Omaha daily bee., 1883-02-14
TIL INSANE.

TESTIMONY OF WlrNtsshS'
LINCOLN, February 13.--The senate
committee appointed for tho purpose
of investigating the conduct md msn.
ageulent Of tho hospital for the insane
met last evening and held a session
which lasted until nearly midnight.
No v2ry startling disclosures, how
ever, were made. Miss Scissor, o
former attendant of the asylum, WAS
the first witness examined. Sac ties.
tilted substantially "a follows: Had
been On attendant in the Nsbrasks
$ ylum FIVE months. She entered on
her duties there the last day Of
February, 1882, and remained there
till the the 5th of Angus,
She thought the patients werc
sometimes treated roughly, and in
starced one case where y patient Was
struck with a leather belt by an at.
tsndantnamed Mrs. Allen. That ives
tho mott she saw, but she said che
heard q good deal about acts Ct
cruelty. She also saw DR.. Mathew.
son once take one Of tho fo,nalo pa.
tients, named Anna Erickson, by tho
throat. The patient was making a
noise, md the docgor did this to atop
her. o another OCCASION b patient
complained to her that the doctor had
struck her over the head with sone
keye, and che showed witness a lump
Oh her head which she said had
had been caused by the blow. The
food supplied to patients was about
the same as furaished In similar insti,
tutt2ns elsewhere. The attendants
bad a greater variety than the patients.
Tho patients were clothed and taken
care of about the same as at other
asylums. The attendant thought the
doctor was very cross and got very
angry some times but she did not
know whether he had cause not. The
hospital was kept very clean. She
had never done 60 much tcrubbing
in her life. Laughter. Questioned
as to what was the character OF Anna
E7icksor, witness stated that sho was
suffering from O desire to embrace
men, and when the patient was first
brought into the room, che made a
rush for the doctor, evidently withthe
view of embracing him. Tao doctor
told the attendance he could manage
her, and he put out his hand and
caught her by the throat. She was
not sure whether the doctor desired
TO be embraced or not. daughter.
When this patient did get hold of q
person 1t was pretty hard to get her
separated.
4. lawson, aged SO a gas filter of
Lincoln, testified he had Il brother Ia
the asylum whom he considered was
roughly treated. He went 10 the asy.
lum to do some work, and found his
brother with a black eye, a big cut in
tho head over the eye about two or
three inches long, and a bruise on the
lower part of the ear. His face was
also 80 swollen on n side Of that 1t
obscured his eyeuight on that side.
This was on the last day of October,
1880. He saw DR.. Hay first, asked
to See his brother. The doctor told
him it was not good for him to see him
then. He told me my brother lhad
had q kind of q rumpus and got q
black eye, but It did not
amount to anything. After wait
Ing about half an hour I
hour 1 Jaw my brother and asked him
whether an attendant or a patient had
done 1t and he said 1t was the attend.
ants of the second ward. He told the
doctor this when he repeated the
words he had used before. His
brother was a Swede and did moi
speak English. On one occasion an
attendant told him to do something
three times and as he did not do it he
then slapped him on the mouth, when
his brother tried to throw the attend.
ant. Other attendants came to the
rescue, when they knocked the patient
down and kicked him with their shoes.
he died about a year after that.
John Walker, 20 years of age, an
attendant In the Lincoln insane asy.
lum, deposed that he knew q patient
named j. @. Parks and remembered
his being hurt about the ribs. He
did not know how the injury was In
ficted. All he knew was what had
been told him. Parks told him II
was done by two attendants named
Christner and Gilbert; told him hi
was kicked by q patient named
Myers. The patient said one of thu
attendants told him to come outside,
and as he did not move
as fast as the attendant thought
he should, he was showed or thrown
on the ground and kicked. TIL,
patient told him he said to the attend
ants If they would give him time h,
would do so, but that he was feeling
uuwell. The doctors instructions Il
him four nights In succession were t.
treat patients kindly, and to trea
them as though 1t Yves a FRIEND
or a brother of his. He ha,
tried to do this az muol
as possible. He had some troubl,
with some patients once, and he hat
to strike them In self defense, but hs
had never injured one Of them. Or
one occasion he was struck in tn,
mouth and knocked down and jampe,
on, and he had to strike out to say,
himself.
At the close Of this witness tssti
monv the committee adjourned.