New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-07-22

for our best patients Ia keeper explained):
those that keep themselves clean" Small
as the rooms were, in some of them there
were three beds, for as there are seventy
two patients and only twenty'six cells, and
| as, of course each violent hOmicidal maniac
| has to be put in a cell by himself, the poor
wretches are of necessity packed as close
as coolies in ship, and have unlimited op-
| pOrtunities of increasing their common
malady by listening to each others mutteI-
ings and rawlings. The beds were of iron.
and were of the commonest description
Most of them had mosquito nets, but the
keeper told us that to the violent patients
they dare not give beds of that kind, for
they would take the rods and beat each
other to pieces. Except tub in a corner.
there was no other furniture in the room.
nor indeed was there any room tor any, In
one of the rooms, lying fiat upon his back.
and naked as when born, we came upon a
man of thirty-five or forty years Of age.
why, Mac" the superintendent said.
what are you doing, exposing yourself III
this way!"
"Oh, well, | reckon there's nobody here
will be much shocked, and it's cool this hot
weather.
The quiet, sad tone of the man induced
inquiry as to his antecedents.
He is painter 1--WE were told), land he
used to do good business over in Algiers,
but he had domestic troubles and pecuniary
losses"
us he insane!
He's been regularly sent here as insane
by an order of the probate court at the re-
quest of his friepds."
What for Was he threatening them ?'
well, he was wandering about the
streets, and they were afraid of him"
A few months of careful treatment in a
proper asylum might have restored this
70 Of
but shut up by the provident care of his
friends among such scenes of horror as
daily meet the eye, surrounded by every-
thing calculated to aggravate his malady
and nothing to alleviate it, without amuse-
ment or healthy employment; without fresh
air or change of scene. his only associates
hOwling maniacs, what chance is there OF
his becoming anything else than a con-
tirmed lunatic As the Doctor, none too
forcibly, said, why, sir take sane man
of weak intellect and shut him up here for
a week and it will drive him mad. And
yet there are incurable cases here that
have never been outside these walls for ten
years. Think of it. Ten years shut out
from the light of day in a loathsOme dun
geOn, during all that time never to have
seen blade of grass, never TO have smelt
the fragrance of flower never to have
heard the sweet song of birds or listened to
the voice of friendship. That any human
being could endure such a fate and live
seemed marvellous: still more so that any
combination of official neglect, political
rascality and public indifference could, for
ten long years, intiict such unspeakable
misery on the helpless and the insane.
1t is but justice to the superintendent
and the officers of the asylum to say that
no part of the blame rests on them. All
that they can do to mitigate the cruel sut-
ferings of their unhappy charges they do;
but their numbers are small. their duties
are onerous, and they have not the first ap-
pliances to commence the work of curing
the insane. They are put there to hold
them as prisoners in villainous, i'll con
structed jail and they perform their duty
with as little inhumanity as possible. Dr.
Dutilet has necessarily urged the necessity
of the removal of the patients TO some suit
able building, -.
On the women's side of the institute we
found Just the same sickening scenes and
if possible. worse were disclosed. There
were just the same number OF cells, of pre-
cisely the same construction, and even more
patients to crowd into them, there being
seventy-hve women to twentY-siX cells. The
crazy woman who on the day of the execu-
ton raised so much tumult, was quiet now,
and advanced to meet us with an insane
and meaningless smirk. more saddening. al
most, than her rawlings.
In the courtyard, tied by ropes. each to a
pillar. sat two female ''refractories," white
women both and seemingly young. Their
closely cropped heads were each thrust
through hole in a coffee bag, which formed
their sole clothing, and beneath which their
arms were loosely muffled. One was sui
cidal, and her naked legs, swollen and
SCARED, and her bruised head bore evidence
to the determination with which she had |
sought to injure herself. The other was
homicidal, and had made several attempts
ON the lives of others. Neither spoke a
word in reply to the inquiries addressed |
them. Insane women, when violent, are
worse than men. One stalwart Irish woman,
brought here by hard drinking, was pointed |
out whom five policemen had hardly been |
able to hold. Drawn up in the doorway, in |
the gallery, was an old Spanish woman, |
gray headed and blind. To our inquiries as |
to her health, she answered in her native |
tongue Bad, very bad; the vOudous are i'll |
my head, and there is a mad mule gallOp- |
ping at the top" This is the sole hallucina- |
tion of the poor old lady's life-some GER |
ebral excitement, which pleasant scenes and |
light healthy employment might soon abate. |
Not so the terrible rawlings of the unhappy |
being in the end CELL whose shrieks now dis |
turbed lis. Fastening to the door, we found
the opening boarded up i'll the fashion the
superintendent had told us he had 10 EN-
total darkness and almost destitute of air.
Within, naked woman, with horrifying
yells and lmprecations, beat her unprotected
form against the walls and threw herself
violently down on the stone paved floor.
The sounds of the blows she gave herself in
her maniacal fury were sickening to listen
to, and with feeling Of shame that we
could do nothing to alleviate her suferings,
we hurried away.
There Ic h1t la tha |
women's side of the asylum. At night
these seventy-five insane women-some of
them suffering from nymphOmania-are
lett IN charge of one night watchman.
the whole asylum there is no
classification. None, indeed, is possible.
White and black, old and young pure and
impure, are all huddled together. The foul
mouthed strumpet, whom drink and hard
living have driven into delirium tremens (for
even cases of delirum tremens are sent here
lostles against delicate women whose aberra-
Jlon OF intellect is, perhaps, the result Of
childbirth. DR.. Cooper has officially re-
ported instances where cases of temporary
resulting from suppressed mems
5ruatlon, have been sent here, and the
lamp floors of the stone paved cells, the
ncessant and terrible noises the want of
pure air and proper attention, have convert
I'd into permanent disease what other
wise would only have been q temporary |
ailment. Not many days ago an idiot boy
Was sent here by a scarcely less idiOtic Re-
;Order to burn out his little spark of reason
among the rawlings of madhouse. The
charity OF the Society of st. Vincent de
Paul happily rescued him
The present Mayor of New Orleans i'm
on his entrance into office
strongly urged upon the Council to remove
I'll the public institutions, now improperly
ocated in the heart of the city. to suitable