The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1874-03-06
Report Of tire BO03'd of Public
Charities.

a been printed. This is a document
- says the Harrisburg Patriot, which
~ demands the earnest and Immediate
"a consideration of the legislature and
~ people o Pennsylvania a large por-
Ie t'oA o. the report is devoted to an ex-
position OF the treatment of the insane
poor OF the state. An inspection has
= been made # all the prisons and poor
= houses Of the state, and the facts which
3 are presented in the report were bTO't
e under the personal observation of the
! commissioners themselves Some Of
t the revelations in regard to the treat
9 ment OF the insane poor of the com
5 monwealth are utterly revolving. To
/, the plain official statements IN this re-
. port there Is scarcely parallel in the
l description Of human misery except in
the horrible pictures Of Hogarth's Bed .
lam lille splendid HOSPITALS have
been erected by the liberaIity of the
state her INDECENT insane have been
crowded INTO poor houses and have
peen abandoned to the utmost filth !
ness and neglect. A portion of this
monstTous abuse is dne to the neqI-
gence OF county officials and part to the
action OF the superintendents of the
state hospitals. Paying patients have
been admitted to these hospitals while
the insane poor, the real objects of the
state charity, have beenturned away
Ifom the doors and sent back to their
/ Ioathsome cells. The charity of tho
! state has been perverted from its ori.
/ SluaI purpose, and there is reason to
OeileFc that in too many instances :
I mercenary motives have been mivad
up win this partiality in the treat i
ment Of the two classes of insene '
nose who can afford to pay have |
friends sOlicitous for their WeIfore /
Invate institutions have been esfah- V
HShed for their benefit But this re- a
port shows that while ths latter class a
OF patients are the objects of the public ft
care, the insane poor, for whom these +
state institutions have been erected s.
are excluded. The commissioners re-, %
lei to the Insane Asylum at Harris IL
burg as atfording 4 shocking ex9rnpla ia
OF this pArtiality and injustice Tbev tt
report that TO the hospital at Harris. Fl
burg there was committed hv the I'll
" Pu9hc authorities and courts during in
" The year 1872, sixty-one poor ps7 &
tients and one hundred and thirty bC
eLght paying patients sent there bv fr
Trends OF the four hundred ond pr
eight remaining on December RI All
1872. there were one hundred and sh
Se'enty-hIne supported by publican lol
Uhorit!eS and two hundred and TWEEN de
'!-E!he by friends Of patients.'U The re;
epoTt further states that "of the ono ST.
hundred and sixteen patients com if
n!iJIed to this hospital during the St
nine months ending September 50 | ct
1913, eighty-foua were paving and CO.
only thirty two public or indecent Il
Insane patients" From this It is TIA,
cen that the character Of this institn- am
ION IS rapidly changing. From = Of
tate hospital for the insane if is hn g" f
on'hS private asylum for paying 'p
'''e"ts' hlIe the INDECENT insane ito
re turned away in scores, those for in
nom provision is made by friends me
nd relatives find prompt admission me-
not Tins shamclesslv unjust and in tiol
linan rcrTersion Of the objects for
hich this institution was founded bv =
e state! Yet the law expressly pro- ,ha
deS that in order of admission the ,lN.,
'or shall have the preceGlHce Of the d..
~. In this institution the beniDn SJ
10 charitable rule is simply reversed a.,
IL special or supplementary ranort a,.a,
( commissioners have collected q faw NJ
ocAlng cases to illustrate the treat 49,.
1hC OF the INDECENT insane in the e1
'of houses Of the stats, rs well as that - =
stem oI parualIty on which the state NJ
'VICulIonS are conducted In one of v.as
/ poor houses the other dav an old A..
nan was starved TO death-meIicipa -
'eih9 forced into him, but food being tia,.
ohSidcred unnecessary" In an -
ier IS the reyolting case of "sn at i1-
I"ctiye young lady, driven to in rs,
,st t,ra,,t,. ,la,,,- VINO ior the detin
: flthinass - Ia las occupied cell ingtc
ann f,or i,,+l sI, 49,, VI st'a" upon q citud
Off ca i'n,o ".I'ch Che external Mrs
,rn;tn.a - Che only launC
&C o,,,,r,,,tI,. 80, q" '1"'- or 4 bench funds
lc c6nsecnoroo, 80 80: !"iIiiShed atten
uscIea of ~ - MI - tuaG the winte
80 'eiillIieS like {
snaY contracted, so that the only
oNch!eht OF which she is capable is
Il eS'ih'iar 10 That of a frog" A pa- one
= u /" announcer poor house is ''perpet- Delil'
'iy chalhed to the ceiling by tho tsy, I
TiSt, lest he tear his clothes >, such
another, "a splendid old ,n,,, :; with
aims for forty wears ;, wos - ~ The t
the general agent of the hoooI come
nself aiding in filiug off the cb,i,,s,,, ;, which
re is no room in the nocrnifna,,ti, InteH
owed hospitals of the stofe far 49, 49, right
t unfortunate creatures ~. Ia,-- Se will L
liable patients seek adniseiorr7 90 make
e hasten through this revnIti, corruI
I2I register of woe and vrat.Ln organ
with the following nvt,.,t-' they {
II Febrparv 1,s+ are III
house, and an "s pan" to this power
"ung woman overtwcnlv aI 81 seen fail 70
e "hole dress consisted OF thin che, puisio
win snort sleeves, a single skirt and
I ot shoes When brought t,ef,ra ti,a
rs borrowed cloak was thrown oyoD BEN
honiderE. She was blue with cold anil has loc