, 1884-07-13
INSANE FROM SORROW.
The Sad Story of a Poor Swiss
Woman
Who, After Hard Experiences,
Loses Her Children,
And Finally Becomes a Helpless
Mental Wreck.

Mrs. Lizzie Maurer, who is at present
and has been for some months at the
County Hospital in this city, has been
pronounced insane by DIR. j. j. Matsten,
the County Physician, and Mr.. Charles
Wilsick, the Hospital Steward, who has
ample opportunity to judge of the matter,
concurs in the opinion of DR.. Marston.
Learning from DIR. Marston that such was
the case, A LEADER reporter yester-
day took a trip to the County Hospital
for the purpose Of ascertaining the facts
in reference to her case. Mr.. Wilsick
kindly furnished the facts regarding her
case, and took the reporter into the ward
where Mrs. Maurer spends most of her
time, in order that he might see and
hear for himself, though hearing
was of little account, for the old lady can
not speak a word of English. Her mind
has now become so demented that she
talks, when she talks at all, incoherrntly,
with now and then n smuttering of some
thing Ineligible which helps to connect
the chain of history in her case, which is
gathered mainly from Independent sources
and from the account which she gave of
herself ere her mind began to wander in
the borderland of uncertainty, through
which she has journeyed to the dark and
direiul precincts of confirmed insanity.
Her story is a peculiarly sad one.
Lizzie Maurer was born in Switzerland,
nearly fifty years ago, where her
childhood days were spent and
where she was married. About
two years ago herself, husband and
three out of several children two having
died. started for America, intending to
build themselves up a home here where
they should spend the remainder of their
days and where the children could have a
better field in which to fight the battle of
life than they would among the rocks and
mountains of Switzerland. On their way
across the ocean the husband of the now
deranged woman died and was consigned
to a watery grave somewhere in the
Atlantic mid-ocean. The grief of the
widow, who was thus left as the sole pro-
tector of her three small children, and
who was left almost penniless, was deep
and wild. She could not of course turn
back and had to finish her journey, and,
finally, with her children landed upon the
untried shores of America. Where she
and her children went or what they done
for a time after they landed does not
clearly appear, but from what can be
gathered concerning them, it appears that
they fell into the hands OF some emigrant
aid society, Or some other fraud of that
sort, which succeeded in getting hold of
about all the money they had left, and
were then started westward, destined for
some point in Kansas.
Somewhere on the route the old lady,
who was in sole charge of her children,
became separated from them, either on
account of the fact that she WAS unable to
talk English or through the peridy or
rascality of those who should have lent n
helping hand to the unfortunate widow
and her little family. At what point on
the route this h~eart-rending separation
took place cannot be ascertained, but it
was probably somewhere east of the Mis-
souri, Judging from what she has hereto
fore said about a great river she crossed
while hunting for her children. At the
point where she became separated from
her little ones she stopped, and declared
she would remain until death, or until
she could learn something of her lost
children. After dreary weeks had passed,
in which she had grown old in day. as it
were, she by some means learned
that three children answering the
description of hers had been taken
westward by some unknown
parties and were to proceed, it is said, to
California. She had just money enough
left to get what was told to her was Il good
ticket through to San Francisco, and on
this ticket the woman came on as far as
Denver and when she reached that place
she was put off the train on
the ground and for the reason that
her ticket was only good to that point. In
vain the distracted mother begged and
pleaded as best she could in her native
tongue, to be furnished transportation to
the end of her journey hat she might find
her lost ones. But it was all in vain, for
the tears and supplications of the widow and
the orphan avail but little with corporations
and m%onopolies Unsuccessful in her at
tempts and with but go in money left, the
mother was obliged to seek employment
such as she could get in order to provide
herself with the necessaries of life. 1t
was then that her distracted mind began
to break down and she began to show
symptoms of that insanity which now
possesses her mind completely. In what
way she made her way to Cheyenne is
not distinctly known, and probably never
will be, but it is reasonable to presume
however, that she came here on the train
from Denver, but whether with or with
out a a ticket cannot be asoertained. She
was found one morning wandering around
the railroad grounds, and was brought to
John Eames', who at that time kept all
that Laramie county had in the way of a
County Hospital. She told her story
quite coherently at first, but could
not explain how it was that
she reached this city from Denver.
The lucid interval did not long continue
! ,gbon bar mind AGAIN bacon :, ..o,Jo,