Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1884-02-06
IT READS LIKE A NOVEL.

The Story Told by Citizen of Yonkers,
New York.
NEW YORK, January 25.-" Is it pos
sible in this free republic, in the latter
part of the nineteenth century, for a
man with impuuity to cause another who
may be obnoxious to him, but who is of
perfectly sound mind. to be incarcera-
ted in an insane asylum and subjected
to indignities that even lunatics should
be protected against? ?"
This inquiry was addressed to re-
porter by a we'll known lawyer.
The man of whom the lawyer spoke is
James B. Slkman, who is now over
sixty years of age, and has lived for over
twenty years in Yonkers. His family
consisted of his wife and four children,
one son and three daughters. Mrs.
SIkman died over five years ago
and bequeathed to her children the
house and lots valued at 1926, 600.
The husband was appointed trus-
tee of the estate, in which he
had a life interest The brother of
Mrs. Silkman, Darius Crosby, is a
wealthy lawyer of this city and men,
Der of the firm Of Lockwood & Crosby.
Mr.. Silkman'e con, Theodore H., has
for some years been employed in the
Office of Lockwood g. Crosby. He is
now about 26 years old. 1t is alleged
that the son. instieated by bis uncle, be-
which Mrs. Silkman had bequeathed to
her children without consulting his
father and in opposition to his
fathers wishes. Mr.. Silkman protested
and quarrel ensued with the son and
Crosby, who ordered the father to leave
the premises. A threat being made by
Silkman "to expose certain discrepan-
cies in certain marriages and births in
Mr.. Crosby's family is asserted to have
provoked Orosby's resentment.
A few evenings afterward, May 10,
1882, Silkman was attending lecture in
the house of Everett Gale, of Yonkers,
when the bell rang, and on Silkman'e
going to the door he was confronted by
placed him in carriage which conveyed
blm to White Plains. It is charged that
on the next day without being taken
before Judge Clifford, who had issued
the warrant for his arrest, he Vas taken
to Utica ana placed in the state lunatic
| asylum there. He was detained until
August %, 1882, when Judge Barnard
discharged h,m on the ground 'Tbat he
was not insane or of unsound mind, anc
that bis restraint and imprisonment wa'
unlawful"
The papers have just been served in {
suit brought in the supreme court il
West Chester County by James G. Silk
man against Darius G. Crosby iu whlcl
the latter is charged with iustigating an,
procuring Silkman's incarceration in
lunatic asylum, and damages to th
amount of $25. 900 are claimed. In tn
complaint Silkman alleges:
That he was treated with unnecessary harsh
| ness by the officers who arrested him and too
him to White Plains at midnight. They. re
fused to give him food, annoyed him in variou
ways and would not allow him to comp1unicat
Utica. He declares that the proceedings an
arrest were a mere fraudulent pre-
Of the defendant to procure tn tn
plaintiffs imprisonment before he should sus
pect what was intended, and in order tina
said defendants and accomplices could forcibl
enter upon the PLAINTIFFS premises and his Ii
which purpose defendant employed d,
verse persons to go with tools AM
implements and break open all the locks O.
the drawers and closets in said plaintiffs Ii
brary, with the purpose OF there finding an
appr0priating certain family records which
said defendant afterwards forcibly and fraudu
lently took from an iron safe in the plaintiff
Office, No. 81 Wall Street.
Fhe most interesting part of Silkman's com
plant, aside from that relating to the facilit
| with which he was seized and conveyed to tn
asylum is that in which he described his treat
ment after he bad been incarcerated at Utica
On entering the asylum he was locke
at 8 P. M. with no light, separa e,
from all bodily comforts and friends and will
no opportunity to communicate with any per
son in his interest While in the mad-hOus
he was compelled to associate with ordinar
poor-house patients and those who were reall.
insane. to listen to obscene language, to ell
dure the privations of all decent sanital.
such as wretehed butter, soggy potatoe
and Long Island coffee, under threats of resor
to the mouth screw and stomach tube in cas-
Of revolt at.such unaccustomed and disgusting
food, while the plaintiffs chronic internal all
ments called for specific articles Of food whicl
were refused him. He was compelled to max
his own bed, sweep bis own room and halls, e.
ont with squad of patients and daily hoe gardel
vegetables and manure in the barn yard, wher
60 COWS we're fed; he was forced to go into tn
public streets of Utica under guard and sweel
sidewalks, pull weeds out of the street, quite
and roadway, and hoe out cutters. He wa
forced to take from three to five doses O
drugs daily. under threats of punishment
and to perform servile and menial labor il
cod windy weather. He charges that lette
he wlote to an intimate friend, containing in
formation concerning important papers, wa
sent by the asylum ofic ais 20 Crosby, and tina
the papers mentioned were taken from tn
vent his release after being altered for thi
purpose. Mr.. Silkmau is one of the manager
| OF the Society for Promoting the Condition o
| the Insane.
Knew His Man.
| from the Evansville Argus.]
i Tho okhop dow q man wifh rQfhor