
tor making inquiry on this point, a ccr-
tifcate was handed him signed by Doc
tors Ward and King, setting forth that
she was insane, &c. Mrs. Shaw, who
maintained the most wonderful compo-
sure throughout, was now taken to an
other room, where the following scene
occurred She was still in the same con-
dition in which the officers found her
when they made the arrest. AS already
stated she had been scrubbing the hoor
Just before they pounced upon her, and
her dress and sleeves were still tucked
mp as when they found her, giving her
an appearance which, to less practiced
ewes than those who were new upon
her. would have gone far to verify the
truth of her reported madness Some
remarks passed between the doctor and
Mrs S., when her husband interfered,
stating that she was very violent and
dangerous and that even then she had a
pistol upon her person with which she
would, if not watched, certainly harm
some one.
Mrs. Shaws reply was not character
istic of a mad woman. Turning to DR..
Reed she said: "Yon must not believe
this wicked man | have no pistol, Doc
tor, and for what would / want one here
Am not surrounded by friends, who, at
least, will not harm me, or see me harm
ed, and how different from the life of
fear led at home} l Inever want to re-
turn to that mans house again" To
satisfy himself as we'll of the fact that
she had no arms concealed about her per
son, as to test her veracity, the Doctor
had her stripped and examined by one of
the female nurses, when it was satisfac-
torily asceltained that she had no iceapOn
of anu kind about her. The examination
resulted, however, in one discovery of i'm
portance. The poor creatures body was
covered ,Citk sores and bruises, showing
that she had been subjected, at the hands
of somebody, to the most outrageous vio-
lence. These bruises, &c, she said were
inflicted by her husband at various times
"a statement which, if true, shows that
she ought to regard her removal from
his power blessing rather than ca
lamity.
The doctor informs us that nothing
could be more correct than the demean-
or of the patient since she had been plac-
ed under his charge, and both his assist
ant and the attendant nurses agree that
thus far, at least, she has not exhibited
the slightest symptoms os insanity
The evening succeeding her admission,
the female patients, as usual, were as
sembled in one of the rooms for dance,
Mrs. Shaw among the rest, and during
her stay there, she was narrowly watch
ed, and her cenversation carefully noted,
with view ef ascertaining how far, if at
all, her mind was affected, DIR. Reed ap-
preached her. and a long conversation
ensued, in which she expressed herself
highly pleased with her treatment, and
smoke at length of the life she had been
leading, the cruelty to which she had
been subjected, and the egreat relief she
felt in living among those who would not
beat or abuse her. She epudiated in
dignantly the idea Of being mad or era,
w, and stated that she would voluHtari-
ly remain in the Asylumuntil such time
as the doctor would have the fullest
opportunity to examine her, and decide
whether she was insane or not. An ex-
cellent housekeeper herself, she praised
the ueatness with which everything
around her was kept, and expressed her
self satisfied to pass her life there if it
were not that in being kept there the
public would belve her insane.
The case has created much excitement
in Pittsburg, and friends of Mrs. Shaw
were taking measures to obtain writ Of
habeds corpus.
IL L.,