Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-11-07
A Fathers Premonltion Verified

"A remarkable case If ,romon;
trouble and death is now pl en;,"t OF
PEOPLE of Jersey City. Some timna Wv. ~
three v vaara !. Bnnnell, aged twenty
7 'e. years daughter of Mr.. William
a. .a aunnell a well-known wealthy resi-.
az oo". OF Jersey City, spent q few weeks
~ S'Stt 10 an aunt Of hers in New
d, I'm oie attended a series of Meth,.
a'st revival meetings and soon bccame
d convert TO that faith.
on her return home her mind seemed
10 Dwell almost wholly on religious
u ects and, from her conduct, it soon
oecame apparent that her mind had be-
come unsettled. She believed herself
possessed of supernatural power and
she possessed the gift of restoring the
SICK by laying on of hands.
finally she became imbued with the
yea that her family friends were en-
aeavoring to XII her with poison, and
.he would neither eat or drink till her
taeher had first partakcn of tire dish.
nhe was semitic the hospital in the hope
mat relief could be afforded by physical
treatment, but after a few DAYS il was
ueclded to remove her to the State In
sane Asylum at Morris Plains, where
sne was accordingly taken on August 8.
,he was then very quiet and harmless.
her parents getting frequent telephone
communication with the institution.
On last Friday week Mr.. Bunnell
went as usual to his place of business,
but a sense Of great oppression weighed
upon his spirits: 81 could not work"
said Mr.. Bunnell to a reporter: eff 1
attempted to look over my books I
found that I could not concentrate nv
thoughts. My ideas all seem conferred
upon my daughter, and l felt that she
was in trouble. FINALLY requested my
son to telephone to the asylum and
make inquiries concerning her. He
did so. and the steward replied that he
would call the physician and ascer-
tain. Presently he came to the tele-
phone again, land said that the doctor
said that the girl.was doing well. That
while she could not be considered as
being really any better, still she was
no worse.
"But this assurance did not relieve
me. and l could not rid myself Of the
impression hat something terrible was
about to happen. I was SO affected
that I went home and lay down, but
the idea continued to grow upon me
and l cried Ike q child. My family
became alarmed and sought to learn
the cause of my singular conduct. But
could only say that Laura "a in
trouble.
81 suffered terribly; nor was it of
AVN ,rn tN utt.y,,,,+ fn v.oncor ooo;vct
my convictions, although 1 had posi-
tive assurance that my daughter was
right. At last a telegram was re-
ceived stating that Laura had grown
suddenly worse and had died during
the night
Subsequent developments have re-
ve,led the fact that during the time
Mr.. Bunnell was laboring under the
conviction his daughter was in trouble.
she was in a straight-iacket. strapped
to u bedstead. He made inquiries into
The case and finally received q letter
from DR.. II. A. Buttolph, the manager
of the asylum, in which he stated that
the morbid excitement under which
Miss Bunncll was laboring suddenly
took on q form SO acute as to render it
t'necessary to restrain her in a re-
sumbent position"
MIR. Bunnell was not satisfied with
the explanation, for the doctor added
in Il postscript in this letter. sit oc.
ours to me to add that, with the strong
suicidal tendency existing in your
daughters mind during the day and
night before her death. she would prob
ably have effected her purpose had she
remained unrestrained, thus making it
q duty to use this means Of safety"
''Mv daughter never manifested any
tendencies Of the nature alluded to in
the doctors letter. 1t was wholly I'M
called for to employ the means used,
as they alleged to restrain her at the
ASYLUM, and l hold the asylum man
ayers responsible for her DEATH
A post-mortem examination of the
| remains Of Miss Bunnell revealed the
evidences Of very severe usage.-N. Z.
1ruth.