Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1873-07-23

gsA-e VI Nts NsEsh > VIII. lhis ACT -
rsfsrred to aud made par, Of this report.
10 1885 the State BY an act Of their Leg.
,siure gave ten thousand dollars. to be
riid in five annual insialments Of two
th0usand dollars each. In 1886 the
safe granted IN additional two thousand
dollsrs; in 1887 four thousand dollars
iu 1910 two annual iDsialments Of two
tbousand dollars in 1S43 three thousand
iollars-making in all twenty-three thous-
and dollars. We do not find since the
gl in ] ls43 by the State of three thou.
and dollars that any considerable dona-
lion has been made to the institution bv
the State, or by any corporation or by
private individuals; hence the present
property of the institution has grown from
the fund Of thirty-three thousand dollars
received previous TO 1874. In 1862 tho
centre building and wings of the institu-
ton were burned. They we're immediate
ly rebuilt, and again occupied in 1864.
The expense OF rebuilding was about forty
thousand dollars. The whole cost of the
institution, as reported by the CUmmis-
sioner Cor the Insane, in his Biennial Re.
port of 1872, was 1924, $1,000, including
twelve-huudrcd acres of land. The pres
cnt value of the property, as estimated
by Gov. Holbrook, one Of the trustees, is
$500, 100000. Your committee estimate
it at very considerable excess Of that
amount. The interest of the State in this
vast property is simply that by the acts of
1910 and lS43, if it ceases to be an H.
sane Asylum the State have lien upon
, it for the security Of the twenty-three
; thousand dollars heretofore invested. The
property is owned by a private corpora
ton, the trustees of which are A. keyes,
N. b. Wilistou, Frederick Holbrook and
Daniel Kellogg.
The trustees, while refusing to recog.
nize any authority in your committee, yet
. afforded them free access to all parts OF
the buildings and grounds, and inspection
of the records and other papers of the In
stitution, and treated us with uniform
, courtesy. In the progress of our investi'
. CATION, besides visiting the Asylums at
Northampton, Mass, and Concord, N. H.,
(as directed by JOINT resolution CT the
Lcrislature), VIC visited the Asylum at
Brattleboro on three different occasions,
: viz: Oct. 18th, 1872: Nov. 10th, 1872 ;
and June 24th, 1873. At the time OF
, our first visit, We found the number Of pa
tients at the Asylum to he four hundred
and cighty.fvc-a number, as the CON-
mittco believe, and as the officers of the
institution admit in their testimony, fal
> too large for the capacity Of the buildmg
comfortably to provide in this view, you
committee is sustained by the testimony
' of Commissioner Bulard, wto fixes thrc'
' hundred patients rs the maximum numbc
which (thc) asylum could accommodate
About seventy five Of the patients we're
at the time of our visit, confined in under
ground apartments which were damp
: uuwholesomc, and entirely unfit for occu
nation by human beings. The sleeplnI
apartments in this underground portion
:, were small, lily ventilated, warmed an
lighted. TIE sleeping apartments of tn
males being altogether too small, Will
some Of those in the female ward were on
= Iv nine feet in depth by four in width
" and eight in height, opening into narro'
hall and ventilated only by eight two inc
= aurur holes bored through the dool
About midway Of tho length of one
these lower wards, and at the end OF an
other ward and at the side are sinks whlc
receive the urine and slops from the ward
3 above, and at all seasons of the year mu:
impart unwholesome odors. On The OF
casion of our first visit, although dislnfec
ants had been freely used, your comml
: tee found the odors extremely unpca'
ant. The officers Of the institution o.
fer as an excuse for confning patients
this unwhelesome manner that, at tn
y time the Asylum was built, it waa con
i, mon to use underground apartments fe
n confinement of patients and DR.. Bancro
: of the New Hampshire Asylum, infsrme
On us that portion of that Asylum was
. built. but had not been used for any sue
,,v purpose for many years past. We bel;e'
. the confinement Of any person, sane or il
- sane, in these underground apartments
-. be cruel, and that the officers and en-
o., ploves of the institution should be prshll
ho tied under heavy penalties from hereait'
.v placing any insane person in these apar
nj. ments.
nj Your committee find the fact that Il
ess whole of said Asylum was at the time
J, as their FIRST visit, inadequately warmed ar
1 ventilated (: we also noticed at this AZ
,po o,,hsao,ant v;sits tho olmost entire a