Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1882-07-22
OUR INSANE.
A Visit 10 the Reno Asylum by an


Eurekan.
P. N. Hansen, on his way back home
from San Francisco, stopped over at Reno
and spent Wednesday there. By invita-
ton of DIR. Dawson, and in company with
Mr.. Berry, Of the firm of Manning &
Berry, the chief promoter and contractor
Of the State Insane Asylum, he went out
in the evening to visit that institution. He
was surprised to see a public building of
such size and finish and equipment put
up for the money that the Asylum cost.
The contract price was $60, 900, n the
actual cost was sea, GOO. Manning & Berry
assumed and paid the difference, 50. 600,
willing to take their chances with the next
Legislature to be reimbursed for the ad-
vance.
1t is q three-story structure. containing
two wards on each story, one of each
being occupied by females and the other
by males. The kitchen and laundry are
in the basement. From the kitchen there
is an elevator which takes up the food to
the different wards at meal times. Fifteen
minutes before q meal a gong is struck,
and by the expiration Of this time the food
is distributed and set on the six tables,
ready to be eaten.
Adjoining the building is q large yard,
inclosed by a 12-foot board fence, in which
those patients who have to be watched are
allowed to 60 out and exercise. The
grounds belonging to the institution are
800 acres of the richest soil on the Truckee
River. These grounds will be laid out in
garden plats, orchards, lawns, ETC., and
the labor of the inmates will be utilized
-. -. - - ~ ~ ,Nep
ductive, with q view to reducing the ex-
penses of the State for their support.
Mr.. Hansen saw the insane assembled
at p He says they seemed under
easy discipline. They did not appear to
be under restraint, and looked as content
ed as any such unfortunates could be ex-
pected to look. Their contentment and
good behavior, Mr.. Hansen thinks, is due
mostly to the n in which they are
treated by the Superintendent and his a.
sistants. They are governed as far as pos
sible without force and by tender treat
ment.
DR.. Dawson seems to be the right man
there in the right place. He spends all of
his time at the Asylum, and makes the care
OF insane his sole study. He is a man of
amisble disposition, a physician of skill,
and has the happy faculty OF procuring
such assistants as are required to carry out
his mild and humane system Of governing
the demented people under his care. The
insane were brought up on the I'd of July.
At that time there were "a of them who,
under DR.. Clarke's control, were consid-
cred unmanageable, and had their arms
pinioned by heavy leather straps. BY kind
treatment DR.. Dawson has so far subdued
81 out of this number as to relieve them Of
yhoir nr,aI h pIannl Thu other thrpa 40
far, have proved intractible and are still
bound. We are glad to note the fact of
DR.. Dawson's success, and that he has
been so judicious in the selection of his
corps of aids, for we confess to having
entertained and expressed the apprehen-
sion that he would not be likely to prove
an efficient Superintendent for the want
of special knowledge and experience in the
treatment of insane. But we are satisfied
by the assurance of Mr.. Hansen that he
and his assistants, DR.. Martin, Assistant
Superintendent, DR.. Dawson's brother
commissary, and Mrs. Walker matron,
have a natural tact for the delicate charge
they have assumed and that the duties de-
volving upon them will be faithfully and
skilfully performed.
Jul special reporter, Mr.. Hansen, was
much interested in observing the behavior
of some of the poor lunatics. One old
woman labors under the delusion that she
is a baby and she has to be fed out Of o
spoon by the nurses. When bread was put
into her HAND she would let it drop to the
floor and then open her mouth to have it
filled with the bread picked up by the
nurses.
A man imagined that he was under the
influence Of liquor. Many a sane man is
crazy with the delusion that he Ia sober.
When walking to and from his meals he
staggered about as il dead drunk.
Another man imagined that be was
driving o bull team, and occasionally
would yell out "Whoa!' as though he were
actually engaged in the performance OF
that uIpoetic labor.
Amongst the female patients is a young
girl, probably fifteen years old, who the
said should not be in the Asylum.
She is not crazy, but was sent there when
she should have been sent rather to a
house of correction. Her vicious nature
compelled her mother to send her away
from her every day companions. She
would go after them with the ferocity Of a |
young tigress.
The case of LIE Fevre, who was for a
long time in the State Prison chained
down in a cell by himself, and being after
wards declared insane upon killing a fell
low convict, was the saddest of all. He is
a raving maniac, whom they would not
dare to release from his straps for a single
He PAGES back and forth per-
p~etually without ever seeming to tire,
while a murderous fire flashes from his
eyes. He is the dread of all the keepers,
and of all the inmates who have any sensi-
t~iveness of danger.
Mr.. Hansen says that from calculations
upon statements of future actual ex-
penses the State will save at least $1,000
a year by keeping the insane at home.
The money spent will also be disbursed
among our own people. Moreover. he is
convinced that the insane will be better
cared for, and that whenever any OF them
are restored to reason they will be immedi-
ately set at liberty, the management having
discharged quite a number, not
having any interest of their own to keep
in restraint the unfortunates after they
become sane.
A Nevada Politician.