The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1879-04-03

! mere IS testimony as 10 NuChlu4,
kicking, beating, black eyes and other
marks Uf cruelty. Il IS in evidence
that weak persons are OyerwOrked and
III Inmates have not been properly
cared fOT. Hard work las been need
: leSSiy compelled in q room in which
the mercury stood at one hundred and
twenty degrees. The use OF cribs
and the strong room Is shown.
: lcd;llsOme vermin in lOathsOmc mum
Gers have been allowed to accumulate
upon the bedding. the apparel and the
person of patients. All of these things
and others told with painful pluinnesS
Is the testimony that is made Il part of
this report. y repetition of the de
tails is neither Necessary nor pleasant.
1t is not claimed, and it is not essen
tial 10 show, that ali the inmates of
the L1ngview Asylum are subjected
to tie CrueltieS that il is shown have
been inflicted on some. If any unc is
subject TO such treatment * is, in the
opinion of your committee, matter
for the eOnsiderate attention of this
House and OF the State.
THERE'S evidence to show that dis
secting room WAS fitted up in the
Asylum without the knowledge of the
Board of Directors, but this is mat
ter perhaps not within the scope Of
the resolution of the House under
which your committee are acting.
some testimony is also to be found re-
ldting to the the intOXicItiun OF the
/ Superintendent Of the Asylum; but
us this has reference to but one Oc-
clsiOn, and as this matter too, is not
! embraced in the resolution authOriZ-
ing this committee, they do not attach
10 it any special weight or Importance.
! The profanity of some of theattenddnts
is shown by the evidence; but this is
| less inhlman and cruel than the phys
ical violence used by the same attend
ants uiSOh the patients whose mOUrnful
| lot should kindle no words but kind
! ones, invoke no treatment but that of
| tenderness. That the Superintendent
has been guilty Of inattentiOn to his
| duties and gross neglect is one of tine
conclusions forced upon your COM
mite. The duty of this House in
| this matter would, in the opinion of
the committee, be essentially the same
whether the official head Of the Long
| view AsylUm has not been ignorant of
the practices proved in the accOmpa-
nYing evidence, though the testimony
seems to the committee TO entirely
destroy the suggestion that the various
| hideouS things were done without his
knowledge or consent.
| Your Committee we've authorized to
report by bill or otherwise. They
deem it best to place III possession of
the House the evidence they have &C
cumulated with some of the cOnclu-
SiDns to which it has irreSist-ibly
driven them, leaving to this body to
determine, upon the information, what
action shall be taken. That sOme ac-
tiOn, looking to tao reorganization of
LOngview Asylum, is imperatively de-
| mapdud, your committee unanimously
agIee and report. They trust that the
/ deliberations of this body upon sub
| ject that challenges the most humane
! impulses will result i'll some measure,
! or measures, crelitable to the State,
and such us will tend To ameliOrate
the melancholy lot, SO hapless, and in
most cases, 50 hopeless of those whose
wandering minds and feeble frames
should command nothing harSher than
the gentle Eity OF them who do justice
and love mercy.
/ JAMES 4. ESTILL,
HOMER ). QUINN,
UemocratsD
As Il member of this committee,
beg leave to report that, in my iUdg-
meht, the testimony IS of such u char
acter Is 90 most imperatively demand
| fOr the honor of the State and in JUS
/ tice to the Board of Directors and SUI
perintendent Of LOngview ASylum,ad-
ditiOnal action on the part of this body
and beg leave to recommend the ap-
I .av,N,
| persons, to act in conjunction with a
Senate committee, and whose duty At
shall be to make such further iuYeSti
CATION, or recommend such additional
action, as shall seem to said joint COM
mittee wise and proper.
IASl2s B. PAINE (Republicanl.
! TIE TESTIMONY.
One of the witnesses was Colonel
Samuel BeckerStatf. u steam engineer,
who is now employed at the Hamilton
County Court House, but was formerly
connected with the asylum. lie testi-
fled as to the sO-called
SPREAD EAGLE PROCESS.
saving, substantially; Il have seen
fthem make q spread eagle OF a patient.
They strin them naked, and make an
| attendant whip them with wet sheet.
| saw, i'll one instance woman held
down and this process applied. 1t is
very painful punishment, and it is con-
tinued until the patient Yields; it
leaves no mark, and that is why it is
used. One woman they made a spread
eagle of was Mary Scanlan. | have
known of her being whipped that way
on different occasions. i went into
the yard one day to attend TO some
duty and heard y patient believing i'll
the bathruam. | pushed open the
; door and saw them treating patient
| IN this way. As to kicking and slap
ping the patients, that was often done.
They would slap and kick the patients
when they refused to do their work,
Another important witReaI was
John L. Ambrose, who testified Us to
the poor food often fed the patients,
and IS ta their being most cruelty
slapped and kicked at times. During
his examination the following interest
ing
DIALOGUE CORCERNING BED-BUGS
took place:
Q. Was this patient covered with
lice? A. No sill; with bed-bugs l
was Glazing ON the 18th or 10th of Sep
teIuber. The painter was sick at the
time, and / WAS requested to do his
work. | was glazing on the third floor
and one of the iron bars had to be tax
Ell off from the window, After taking
1t out | saw it was covered with bugs.
said to the attendant, You have lots
of hUgs here lie said, "ThOse parti-
tiOns are full of them" A patient was
lying on the floor and supposed to be in
a dy yiHg condition. He turned up his
cOllP and said, Look at that
q. Well, what did YOU See9 4, 81
saw the folds teeming with young bed
bugs.
Testimony rs 10 the
CRUELTY EXHIBITED TO SICK PA
TIENTS
was given by James RullleS, an atten-
dant at the asylum. lie testified to
sick patients being kept upon coarse
food up TO the time of their deaths,
and as to their being ducked. lie said
that patients We're often ordered To be
put III cold spring water for fifteen
minutes at time. He said that in Or
der to do this they We're often cOmpell-
ed to tie their feet together TO Keep
them from kicking, and 10 hold their
heads under the water.
james Satfin, the Supervisor of the
Asylum, testified: Mr. Satin had been
connected with the Insane asylum for
twenty years, and his testimony went
to show thIt there had been gross ir-
regularities existing in the institution.
He said, among other things, that pa
tients were several times denied spe-
cldl diet when they should have had il.
The following extract is taken from
the testimony:
There was Charles Gross, died jan
uary, 1919; c. Foley, died January .,
1879. These mea would have died,
you know, anyhow, but jheir life could
have been pOrlOnged Il they Ead had
proper diet
q. And they could have been made
moro comfortable while they lived.
could they not? y. Yes, sir. This
man Foley seemed to be iIu Ohio Ma
son, and after this man Brown died |
went To DIR. Miller and called him.
| told him those other TWO men who
died there had not prOpernOurishment.
and says !, Il am not going 10 stand
this amy longer We talked it all over.
what we could do, and all that.
q. What could have been the
motive in not allowing these sick Iuen
a