The Portland daily press., 1880-12-14
OUR INSANE ASYLUM.
It's Water Supply Again.


in summer there is hardly enough for lavatory
purposes. Should fire break out in those
months the resnlt, Mr.. Quinby thinks, would
he disastrous He suggests that the supply be
drawn direct from the Kennebec river.
The PRESS of Friday last contains an article
of nearly column from the pen Of "H. J. s."
[Mr. Shorey of Bridgton,l based mainly on
the above, in which he writes as if I were an
tagonistic in my feelings and wishes to the IN
terests of our hospital for the insane, and
would find unnecessary fault with its manage
ment. My article to which you refer in the
above brief item, contains not word or sylla-
bic from which such an Inference can justly be
drawn.
For sixteen years have resided in the vicin.
ity of our hospital, have been intimate with
its officers and some of its trustees, have often
seen its patients and have known the difficult
ties attending its management, and though l
am no party politician and have received none
Mr.. Shorey nor any other man has stronger
interest in the best good of the institution
than the writer, or deeper pride in whatever
of wisdom or humanity has been manifested
in its management. And it was this feeling
alone that moved me to produce the article in
the Banner, to which you refer. The people of
Minnesota had just witnessed the appallir e
spectacle of the destruction of its hospital in
dead of night by fire. 1t contained 600 de-
mented creatures, who were massed in large
buildings similar to ours, no less than thirty
two of whom perished In the flames. All over
the land the question was being asked in the
several States, "What is the condition of our
institution in case of a f1re?" "Have we means
to extinguish the flames if the flames should
burst out?" And we said this is the proper
time to consider these questions in con-
nection with our Maine hospital Thirty
years ago one wing of the institution was de-
voured by fire and twenty-seven poor creatures
perished in a manner precisely similar to those
at the recent appalling disaster in Minnesota.
We said similar event may again transpire if
proper precaution is not observed. Are we
fully guarded in case of such an event? In
answering this question, showed most con-
clusively that if a fire had broken out in the
Maine hospital during the months of August,
September and the most of October last the
condition of over 430 patients confined there
would have been terrible in the extreme. Mr.
Shorey speaks as if I designed by my writing
to excite the fears of the patients and their
friends unnecessarily, when distinctly stated
that should not have alluded to the subject at
existed for alarm at present, because of the
abundance of water in control of the inStitu-
tion at this time.
The Banner article, to which Mr.. Shorey re-
piled in the PRESS, was never seon by the read
ers OF your paper. 1t filled two columns in
the Banner. 1t was deliberately written and
was designed to state the exact facts so far as
it went relative to the supply of water for the
institution during both the wet and dry seasons
of the year. Will the PRESS have the kind
ness 10 do me the justice to publish the follow
ing extract from that article? Your readers
can have no correct conception of what wrote
by perusal of MIR. Shorey's reflections; and
besides, it contains abundant refutation of that
gentleman's statement that the anticlpations of
the engineers and trustees we're fully realized
in the result of the surface drainage and reser-
voir arrangement adopted and carried into
effect by them. In that article say:
In 1877 a reservoir was erected by Mr. Lakin
the steward of the Insane Hospital on an eminence
quarter of mile east of the institution, into
which water is forced by pump driven by St am
employed is from small spring or two and the
surface drainage of few acres in the vicinity. A
main pipe connects the reservoir with the hsspital
which is THIS supplied with an abund ance of water
when water is to be had from this source. perfect
set of pipes and hose and plugs distributed within
and without the buildings. while the head is sufic
lent to throw the water the buildings and into
every part thereof, so that in case Of fire, with
promp action properly applied, and plenty of water
sible for the flames to make any great sadway
against the forces thus arranged for their extin-
guishment
But if utterly destitute of water, as was the
case for seve,a weeks during the drought of last
summer it must be that all this fine display of
water works would avail nothing IN the case Of e.
scarce, and soon it failed almost entirely; and
during the months of August and September and
up to ,ctober H. the ponds and reservoir yielded
nothing, or next to nothing-not even furnish-
ing water much of the time for the layatory pur-
poses of the patients. So that neary all the water
used by four hundred persons for cleanliness and
other purposes, was carried up into the halls by
the male and female attendants. A portion of the
time, hogsheads were placed near the building and
water was hauled from the river to supply the in
During the summer Of 1873 nearly the same
condition prevailed, 50 that the cleanliness of the
patients, and OF the bathing rooms and halls, abso
lutely suffered forthe lack of water The reader can
judge, as well we of the frightful peril to which
these hundreds OF poor unfortunates would have
been exposed in case of fire. Their condition
would have been terrible in the extreme. A few
years since. woman patient in dead of night, set
her bed on fire, and was suffOcated and burned to
death. 1t was supposed she had concealed match.
The night watch, in passing through the hail. smelt
the smoke. She gave the alarm; the. womans
door was unlocked and when opened the flames
burst out, but by active agency were eytnguished.
Suppose this had happened when the institution
was scantily supplied with water-as during the
last summer-and the flames had got the ascend
ancy, how could the institution, or the lives of
hundreds OF its inmates, have been saved? 1t
would have been impossible. and the very thought
Those knowing to the facts have felt the peril.
Did they exist to-day We should not publish what
we are now writing. because of the deep anxiety it
would produce in the hearts of hundreds of the
near relatives of those confined within the walls Of
the institution.
Is no immediate cause for alarm; and hence, too,
the present is the time and occasion for inquiry and
for thought concerning the future. superabund-
ance Of water is now had which no doubt will con-
tinue through the coming winter and spring, when,
trust, what has long been greatly needed will be
fs and tR Is the
We marvel it has never been done. The lives of
the hundreds of insaue shoIld not be ne dless-
ly jeopardiZed. A large amount of pure water is
needed in an institution of the kind for sanitary
purposes; and no surface water or ariesian well
can supply the place of the Kennebec river. which
flows perpetually past the institution within few
hundred feet of its foundations. No water in the
world is purer or better adapted for lavatory or
cooking purposes. Let the surface ponds, with
all their impurities, be abandoned, and the force
pump placed at the river side and furnish supply
of the purest water which can never fail. The
WORTH and blessing, and safety of full supply
from the Kennebec. We trust the trustees of the
hospital in their coming report, will treat this mat
ter as its importance demands, state the facts in
the case fully, and see to 1t that the God-given
blessing of the Kennebec may no longer be ignored.
when its waters are so greatly needed.
Mr.. Shorey says he fears that the drainage
of the cities of Augusta and Hallowell would
contaminate the waters of the Kennebec. But
the drainage of Augusta is on the opposite
side of the river and half mile away from
the hospital, while Hallowel is mile and a
half below and on the opposide side. To af-
feet the waters at the institution the river
must run up stream. which it will
not be inclined to do for the accommodation of
anybody. The truth is there never 0as more
favorable opportunity to obtain constant and
unfailing supply of the incest and purest wa
ter than from the Kennebec near the hospital
and at a very small additional expense. While
dwelling on the impurities of the Kennebec,
Mr.. Shorey is entirely oblivious to the pres
ence of the frogs and toads, worms and lizards,
muskrats and minks, and other vermin which
inhabit the grounds and ponds from which the
present supply of water for the institution is
had. Can there be any question relative to
the comparative purity of the water drained
from the two sources? And yet it is not upon
the quality of the water would lay stress, as
upon the utter lack of water during portion
of the year.
Mr.. Shorey admits that at least 10000 gal
Ions of water is demanded daily, for the
healthful running of the institution. "For
lavatory purposes, cooking, and especially for
the thorough cleansing of the vast la byrinth of
pipes employed for carrying off the sewage of
the building" he says fully this amount is
needed. Without it "the proper ventilation