Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-05-07
AN APPEAL TO FAIRNESS.
The Necessity for an Appropriation
to Provide Buildings for the
States CoIored Insane.
4 Gazette Representative Visits the
u Austin Asylum and Reports the
Condition Of the Patients.
Colonel Abner Taylor Ready to Confer
with the Capitol Board IN Regard
to Accepting the Building.

with the Capitol Board IN Regard
to Accepting the Building.
Special to the Gazette.
AUSTIN, TEX, May 6.-Among the ap
propriations asked by the numerous ellie
| mosynary and other institute ne Of the
state none appeals more strongly to the
sense Of justice or humanity of the man
who investigates before he acts than thai
asked by the MANAGERS of the State Luna.
tic Asylum TO enable them to provide
suitable quarters for the colored insane
Anxious to learn the true state of the
case, and not satisfied to take the report
of the special investigating committee
appointed by the House, GAzETTH
representative visited the institution fol
the purpose Of learning for himself and
| the readers OF TEE GAZETTE the exact
condition OF affairs. He was shown
through every department of the grea,
establishment, aud he found the condi-
| ton to be exactly as described by the
mana ement. The departments set aside
for the care OF colored females are totally
inadequate, and entirely unfit for the
uses to which they are put. There are
thirty-eignt Of these unfortunates now a.
the institution. About half the number
are kept in the basement of the old build.
ing. The remainder are kept in the rooms
OF building erected for shops and lsuu-
dry. In the basement are the dining
room, and one large and several smaller
sleeping apartments. In one of the sleep
ing rooms are some five or SIX beds, and
that many patients must be put there to
sleep. Only three single rooms are pro-
vided and two of these being continually
used for violent patients, only one
Is left for use In cases of an emergency.
These rooms are all unfit for use. There
is no way of heating them excep. by
stoves in the hall, mode entirely ineffi
cient In
SEVERE WINTER WEATHER,
and during the cold periods of the last
two winters 1t has exercised the attend
ants to keep the patients from freezing to
death. They are, of course. provided with
ample covering for their beds, but,
being as incapable OF caring for the m.
selves as babies. some of them throw the
covers # in their restlessness and would
perish with cold but for the watchtuness
Of the attendants. 10 summer these
same rooms are terribly hot, being badly
ventilsted and not in position to be
reached by TIE south breeze which alone
renders Texas nights bearable. In the
laundry building some twenty patients are
CROWDED INTO TWO ROOMS
which are in no wise ht for their occu-
pancy. Among thirty-eight insane PEG
Pile, taken IS they come, there are sure
to be number Of violent ones, some,
perhspe, who are violent all the time,
and others who become SO insane at in.
tervals. Those should all have separate
sleeping apartments, for nobody can tell
o. what hour of the night madness may
seize upon them, and the lives of their
invAlsd roommstes be endangered
before help can reach them.
The attendants, having put their charges
to bad at the usual hour, quiet and
peaceful as lambs, are frequently awak
ened from their own SAUNDERS by
sHRIEKs AND CRIES,
and rush in to fad tbs iunatics fighting
like demons. In the Laundry building
there are no single apartments, and In
the basement only three, as mentioned
above, two being occupied all the time
by dangerous patients, leaving one sim
gle apartment empty. WneR one
patient sbecomes violent she can be
p&14e6FM this room by herself,
kHd the others freed from her dangerous
presence. But suppose two become wild
at once. One must be hsndcuffed and
tied down. This Is cruel, but necessary,
and the fact that 1t frequently occurs re.
fleets, not upon the management OF the
asylum, but upon the state which fails to
provide suitable and sufficient buildings
The forty colored males are we'll provided
for, being kept in the north building in
apartments equal to any in the
in stitutiop, and receiving the same
care and attention IS the whites The
asylum manageme mt think the best plsn
to provide proper room Is to surrender
the moth building entirely to the negroes
and 10 erect another building for the
whit now confined there. The best way
to remedy the difficulty is question for
the decision Of the Legislature. Tna.
something should be done is unques-
tionsG.
Special to the Gazette.
AUSTIN, TEX May 6.--Colouel Abner
Taylor If the capitol syndicate has ar
rived and will confer with the capitol
board Tomorrow in reference TO receiv-
ing the new building. There are some
few think that the building may not be re-
ceived. The act creating the board says
the original contract shall not be broken,
and it provides that the building shall not
be received till completed. 1t is not yet
mpleted and there Is some Question as
10 the power OF the board to receive it.
THE sENATE's TACTICS.
Some members of the House say they
have understood that the Senate will hold
back the tax reduction bill for fine pur.
pose OF forcing the Senate appropriation
bills through the House. OF course they
sre inclined to kick at that. The Senators
say they want to see what appropriations
will be made SO they can reduce the tax
accordingly.
WILL WORK FASTIR.
1t Is thought work will progress quite
rapidly from now on as the most trouble
some bills are already disposed of, but
me session will last full thirty days.
Huntsville