The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1884-02-07
The Reports in the Asylum case.

by the investigating Committee of tt
Legislature, appointed to inquire into I'll
poisoning at the Asylum. The minorit
report has not yet been presented. OWN
to the fact that Mr.. Parker, the only O.
alition member of the House on the Con
! mittee. was unseated Immediately afte
i his return to Richmond, there was no on
j to present the minority report in tn
House. AS soon as the majority report
4 offered in the Senate, MI. Mcdonald wi
offer the report of the minority.
+ The late hour at which wereceived thes
reports yesterday, and the crowded condi
tion of our columns, preclude comment Ii
this issue. In our next we shall hay
something to say in regard to. the majorit,
reporter rather the report of Mr.. Opie
as he seems to have been the only one wht
signed it. The respective papers are a.
follows, the italics being as in copy fur
nished us:
! MAJORITY REPORT.
After an examination of the officers Of
the Asylum, as well as parties from the
Ecity of Stannt0n, no ne,o disclosures were
made as to the poisoning and death of the
six inmates, and the whole affair is still
slrouded in doubt and mystery. There ex
lists howeI er not the slightest scintilla OF
evidence to show that the poisoning was
done by parties outside of the Asylum. In
the opinion OF the Committee the analysis
made by DR.. Mallet. is not sufficient to es.
tabliSh the presence of the alkaloid of ac-
onite. OF the quantity said to have been
found III the stomach of Adams. The
stomach was divided into sections, one
section was examined for prussic acid
! one fOl arSenic-One for strichnia-and one
for aconitine. Now after the, supposed
discovery OF aconitine in one section was
made. the quantity was estimated, and the
amount multiplied by the number of Sec
tions into which the stomach was divided,
and the sun total is said to have been found
in the whole stomach.
| Your committee contends that the propo-
sition bears its absurdity upon its very
face, especially as the deaths were very
sudden, and therefore the poison could not
have possibly been distributed throughout
| the entire stomach. 1t is highly probable
then that almost the entire dose of the ia
tal drug was In the one section. Again
| there are three forms of this poison.
the alkaloid or active principle, the fluid
| extract and the tincture. This being the
case, it appears almost impossible to de-
clare What form of poison was discovered
by the chemical analysis. a>s
1t is highly probable that the process
I,itself might reduce either the fluid extract
or the tincture to the active principle.
Therefore it is impossible to tell by the
analysis rhether the poison was aconitine
or aconite. DIR. Mallet himself says too
much stress must not be laid upon the idea
that aconitine was the fatal drug
Now fluid extract and the tincture
OF aconite were both in the dispen-
sary in large quantities, and it is, in
evidence that .fve drops OF the weakest
OF the two poisons will produce death. 1t
was testified that there was no aconitine
at the Asylum, or had any been sold by
any druggist in Staunton. Your commit
tee is clearly Of the opinion that whether
the poisoning, of these unfortunates was
done by parties IN or outside Of the Asy-
lum, by accident OF design, the response
bality justly rests upon the Officials placed
over them, and whose duty it was to see
to their comfort, safety, and welfare. AS
to the PinkertOn detective, the committee
is of the opinion that he is cheat and a
fraud, whose purpose was to eXtOrt money
from the superintendent, who testified
that he had paid him 81 900 and still con-
Sidered him in his pay at SIS per diem.
The said detective declined to give any in
formation either to the Attorney for the
Commonwealth, OF to the committee.
Your committee found the Asylum in
good condition as far as cleanliness, COM
fort and order could make it, but your
committee regrets the pQrtisan spirit
which pervaded the entire management,
| and which in met 70
Overstep the plain mandates of duty, as
applied to faithful service. Your COM
mittee found that the old, tried and eff
cient officers and attendants were satnlnaa-
aaly removed for no other cause than that
they were Democrats, and their places
were filled by untried and inexperienced
CoalitioniStS who were called upon by their
Co. Oh. to contribute Of their pay sums
of money to be used for election purposes
1t was in evidence that these calls or as
sessments were literally responded to by
the officers and attendants from the super
intendent down to the humblest emplOye,
with but one OF two exceptions. Your
committee considers that too mach cannot
be said in condemnation of this policy.
The public charities of the State should
be conducted upon a higher plane than
party politics, and honesty and fidelity in
/ the discharge of duty should characterize
their management Through oU the Uicissi-
| tatdes of party.
\ our committee recommend the pay
ment OF thirty dollars as a just compensa-
ton for the laborious duties which were
so efficiently performed by the clerk, Mr..
John M. Kinney. Your committee ask to
be discharged from further duty.
81 Respectfully submitted. a'
JOHN N. OPIE. Chairman.