Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1874-02-05

Mcfarland, the Superintendent ofthe Asylum
and By indisputable testimony shows that the
stories which she tells are but the vagarles OF
a dsordered brain, such as are daily encopn-
tered by those who have 10 DO with the treat
ment of insane persons.
Bat perhaps in nc better way can tue con-
dillon of Mrs Patkard's mind he shown while
an inmate Of the Illinois Asy lum-'7here she
was incarceratcd By her hu sband-than by the
reproduction Of letter written by her to DR..
Mcfarland, Superintendent Of the Asylum
where she was imprisoned, few months pre-
yious to her discharge. The authorship Of the
letter Is acknowledged by Mrs. Packard, and
the letter was admitted in evidence at the in
yestigation. 1t is as follows;
Jacksonville, Jan. 10Th. 1853.
Dr.. VcFa,l1nd- True Fiieaa
Rev. Dr.. Humphrey, President of Amherst
College, used to say to his senior class in his
private lectures to them on the subject Of nat
stmonp, at is no; best FOX you, young gentle
men, to marry until you get through your
studies; bat, gentlemen, when you see 'far
tree" l advise you to marx it,
Now, DR.. Mcfarland, like this prtHc,pte.
1t contains an important practical truth; and
since my principles allow me, although u
scoman, the inalienable right of choosing my
protector have concluded to apply his adj
vice to myself, by marking you as my future
husband; for | have never seen a man, be-
fore saw you, TO whom my whole womanly
nature could anstiactirely pay homage. as my
head as the husband should be to The wife.
To such one, alone, can | entrust the key
with which to unlock the fountain Of coHJUgot
7ore within me. " hose depths TO mortal has
ever vet sounded. This key cntrust to you,
Dr.. Mcfarland, with all the trusting conf
dcnce of true 1coHlGR.
The only response ask of You nor, is to
help me carry the heavy PACK of lies before
the public, which Packard has put upon
me to bear, so unjustiy, as q vindication of
my assaiied character.
If before | leave this Institution you issue
the first edition Of my first Vol. however
small, if not less than twenty-five copies, on
your own risk, trusting simply to my verbal
promise to pay you back the whole amount in
less than three months time after leaving this
Institution, | shall regard the act, on my part
| as an engagement, seated to be yours, alone,
| until death part us. You can continue to be,
as you now are, a husband in IGr-land--so
far off that none but my own eye can discern
this relation in you, until COTS Ir0ri0ence
bring you near enough to recognize the rela-
ton with my bodily senses. l love your
spirit, your manliness, now, but | must not
love vour person, so long as that love is justly
claimed by another W 3man-your legal wife.
am no widow Dr. Mcfarland, for my
heart has never been welded. 1t is whole
and sound, and unappreciated, except as you,
the first true man have ever met, accept 1t.
know this is bold step for me to take
but YOU know ! am dauHtieSS in the 5aght.
have right TO love true man, even II he is
a far off land, or a Farland, and if he is the
| true man take him to be- it won't offend
| him. or expose my hoaoT or virtue to let nam
| hhop it too.
have written my thoughts Cor feelings
rather lest verbal utterance be overheard.
I wish no one EXCEPT your own p,'irate soul to
know of this act. II must be a sacred, pro-
found secret between US, trusted entirely to
your hoao1 as Christ-like man. This note
7dnst be burnt, since an exposure Of it might
| imperil my virtue in the estimation of perrert-
cd humanity. But my own heart does not
! condemn me for the act, neither does God
condemn me for f0eing ms image.
Theophilus, my son, will be u the 18th OF
| next March, and should he offer to protect me
| against another outrage from my husband, /
will 60 with him as my protector, and take
charge of my children at that time.
! Ours, IN the nest OF bonus,
EIiyABETH.'
The italics are the writers.)
1t is only necessary to call attention to the
fact, in this connection, that the party so
fatteringly' alluded to in this tender epistle is
the identical man who has perpetrated the
horrors OF which she complains, and who,
even at the time the letter was written, was
brutally aud despotically maltreating her and
other unfortunate inmates of the institution .
Perhaps her tender regard for DIR. Mcfarland
may be justified by the fact that. as she states
in her cross-examinatioD, she regards her
husband ''as the Great Rod Dragon of the
Revelations; but, we submit, the affeetionate
epste itself, addressed to man to whom she
can ''no more extend fellowship in his present
de,estabe character than the prisoners of
Libby and Andersonville can extend fellow
ship to JEFF Davis" is far from conclusive tes-
timony of her sanity at the time the Trustees
voted to discharge her ''for reasons of general
expediency."
But must not further cncroach upon your
valuable space, and can only say, in general
terms, that | believe the narrative Of Mrs.
Packard to be so far fictitious as to render it
an unsafe basis for legislative action. The
new machinery for which she provides-a new
board of commissioners and additional postal
faciities--will be found to be entirely I'M
necessary when the matter is carefully inves-
tigated, and we suggest 10 the members who
have become so deeply interested in Mrs.
Packard's statements that proper regard for
the interests of the unfortunate ones for whose
comfort Insane Asylums are provided, to say
nothing of the welfare of the State, considered
from the financial standpoint, requires them
to give to this matter their most careful con-
sideration before its final enactment. At least
so ii seems 10
4 FRIEND OF THE INSANE.
MINE LEGISLATURE.