Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-03-27
sTRANGE CAsE on LUNAOY.
AKeeper's Story ortbe Cause that Made
Lady Mad,
Fro-a DE Macon lGa.l Telegraph


tall, powerfully man walked in
to the readIng-reom at Browns hotel re-
Gently, and sat down in a rock
ing-chair near the CRATE. His dress sug-
gested a clergyman, except that his coat
did not button up to the chin. He had in
his hand a copy of the telegraph.
At the table reporter was busy with
his scratch-bOok, expanding some notes.
He gave the man a hurried glance as he
settled himself in the roeklRg-chair, and
thought no more Of him.
AT the end of twenty minutes the re-
porter felt a touch on his shoulder. t4lanc-
ing up he discovered the man standing
| over him.
''ls there lHnatic asylum in thiseityW
the man inquired.
Tine reporter dropped his pencil aud
pushed his chair back.
''N-no, sir" he said, feeling rather
queer.
81 had heard that the Georgia lunatic
| asylum was at Macon, and, as | am con-
nected with an asylum in New York
State, l thought that would visit it."
''Ihe Georgia lunatie asylum" the
reporter said, sis near MilledgeVille, a
town distant from Macon about thirty
miles"
"IRdeedS Well, am sorry. am re-
! turning from Florida, where, during the
winter, l have had charge of lady
whose mind is slightly clOuded. l stop
! ped off here under the impression that the
lunatic asylum was in the city. My name
( is ROss.0
The reporter joined Mr.. Ross at the
CRATE and Interviewed him.
"What is your position in the asylum
with which you are connectedp he in-
CURED.
IL am a keepeF-the oldest at the asy-
! lum. / have been connected with the tn-
stitution thirty years."
"You must have had some singular eX-
| perienees within that period"
II have, indeed. The truth is. l
have had so many that l find it difficult
TO keep them separated when 1 think OF
| them"
''But there is one question that you can
answer, no doubt, without getting things
mixed. What do you consider the most
remarkable case of insanity, as to the
cause, that you remember
''Yes, that Is a question / can easily an
sWer. 1 remember a case-the patient IS
now dead-which occurred about two
years after became keeper. 1t was the
most remarkable ever heard OF. A lady
| who resided in New York city had a very
| pretty little girl. The child was about 8
| years old, and between her and her moth
er the warmest affection existed. The
child died. The mother was, OF course,
greatly distressed, but, in the course OF
time, regained her compOsUre, and, final
! ly, her good spirits. About three years
after the death of the child it became nee
essaFy to remove the remains from the
cemetery in which they had been inter-
red to another. The mother was seized
with an unaceOuntable desire to have the
m Ir1n in q m Tt
view what was left of her child. Her de-
sire was opposed by her husband, but she
so strenuOusly persisted that he yielded.
| When the coffin was opened and she look
ed in, the mother beheld nothing but a
| few bones. She said nothing. but return
ed to her home apparently in her usual
state Of mind. The next day her actions
showed that she was violently insane. At
! the dinner table she seized a piece OF beef
bone, and shrieked out that her child was
being eaten. Nothing could be done to
! quiet her, and, when the bone was taken
/ from her, she attempted to kill herself.
| In order to prevent her from committing
suicide, the bone was returned to her.
! She was sent to the asylum, where she re-
manned six years. During all that time,
she never once relaxed her grasp OF the
| bone"
| The reporter made a note OF the story,
| had some further conversation with Mr..
Ross, and then babe him good-by, and
sauntered out into the office.
That's a queer fellow in the reading
room, that pTeacheF-lO0king fellow" he
said to one Of the clerks.
EYES," the clerk replied, ''he is queer
fellow. That's - - a Cincinnati
drummer"
The reporter pulled his hat down over
his eyes, turned about, and marched
out of the hotel in search of a truthful
man.