Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-10-06
CARE OF THE INSANE.
THE NEcRoMANcY OF KINDNESS AS
ILLUSTRATED IN WISCONSIN.

THE NECRoMANcY OF KINDNESS AS
ILLUSTRATED IN WISCONSIN.
Taking Patient out of the Strait Jacket.
In Charge of Ransway-Defect In the
Present Methods of Treating the Insane.
A Wonderful Man.
1t was in parlor car en- route from
Chicago to Madison, Wis, one evening,
hat the representative OF The Times was
awakened from a reverie, or a semi -slum-
Der, by the sound Of a voice. II was
Toice that made itself heard with distinct
ness above the roar of the wheels and the
)bstrcperous rumbling of the train. 1t
.hus spake:
''Mycrs said he would take her, and
they said they wished him good luck, al
though they were sure he COuldn' { do any
thing with her. She was bad one and
no mistake. They had kept her in a soli-
AIRY, with u strait jacket, because she'd
tear OF 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 n tin dish which was
passed to her through a hole in her cell.
rhe only dress she could wear was a sin
gle garment of duck which she couldn't
5ear. Well, Myers took her into his
buggy and drove out 10 the farm, and the
arst thing he did was TO have a regular
woman s dress made for her OF print, with
underrlothing and all complete. Then
ne 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
70 behave like a lady, and not break any
fishes, and act like other women Well,
sir she. went to eating, she behaved with
perfect propriety, she never offered to
tear her ircss or break any dishes, and
from that time on she was one OF the best
behaved inmates in the establishment.
Myers is wonderful man, resumed
the old gentleman, his face shining with
benevolence. There was a young German
at the asylum who had an invincible de-
sire to run away. He would skip out ut
every possible opportunity. They had to
keep him locked in 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. 'Whstr says
they, Take him! You can't do a thing in
dozen times before you get him home
Never mind, says he, III risk all that
They laughed at him, and says, Well, go
ahead and you'll see
"Bimeby Myers got ready to go, but
before driving out TO the asylum he went
to a carpenter shop and took a piece Of
board and had some clents put on it so
that 1t looked like framed looking
glass, all but the glass. He wrapped
this up so carefully in a 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 ne, Il
want you to take a ride with me- The
patient got in, ard 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 il ii 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 n store, and he says to the young fel-
low: Here, you hold the horses while |
20 in and get some things, and be sure
and don't let them get away from you
He came back in a few minutes, and
there sat the chap holding the glass and
the horses, and seemed very proud of his
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 out 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 ont at any hour, night or day II is
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 TO
what had been done by Myers. All of
them were marvellous, and in some cases,
almost miraculous. When the train
reached Madison the old gentleman and
The Times exchanged cards. That OF the
former read Andrew Z. Elmore," and
in the lower left-hand corner, state of
Wisconsin. state board of charities and
reform, Andrew +. Elmore, Fort Howard,
president" 1t is 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. That
system was the aggregation of these pa
tients; the construction of enormous re-
ceptacles at unlimited cost, into which
conduits led from all parts of the state.
This agglOmeration of mania produced
great masses, which fermented, putrefied,
and rotted like accumulatiOns of offal
There was no opportunity for the air to
penetrate these congeries, with the result
that there was offensive decomposition.
The stencil from the asylums pervaded the
land and offended the nostrils of the SEN
sitiye.
And then occurred to someone the idea
of distribution in place of accumulation,
of diffusion instead of congC ssion. In
lieu of massing the incurably insane it
was thought advisable to separate them,
so as to secure the free inlet of air and
sunshine and to allow a larger personal
liberty. OF this idea was the Wisconsin
system born. In brief, this system is
one which distributes to the care of the
counties the victims of chronic dementia.
II 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
Times.
European Scientists Experiment.
have somewhere read a story of a Gu
rious experiment, by a scientist in Eu
rope, upon an idiot, wherein it is gravely
related that he took out such brains as he
found, and substituted curious chro-
nometer-like mechanism, set in the idiots
skull This. mechanical contrivance