Wilmington daily commercial., 1876-10-26
FIRST EDITION.
County AIms-HOuse.

QUARTERLY MEETING OF THE BOARD OF TRUs-
TEEs-A WALK THROUGH THE PREMISES
NUMBER OF INMATES, ETC.
At the invitation of the Board of Trus-
tees, representative of tho COMMERCIAL
visited the Alms-House, yesterday, ,and upon
arrival was seated, with other invited par
ties, at a bountiful dinner prepared by the
steward and matron, Mr.. and Mrs. Barlow.
All enjoyed the repast. and after it was
over, those present visited the various de-
partments of the institution, concerning
which some notes will probably be of inter-
est.
THE INSANE DEPARTMENT..
Mrs. Emerson, lady we'll qualified for
the place, is superintendent of this, assls-
ted by Philip Ryan, man OF powerful
physique, who, in extreme cases ls able TO
use the necessary force effectually but not
unkindly. The Department appeared yes
terday scrupulously neat and clean, from the
ground cells to the garrett. The cells are all
provided with q comfortable bed, and other
needed accommodations. We have notroom
to describe in detail the visits to the various
rooms but the one to the women's sitting
room will not soon be forgotten. About do
zen inmates, invarious degrees of insanity,
were here sitting around, some listless, some
surly, some sorrowful, and others lively and
chatty. One called "Big Katy" was certain
ly happy in the turn her malady had taken,
as her loud ringing laugh could be heard all
over the building. She is very industrious
and is never satisfied unless busy with her
thread and needle. Two inmates were
IN TIE LOWER CELLS,
one, middle aged man, securely manacled
a L. Ill ua I'm
in this city, but his expressionless eye and
absence of speech shows that the world
has no charms for him. The other was a
colored girl, incapable of standing alone,
and upon whom no clothing can be kept.
Her only bed is of straw, which she eats as
it was real luxury In the straw she lay
like beast, and though her cell was coma.
Portable, she could only be treated as a
dumb brute, with no other senslbility than
to eat when she was hungry.
The mems department showed the same
characteristics, but more manacles were re-
quired for them than for the women.
THE AIMs-HoUsE PROPER
is under the immediate change of Superin-
tendent Barlow, with his wife as Matron,
and like the Insane Department appeared
as clean and neat as water and paint could
make it. The inmates are comfortably pro.
vided for. Separate apartments are pro-
vided for the sexes, each having dining
| room, sitting room, and comfortable sleep
ing apartments with clean beds. Themedi-
cal diepensary though under control of Drs.
Ogle and Shortlidge, the regular physicians,
| is incharge of Mrs. Lape, an experienced
nurse, and is abundantly provided with all
needful medicines, and q good set OF sur
gical and other Instruments.
The colored people have wing Of the
building to themselves, but are as well pro-
vided for as the others. Nancy Duckrey,
said to be
a06 YEARS OLD,
was buried from this department last week
| Another colored woman, named Charlotte
| jackson, could not tell how old she was, bui
said she remembered Washington, and said
she was born slave on the Eastern Shore
of Maryland, Whole there were plenty OF
| herring fisheries. By Che attention of DR..
Ogle, physician of the Hospital, we were
conducted through that building, but found
1t without tenant except MI. Croney, the
superintendent, and his family. The hos
| pital has been renovated and repainted al
through, new fences built around it, orna
mental shade trees planted, and flower beds
| laid out.
BUSINESS OF THE TRUSTEES.
On our return to the Aims House, the
| Board had Just finished its business, and
adjourned, when we were informed that
orders were passed for the payment OF
| So, 1860, for the past quarters expenses
/ and for number of needed repairs. From
superintendent Barlow we were handed
the following report of inmates in the va
\ rious departments
WnlIe men. .....-' .'..s.s..'.''.. 49,. %
women. ...........-~.s.. 81
children. ....................
-
11C
Colored men. ......s.........16
women. ......ss ..ss1u
children. n...s.......s.........
| Insane white men. ..16
women. .................2l
Z" colo-ed men. en.-................4
" women n.............. 5