The Osceola times., 1888-04-14

1
don his purpose and not go back to il
for weeks and sometimes he would
persist until he was fully convinced
that was watching him. II the pa
tieat was not of defiant spiritI would
call him out and say;
"Ihe Great Mogul has told me all
about il"
"About what?'
"Your plotting to kin ME and ce,
away Now shant let you take part
in the next dance"
''Oh, please do! I'll never let my.
self want to kill you again"
was hail keeper in ward contain.
ing eighty patients. and, though had
several assistants, l saw every paticn,
se''cral times a day. was allowed to
carry no weapon of any sort, and on,
pdlicy was gentle treatment Our asy.
lum was one of tho first to do away
with forces except in extreme cases,
ana every official about the institution
mad to be constantly on his guard. The
first patient encountered when enter
ing upon my duties was man named
Thomas, who had gone crazy over the
loss OF his three children by scarlet
fever lie was we'll built man of
forty, and had teen there three months
without all outbreak Of temper The
doctor who attended his children bore
the same name rs myself, and | pre-
sumo it was this fact which aroused
the patients animosity. / saw from
his look that he meant me evil, and
was at once upon my guard. II was
three months before his plot came TO
a head, and every hour OF the interval
was strain upon my nerves. The
man was rational upon all subjects but
that of children, and you might have
talked with him for an hour upon gem
eral matters and never suspected his
insanity. He had n habit, as / soon
learned. of praying aloud at his bed
side, and in this way learned of the
various plots he had in mind. On the
first night listened to him he prayed:
"Oh, Lord. want to kill DIR. Temple,
and | want You to help me. will
come behind him at his desk and catch
him by the throat, and hope you will
give me lots of strength" p"
The next day ! called him to the
desk, and after little talk said:
Thomas, don't say word to the
people, but there il patient in this
ward who means me harm?n
"ls it possible?' he replied. but
showing great confusion on the mo-
mcnt.
Yes, and let me tell you how silly
he is. To come up behind me he will
have to outwt the snake who guards
me- and he is almost sure to get bit
ten"
"Are you guarded by snakcP'
Hush! Don't let any one know il!
Now, Thomas, you just watch every
body who seems to mean me harm,
and you will see what bad scrape he
will get into"
He at once abandoned his plan of
choking me, but was stll eager for my
death. A week later one of the attend
ants informed me that Thomas was
suspected of having knife concealed
about his person or room. II was not
found in his room, and when we in
vented an excuse for searching him
there was no trace of it; but yet knew
by his actions that he had some dan
gerous weapon. lie had gained pos
session of knife from the Kitchen but
had passed it over to a patient named
Isbcll, who had gone crazy over m in
vcntion. When an insane patient
means You mischief there is no telling
when he will strike. You have there
fore TO be on your guard every mo-
ment and yet you must not let the
other patients see thatyou suspect any
thing. | listened at the wicket. but
Thomas prayed in whispers, and ]
could not catch his words 1t was
nearly a month refore his opportunity
came. During all this time, whenever
he came near me | was ready for him
and expecting some movement. On the
day his plot was ripe read the fact in
his eyes, and the most eXcitable pa
tients were kept in their rooms under
one pretcxt or another.
At eleven o'clock on the afternoon
| went to the workshop to inspect work
of some patients who were making
baskets. As ] opened the door the
thought came to me that Thomas was
behind it. 1t was n heavy door, OPEN
ed into the shop, and as the thought
came to me | swung it violently back
and put my whole weight against it.
Thomas was there and caught him. He
had knife in his hand. and had not
discovered him, | should have been Sc
vcrcly wounded if not killed. With
this failure he gave up his plotting,
got the idea that spirit came to tell
me all the news.
A few months after my arrival, we
received q pugilist as patient He
was strong, hearty man, and had
gone daft over love affair. Tho first
impressions of patient decide his fu-
ture conduct to n great eXteXt The
pugilist, whose name was Williams,
took an aversion 10 me. though for
what reason he probably himself could