The Bozeman weekly chronicle. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1883-1889, 1886-11-24
CARE OF THE INSANE.
THE NEcRoMANcY OF KINDNESS AS
ILLUSTRATED IN WISCONSIN.


Taking Patient out of the Strait jacket.
In Charge of Runaway-Defeet in the
Present Methods Of Treating the Insane.
A wonderful Man.
It was in a parlor car en- route from
Chicago to Madison, Wis, one evening,
that the representative of Tie Times was
awakened from reverie, or a semi-sluIn-
Der, by the sound of a voice. 1t was
voice that made itself heard with distinct
ness above the roar of the wheels and the
obstreperous rumbling of the train. 1t
thus spake:
'sMyers said he would take her, and
they said they wished him good luck, al
though they were sure he couldn't do any
thing with her. She was bad one and
no mistake. They had kept her in soh-
tary, with a strait jacket, because she'd
tear off every stitch of her clothes, and
when she had an opportunity she'd
break every dish she could get at. They'd
been feeding her in a tin dish which was
passed to her through hole in her cell.
The only dress she could wear was sim
gle garment of duck which she couldn't
tear. Well, Myers took her iHto his
buggy and drove out to the farm, and the
first thing he did was to have q regular
wornanzs dress made for her Of print, with
underclothing and all complete. Then
he removed her camisole, had her dressed
in her new clothes, and took her down to
dinner and seated her next to him at his
own table He said to her: Now you are
to behave like lady, and not break any
dishes, and act like other women. Well,
sir, she went to eating, she behaved with
perfect propriety, she never offered to
tear her 1ress or break any dishes, and
from that time on she was one of the best
behaved inmates in the establishment. !"
t'AIyers is a wonderful man, " resumed
the old gentleman, his face shining with
benevolence. "There was q young German
at the asylum who had an invineible de-
sire to run away. He would skip out at
every possible opportunity. They had to
keep him locked in q room night and
day, and generally with handouts.
Myers was in town one day, and the asy-
lum folks told him about this case. Let
me take him. says he. 'WhatP says
they, Take himi You can't do thing in
the world with him. He'll run away a
dozen times before you get him home ,
tNever mind, says he, III risk all that. ;
They laughed at him, and says, We'll, go
ahead and you'll see.'
'sBimeby Myers got ready to go, but
before driving out to the asylum he went
to a carpenter shop and took piece of
board and had some cleats put .on it so
that it looked like a framed looking
glass, all but the glass. He wrapped
this up so carefully in q paper and
then drove around to the hospital. He
had the handouts taken off the young
man, and then brought him down
to the wagon. See here, says he, i
want you to take ride with me- The
patient got in, and then says Myers:
HERE'S a looking glass that my wife
wanted me to bring out to her, and
wish you would hold it, and be very care
full not to break it. She would feel aw-
full bad If it was broken. The young man
took the package as if it was the most
fragile glass, and then they drove off.
On their way out of town Myers drove up
to store, and he says to the young fell
low: Here, you hold the horses while
90 in and get some things, and be sure
and don't let them get away from you
ssae came back in few minutes, and
there sat the chap holding the glass and
the horses, and seemed very proud of mis-
duty. They drove out to the farm, and
Myers took the young fellow in TO supper
with him, and after the meal he says
Look here, nowl You've come ont here
to visit me and to stay awhile. This is
your room; there is no lock on it, and you
can enter and leave whenever you feel
like it. And here leading him to the
main entrance, is the door out of the
house, and it is never locked, and you can
get out at any hour, night or day. It is
8 fact, that after this the patient never
left the premises, and never even showed
the slightest desire to leave and he be
came one of the most valuable workers
on the farm"
The benevolent old gentleman related
several other incidents all relating tC
what had been done by Myers All o1
them were marvellous, and in some cases
almost miraculous. When the traiI
reached Madison the old gentleman anG
The Times exchanged cards. That of thf
former read "Andrew E. ElmOre, y an6
| in the lower left-hand corner, Estate o1
Wisconsin, state board of charities an6
reform, Andrew r. Gilmore, Fort Howard
president tits not long since it began
| TO dawn on some thinkers of Wisconsin
| that there was some defect in the prevail
| ent system of caring for the insane. Thai
system was the aggregation of these pa
tients; the construction of enormous re
ceptaeles at unlimited cost, into which
conduits led from all parts of the state
This agglomeration Of mania produced
great masses, which fermented, putrefed
and rotted like accumulations of offal
There was no opportunity for the air tC
| penetrate these congeries, with the result
that there was offensive decomposition
| The stencil from the asylums peryaded the
land and offended the nostrils of the sen
sitive
And then occurred to someone the ides
of distribution in place of accumulation,
| of diffusion instead Of congestion. In
lieu of massing the incurably insane il
was thought advisable to separate them
SO as to secure the free inlet of air and
sunshine and to allow q larger personal
liberty. OF this idea was the Wisconsin
system born In brief, this system Il
one which distributes to the care Of the
counties the victims of chronic dementia
It was found that such cases of insanity
as were treated in the county poor
houses exhibited better average results
than those cared for by the state hos
pitals.-Elicago Times.
APOLLO BELVlDERE.