The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1889-10-25

be reached. 1t was not a picturesque
building.
There was a something dark and for
bidding about its exterior even on the
sunniest days, that seemed to speak in
thunder tones Of the secrets it contained.
A gloomy pile of masonry, with small,
iron barred windows, and surrounded by
high wall-there it stood, a curse upon
the face of nature.
Could those walls have spoken, what
terrible things would they have told
stories of tho poor creatures who had
entered there rational beings, but whose
minds had become shattered beneath the
awful tortures in vogue there. Every
day and night those gloomy, forbiddng
walls rcsDunded with the wild shricllS
and lamentable groans of the wrote he'd
people who beat upon the doors and tore
at their hair in the widest manner i'm
aginable.
No wonder all those connected with the
asylum became hardened; daily life with
such surroundings was enough to deaden
the heart of any man, no matter what
mercy and goodness had dwelt there be-
fore.
In one of the little cell-like rooms was
Nora Warner.
They had brought her back senseless,
and when she awoke to life once more,
it was to find herself within the confines
of the hated asylum where she had al
| ready spent SO many months of weary
agony.
Up to this time DR.. Grim had not been
very particular about inilicting any of
the tortures of the place upon her, for
his orders had principally been to hold
her prisoner. II she went insane,
overcome by the horrors that surrounded
her, we'll and good-in fact so much the
better-but so long as he received his
pay and the captain was satisfied, the
doctor did not waste his time in dealing
severely with Nora Warner, when he had
his hands full at any rate.
Every now and then new patients ar
rived at the asylum, which was always
full, and it might be noticed that just
preceding each new arrivala corpse was
carried out of the back door, There was
nothing secret about this matter OF
burial, and the people living in the
vicinity had little idea of the hot-bed o.
iniquity they were fostering in their
midst.
1t seems they had not given Nora
Warner credit for the sagacity she pos
sessed.
She had escaped from the house, and
fate had assisted to throw them off their
guard by sending the poor girl with
whom Nora had exchanged her shawl
and hat, to her death in the river.
The doctor was enraged when he re-
turned home, though he did not show it.
Indeed the more serious his anger, as a
general rule, the more smiling became
his face, but there was death in that
smile.
He realized that by the escape of Nora
Warner his institution had been placed
in very great danger, for had she gone
to the proper authorities they would
have adjudged her perfectly sane, and
then believed her story, which would
have meant ruin, financially. to him.
He trembled with fear and anger when
ever he thought of the narrow escape he
had had, and inwardly swore that it
should never occur again.
Nora Warner was the first sane person
to escape from the walls of his domain,
and she should be the last. Before
month went by he would cause her to
lose her reason, and then if she should
manage to get out, her talk would be {
incoherent tumble of nonsense.
From the glowing description of the
mad-house doctor, of the ''princely
home" he provided for his poor patients,
one would imagine much that was pleas
ant, from padded cells to elegant furni-
ture and Brussels carpets.
Alas for the reality.
The cell of Nora Warner Was a fair
sample of those in the institution, with
the exception of few comfortable ones
that were occupied by those whose rela-
tiyes really cared for them, and who had