Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1876-12-01
Tho AsYIunl.

No fair minded man who has taken the
Vermont Asylum has any reason TO doubt
that, in its accommodations for, the care
and treatment OF patients, its general man.
agement and its rate of recoveries, 1t COM
pares favorably with the best institutions
of its kind in New England; and yet at
each session of the legislature attacks arc
made upon it which its officers feel obliged
strued as an admission that the charges
against it are well-founded.
Four years ago two escaped lunatics filled
the newspapers of the Stale with charges
that they had been confined in the asylum
and maltreated there while perfectly sane,
and many persons were found credu,ous
enough TO believe the story at once. An
investigation was demanded and was pur-
$ ued before a committee of the legislature
by persons protesting TO act in behalf OF
the insane men, butt who were evidently
actuated by personal hatred 10 the asylum.
One of these escaped patients had previous
ly been con fined in three different asylums
in Pennsylvania, the other in one in New
York, and the testimony Of the superin-
tendents OF these asylums was taken, and
that of the relatives of the patients and al
so medical testimony, in order to convince
the members of the legislature and the
public that these men were insane beyond
all question, that they had been committed
by their nearest relatives, and were proper
subjects for confinement,
Two years ago Mrs. Parkard appeared be-
fore the legislature and created sensation
by preferring charges against the asylum,
as she had done against nearly every asy-
lum in the country. This lady had been
for many years a patiert in an asylum in
Hin DIS where sho had been placed by her
husband, who was a clergyman of unim-
peachable character, formerly settled in
Franklin county, Mass, aud afterwards in
Illinois. She believed that nearly all per-
sons confined in aeylums are really sane
and ought TO be released, and that those
who are insane should he subject TO no re-
straints. She was a lady of marked abili
ty and excellent address, and early in TN
session had sufficient influence to have car
ried almost any measure through the legis-
lature; but ian investigation before the
committee fully established the fact Of her
m onomania, and careful examination OF
her proposed measures showed them TO be
impracticable aud erratic.
The present year the Commissioner of
the Insane, whose legal duty it Is TO exam
inc monthly, or oIlener, the asylum and its
management and make report to the aud
itor of accounts that it may he published
for the use of the members of the General
Assembly, forgetting the dignity and du-
ties of his Office, prepared what could in no
sense he termed a report, but what was in
fact an attack upon the asylum as to its To-
cation, construction, management, and, in
deed, nearly everything connected with it,
and making gross mis-staiements in rela-
ton TO the rates of recoveries and deaths of
its patients. Not content with placing his
report in the hands of the auditor, he pub.
lished an edition thereof and sent a copy
to each member elect several days before
the legislature convened, for the manifest
purpose OF creating public prejudice against
the asylum. Upon the publication Of this
report certain newspapers in the State de-
nouneed tho asylum, demanded an inves-
tigalion by committee, and proclaimed
that unless such committee should con-
demn the institution their report would be
whitewashng affair. A committee COM
posed Of three senators and four represent
atives, all men of high character and all
personally unacqualnted with the officers
of the asylum, was appointed for the pur-
pose CT investigating the charges contained
in the commissioners report. The ,om-
mittee visited the asylum and bad rry
facility afforded them for the fullest exai =
ination, which they thorou ghly improved.
They also visited tho asylum at Northamp-
ton, Mass, and afterwards held sessions at
Montpelier at which the commissioner and
the superintendent and trustees of the asy-
lum wero present, and had ample oppor-
tunity to produce such evidence against
and for the asylum as they could. Amer a
full hearing the committee have made a re-
port which we publish in full and bespeak
its careful perusal.,
Those journals that in advance demand
ed a condemnatory report of course abuse
1t. The Rutland Herald early in The ses-
sion declared that The report would I'M
doubtelly be adverse TO the asylum, and
charged the institution with employing
lobbyists in its interest. The ST. Adams
Messenger loudly bewails the failure OF
Commissioner Atwater 10 secure re cleo