Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1888-06-27

Il
several times day. was allowed TO
carry no weapon Of any sort and our
policy was gentle treatment Our asy-
lum was one of the first TO do away
with force, except in extreme cases,
and every official about the institution
had to be constantly OH 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. He was wcll-built man of
forty, and had been there three months
without an outbreak of temper Tho
doctor who attended his children bore
the same name rs myself, and / pre-
sumo Il was this fact which aroused
the patients animosity saw from
his look that he meant me evil, and
was at once upon my guard. 1t was
three months before his plot came to
q 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 gen.
eral matters and never suspected his
insanity. He had 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 l want you to help me. l will
come behind him at his desk and catch
him by the throat, and ! hope you will
give mo lots of strength"
The next day | called him to the
desk, and after little talk said:
Thomas, don't say u word to the
people, but there is patient in this
ward who means me harmP"
us it possiblep" he replied. but
showing great confusion on the mo-
ment.
Eyes, and let me tell you how silly
he is. To come up behind me he will
have to outwit the snake who guards
me, and he is almost sure to get bit
ten"
"Are you guarded by snakep"
Hush! Don't let any one know it!
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 still eager for my
death. A week later one of the attend
ants informed me that Thomas was
suspected of having a knife concealed
about his person or room. II was not
found in his room, and when we in
vented all excuse for searching him
there was no trace of il; but yet knew
by his actions that he had some dan
gerous weapon. He had gained pos
session of knife from the kitchen, but
had passed it over to n patient named
Isbell, who had gone crazy over an in
vention. When IN 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 month before 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 I opened the door the
thought came to me that Thomas was
behind it. 1t was heavy door, OPEN
cd 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 1 not
discovered him, l should have been Sc
verely 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 pugilist as q patient He
was strong, hearty man, and had
gone daft over love affair. The first
impressions of patient decide his fu-
ture conduct to great extext The
pugilist, whose name was Williams,
took an aversion to me. though for
what reason he probably himself could
not have told. A keepers looks, the
tone of his voice, the color of his hair,
the cut of his clothes, the merest trifle,
is sufficient to prejudice new arrival.
I realized within an hour that should
have trouble with the man. AS he was
pugilist it was natural to suppose
that he would attack me with his fists
when tho attack came. In those days
I was not only pretty good chunk of
a man, but was accounted a good box
or, and so / did not worry over Will
liams rs should have done had he been
different man. He was very quiet
and docile, and had the fullest liberty
permitted to any prisoner. He seemed
perfectly rational on every subject but
that of love, and was soon favorite
with other patients. TRIED in many
ways to make him change his opinion
OF me, but the first impression could
not be eradicated. Unfortunately for
me I had blue eyes and blonde mus
tache. So Ind the gambler who had
run away with II girl the pugilist was
to marry. That was why Williams
hated me, aud why he schemed for re-
vengo. He grew more sulky as the
days went by, and by and by the cli-
max came.
One morning, as l stood looking out
OF window ut some men ut work out
side, one of the patients called out to
me, and, rs wheeled around, Williams
stood before me. He was stripped as
for the ring, and was in fighting atti-
tude. He had been intending to strike
M without ,xarn;nn Int "a I faood