The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1880-12-02
EN- IL LTSSEl;L. 10
The MOBILES County Nan tcho Fired the
b Asylunt Ho,o It ,cas Done His
Fierceness Sketch Of his Lye-A man
acjto cannot be Confined.

TISSCVCC0| ~ 100 54|0CO n HIIkt
acho cannot be Confined.
A moment before the ADVANCE
Went to press on last Wednesday even
ing, tile Pioneer Press arrived with the
announcement that Ben. uusselton, OF
WOrthington. had fired the insane .asy
lum. This was our opinion from read
ing the papers Of the day before when
it WAS stated that one Of the patients,
whose name was not given, had been
placed in the hands OF the sheriff under
suspicion Of having fired the building.
The correspondent interviewed Ben and
gives the following account of the in.
| terview:
The man was taken charge of by Sher-
| if Downs and is now imprisoned in the
Nicollet county Jail, where he WIS called
| o this morning by Il Pioneer Press re.
porter, who was permitted, through the
courtesy Of Deputy Sheriff Moll to ask
him few questions. lie gives his name
rs
BEN uUssELToN, OF woRTHINaToN,
MIMI,
and is familiarly known around the hos
pit;.l as Uncle Ben. He WAS ordinarily
so tractable rs to be employed around
the hospital, performing mental duties.
and was supposed to be so entirely
harmless AS to he allowed the liberty Of
the entire building. He is rather small
III stature, very closely knit is about
five feet eight inches III height, and
weighs 140 pounds. His hair is slightly
tinged with gray, and when relating the
horrible deed which sometimes he &C
knowledged. his small gray eye lighted
with fiendish expression of delight.
which caused Il shud(er to run through
the veins of his hearers. When asked
by your correspondent what he set the
building Oh fire for his reply was
FIERCE.
damn them, | would like to burn
them all! Haven't they broke my head
on the stone floor four or five times?
All am sorry for is that the naptl,;l
under the female wing did not burn
and then would have had them all,
old BARTLETT us we'll us the rest! | can
only die once. but only regret that |
did '.ot complete the business! am rea-
dy to stretch hemp, for | made them
squirm wl,ell was on top!''
The foregoing, viii, many MOI e
blasplem"us and incoherent eXprt 8
Sions. WAS AL that could he Learned
from the man himself. but after several
hours Of Il lliyrnt search the Picu 'er
Press learned
ALL THE KNOWN FACTS IN THE CASE.
which are as follows: 1t appears that
Ben lIuSselton, having been employed
on some outdoor work around the hos
pltal, III the desire to finish the task. he
WIS detained Il little later than usual
and Oh returning to supper he found
that his meal was cold and unpalatable
upon which he sWore vengeance an the
attendants, and told the engineer. VIM
Penrce, that he would have revenge on
them if he had to burn down the whole
hospital to do it. No attent ion appears
to have been paid tn his threats. and III
short time after the fire WAS discover
Ell in the north wing, and the maniac's
story that
HE USED NAPTHA
S confirmed bv the stat. ment Of sever
al firemen who were early 0l, the ground
that they heard Il dull explosion from
the Gel ar. Immediately after his in
carcrrat;nn le informed his cHptors Of
the location Of the her can Of naptha
under the female wing. which. by some
prnvilential circumstance. had failed
to ignite. thereby saving the lives Of
hundreds Of helpless female pat tents.
and Il catastrophe, the bare cont 'mpla-
tinl If which is enough to send Il s!lud-
der through the toutps, heart.
Rem = HISTORY.
Benjamin F. UuSseltOn, the yatient
mentioned above. is Il brother to \. S.
I!nsSt|tnn. Of Warrington. lie is a.
bout Sc years old. and is Il native O.
York county, l'a. lie was married d.
bout 1851. and is the father of three
daughters. all married. and of one son.
now living ut lockhavcn, Pa. His
wife died in February last at Beech
Creek, Pa.
When about 20 years of age, Ben was
stricken down from heat while haying
il Lancaster county, Pa. He had a
serious time recovering from this
stroke. He was taken to the county
hospital where he was confined in an
upper room and llobbled. In the night,
Ben took metal button from his pants
with which he took the bars from his
window, made Il rope Of his bedding
and let himself down into the yard. lie
had still il wooden sail 20 feet high to
scale and he succeeded in doing this
with his hobbies on. Once outside. he
found stone, with which be broke the
hobbies from lis ankles and then re-
turned to his home.
It is one of his boasts that he cannot
be SO confined as to prevent his escape.
In 1873. lie became insane again and
was sent to the asylum at Danville,
PA. This.is 4 model asylum and the
management pride themselves upon the
fact that patients cani:ot escape from
the windows Of the institution, SO Sc
curely are they licked and guarded
The physician who took Ben to the asy-
lum Informed the sup riutendent that
he would ti,d it difficult to confine Ben
'lN ol!iINt wv C'ilHtttIt anu ptU
into ''safe' cell. L. the night, Ben
suddenly appeared, like ghost, in tie
engine room below, had a chat with the
engineer, and then went quietly back
to his cell. lie had managed to open the
locked window, and went below just to
show them he could do so.
Ile WAS discharged in 1873, and after
visiting his daughter in Illinois, came
to Worthington. In the fall CT 1870, he
became unruly and was sent to the asy-
| lum ut st. Peter. While here, lie Was
most of the time doci'e, but was sub
ject to savage fits, during which he de-
voted his spare time to sharpening up
knives and corn cutters with which to
defend himself against his supposed