Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1885-08-28
OUR ALLEGED INSANE.

10 me Editor ftAe RsgiJter:
WEsTOS, August % in looking over
the Weston items in yesterdays REGISTER,
/ noticed q paragraph concerning the
Effort of Richie county man to secure q
divorce from his wife, (Eho is patient at
the Hospital for the Inssne), on the grounds
that hers was case OF incursble insanity.
| have few crude indeas to offer in rela-
ton to this and similar instances which, 1t
seems to me, should be discussed by the
papers OF the State, with q
view of arriving at a
better system for regulating the committsl
and discharge ofpersons alleged to be insane.
As the Law now is, land here do not in
tel d to reflect in any manner upon Its
offcers) A goes before some justice-gen-
orally an honest man, but frequently en-
tirely incompetept-and charges that B is
an insane person, and ought to be con
fined in the asylum. He is not req aired to
make ooih TO this complaint; but he is a.
lowed 10 have any such witnesses, (includ-
ing ph ysicisns, as experts), as he may Sc
Get \ is arrested and generally
these examinations are conducted
in private, and upon the evidence OF these
witnesses, the Superintendent Of the Hos
pilal is required to receive and treat him
"a as a luz a.ic. The Local Board OF d.
IeCtcrs have some sort of right to say wheth-
tr or not the alleged lunatic shall be re-
ceived; but they examine the pspers-ior
they know nothing of the case or of mental
dnesse-snd A. goes into ward filled with
people about whose insanity there Is no
doubt. How long would it take, do you
think to drive q sane man crazy, when 1t
is considered that his constant associates
are persons wild as March ha'esY
Again, the Board OF Directors as
general thing, is composed OF men who are
very good lawyers and sound Democrats;
bot whose ignorance of treating minds de-
ceased" or even guessing at proper SAM
tary conditions in large hospital, is as
deTse as that of Pharaoh at the time of the
Seven Plaques If patient who was
really sane were to apply to them for relief,
they would treat his lucid interval as
another sad evidence Of "incurable inssn-
iIy.' Probably the doctors might be con-
suited, but it should not De forgotten that
the mistakes Of doctors who are buried six
feet under ground, and the err
rors OF lawyers who have been
SUSPENDED six feet above the
ground, have been so frequent as no longer
10 excite public comment.
Within the past few weeks, it has been
discovered that perfectly sane woman has
been confined in one Of the Pennsylvania
ssylums for q yesrs-sn asylum where the
best medical talent was employed; and
now, when her life is destroyed, her health
shattered. her friends in the graye-sn old,
grey-haIred woman, this mistake Of the
doctors" Is allowed to 60 free. Have We
such cases at the Weston Hospital? If So
how shall they obtain reliet2
Another, and an old subject before our
Legislatures, is the problem of the
"hsrmlessly inssne" in plain words,
harmless diotS-who are allowed to cum
Der the Asylum to the exclusion of really
insane people-When they should be cared
for either By their friends, or at the poor
houses OF their respective counties. The
sconer this is done, the better it viii be for
be State and for our insane.
w idea is, that the law should provide
for frequent examinations OF the Hospital
and the patients by board composed of
one person from each Congressional Dis
tGict, made up of three gentlemen and one
lady Tor two ladies', noted for their
general information and good sense,
who should be authorized at least
to recommend the discharge of persons
found to be sane; and to direct the harm
less" class to be returned to their own
counties. To this board should be referred
al complaints of patients or their friends
outside; and where any doubt exists the
case should be thoroughly investigated.
When felon is ntenced to State prison
be has had the benefit of learned counsel,
sll tie witnesses the power of the State
could bring have been introduced in his
favor and twelve men-intelligent- after
hearing argument, law and evidence,
seLd him one, Two or more years to
the peDitentiary. How different is the fate
Of person alleged to be insane Arrested
at 9 in the morning, before dinner he is
on his way to the asylum, probably for life!
country Justice OF the Peace is the only
Judgel Surely, there is sad need Of reform
alton here.
Upon the completion of the new asylum,
We shall have at least one thousand Of our
citizensincarcersted as insane; audit seems
to me that common humanity, aside from
sound public policy calls for reform.
In q brief investigation Of the case to
Which / referred at the opening of this let
ter, fud that the woman Whose maiden
name was Wood married few years ago
in Richie county, q man named Thsrp, to
whom she was, and is devotedly attached
She is the mother of two children. When
committed to the asylum, her mania was
clsssed as religious excitement Last
February she was discharged IS cured"
but recently Justice Powell, of Gilmer
county, has again committed her as insane
BY virtue Of the form given above.