The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1884-01-24


NO LIGHT THROWN ON THE POISON
ING.-THE MANAGEMENT OF THE ASY
LUM FOUND TO BE EXCELLENT, AMI
TIE CONDITION.. OFiTHE PATIENTS AS
COMFORTABLE AS COULD BETTE 20
LITICAL ASSESSMENT DOEsN II PAN OUT
TESTIMONY OF THE WITNESSES, sc.
&C., SC, sc.
1t is safe to say that no political body
ever started out with such a flourish OF
trumpets and made such acomplete water
haul, us the Legislative Committee thai
was in session here last week. AS stated
in our last issue, the Committee was com
posed of Delegate, j. N. Opie, Chairman
senators Meredith, Trout and Mcdonald
and Delegates Lawson, Parker, Wilkins
and Tabb. Mr.. Jno. M. Kinney, of this
city, was appointed clerk. and Messrs
White u Gordon were the Counsel for the
Asylum authorities. Before the opening OF
the session, the reporters were Informed
that they would be permitted to attend the
investigation and take notes of the testi
mony upon one condition, viz: That ne
publication of the evidence should be made
until after the Committee had made its
report. Exactly what this was intended
to accomplish, it is difficult to determine
as the sessions were open to the public and
every one who ATTENDED made his own re
port Of the proceedings. But such it was
however, and the condition was faithfully
observed 10y the representative of the VIR
GINIAN. For this reason no account OF
the testimony was given in our issue OF
last week. After the evidence had beer
concluded, and at O'Clock Thursday morn
ing, the Committee agreed to have the ties
timony published. At that hour half OF
the VIRGINIAN's edition was off, and lis {
matter of course we could not then avail
ourselves of the permission. Below We
give an intelligent synopsis Of the testi
mony from which our readers will perceive
that the facts brought out by the investi
cation were highly creditable to the pres
ent administration.
THE INVESTIGATION.
On Monday night. the Committee was
occupied in hearing read the testimony
taken before the Coroner's jury.
TUESDAY.
AS preliminary to the investigation. Mr.
r. p. Dell. Commonwealth Attorney
stated that Immediately upon reading DR.
Hamilton's report, i'll which was copied
that part Of the report of the Pinl1erton
detective, which read as follows:
And the conclusion arrived at
is that the = poisoning was evil
IDENTIFY the work of design. and has beer
perpetrated by parties outside OF the In
stitution, whom it is unnecessary and
would also be in;udicious to mention al
this time,
he addressed q letter to the Pinkerton
Agency, quoting the above paragraph and
asking. as the law officer of the city, for a
more complete report of the results.
At the same time he addressed note to
DR.. Hamilton, asking for the full report OF
the Detective. To this DR.. III. promptly
replied that the extract Us published was
really all of the report, that which had
been omitted being merely Introductory
From the Pinkerton Agency Mr.. Bel
received the following letter:
PHILADELPHIA, Dec Doth 49,
r. p. Bell, Esq,
Commemorative Attorney.
Dear Sir = Your letter of Dec. 10Th ar
rived in due time, and L sent it to the Gen
eral Superintendent for his action. He
has been very busy indeed, having been
absent from the office for the past three
weeks, and hence has had no opportunity
of replying to your letter. [ am satisfied
he will do so as soon as he gets an oppor-
tunity. Yours Truly,
r. j. LINDEN, Supt.
Mr.. Bell further stated that he had again
written to the Agency, but with the ex-
ception of the above letter had heard no.
thing from it. He proposed, if unable to
elicit any information by letter, to pro-
coed to Philadelphia and make demand
in person.
DIR. RoBT. s..HAnLTON,
Superintendent of the Asylum, was then
placed on the stand, and in reply to inter.
rogatories, testified
L cannot state definitely anything more
in regard to the poisoning than | stated at
the inquest, which evidence you have heard
read. have reason to believe that the de-
tective had other information than that
reported, but of this | am not positive. ]
also had some suspicious, but they were
mere suspicious. I. expect the detective
is operating now, but do not knOw-think
he suspended merely for a time. Whilst
here, his investigation would sometimes
take one direction an sometimes another
He would follow out a certain line until it
became apparent that he was wrong, when
he would abandon it and strike out in an
other direction. / have not preserved my
correspondence with the Pinkertons. 1t
was my understanding that it was the GUS
tom to return the letters received from the
Agency. 1 did return them and kept no
copies. The Board of Directors passed a
resolution instructing ME to prosecute the
investigation, but indicating no special
line. Under this authority, made the
contract with the detective. For aught ]
know he may be in this community now
but do not think he is.
In regard to the stranger, (Almond) who
was discovered by attendant Andrews in
the room of patient, Col. Byers, DR.
Hamilton said: Byers was a patient, but
for several months before the poisoning,
had regarded him as well. He was al
uncle of DIR. Crockett, and was not under
treatment. His intellectual faculties were
not impaired, his case being one of simple
melancholia without delusion. My reason
for not sending him away from the Asy
lum was that his wife had disposed of hi
property in West Virginia and expected il
short time to remove to Texas. 1t wa
her purpose to join him here on her wa,
thither, and continue on her journey
Under these circumstances, I thought i
best that he should not return to Yves
Virginia, the sceneof his former troubles
and for this reason allowed him to remain
in the Asylum until his wife came. HI
was man of property and paid his board
AS before stated, I regarded him as sane
and his career since he left the Asylum
has justified my opinion. He is now {
prosperous business man in Texas.
Col. Byers was frequently in the medica
office, but not more frequently than othel
no+;onts wore when I went to the ASYLUM