Los Angeles herald., 1891-04-27
ANNA DICKINSON.
PROF. DICKINSON, HER BROTHER,
INTERVIEWED.
He Makes a Dispassionste Statement of
the Controversy Between the Two
Sisters-An Interesting Talk

The eastern papers have been devot-
ing much space to the pen-and-ink con-
troversy between the far-famed Anna
Dickinson, who is now the inmate OF
sanitarium at Goshen, n. T., and her
sister Susan, who is resident of West
Pittston, Pa. The controversy arises
from charge by Anna Dickinson that
her sister is and has been persistently
prosecuting her, and that she had her
confined in an insane asylum in
order to get possession of her
papers and property. The sister
denies the charges in general and
in detail, and the prominence and popu-
larity of one of the parties and the local
respect and admiration accorded the
other at her home in Pennsylvania
have resulted in vast amount OF
newspaper articles in defense of one side
or the other.
The brother of the two ladies, Prof.
John Dickinson, is resident OF this
city, and a HERALD reporter called upon
him Yesterday and asked him for state
ment of the case as he unders TODD it.
Prof. Dickinson met the reporter very
pleasantly. and on being informed of his
errand, readily agreed to make state
ment, but prefaced it with the remark !:
"Now / am the brother of both the
parties, and you must not use anything
/ might inadvertently say in such a man
ner that shall appear to be taking sides
with one against the other" He then
continued his statement substantially
as follows:
II am proud of both my sisters. An
ma has most remarkable record, start
ing out as she did girl of 16, and at
tanning so suddenly to q position that
made her a power in the land. Natur-
ally, being constantly on the move, she
was not very much of home body, and
the home which sheltered her mother
and occasionally herself, and where she
received at times large numbers of Wis
itors, was under the charge of her sister
Susie, who managed it with the skill of
a practiced housekeeper. Susan was
economical to degree in her admins
tration of the household, while Anna,
being so much in demand and receiving
at all times large sums of money,
was generosity personifed. She de-
MED herself nothing for her
own or her friends or numerous pro-
teges. This generosity, while regarded
as a fault by some. was certainly pro-
ductive of good in many directions, and
many of those she privately aided have
cause to bless her unstintedly. As she
was away from home great deal, Susie,
as her secretary, attending to her cor
respondence and keeping her papers in
order in a very methodical manner. At
last, when Annals health failed and
financial matters were less prosperous,
the residence in Philadelphia was given
up and cottage leased in West Pitts
ton, where Susie, by working as news
paper correspondent, actually supported
the family. 1t was at the house at Pitts
ton that our mother and our brother
died, and to this home that Anna re-
turned at the time OF her lawsuit
against the Republican national COM
mittee for the money she had earned,
but could not obtain. During the ill
ness of our mother and brother, Susie
was tireless as their nurse and care
taker, while not intermitting her atten
ton to her newspaper work. Consider
ing the remarkable pressure OF circum-
stances upon both my sisters, it is sur
prising how we'll they held out. Anna
was attacked by insomnia some time
ago, and this quickly reduced her to
condition where medical advisers in
sisted that it was absolutely essential to
her recovery that she should be removed
to a place where she could obtain rest
and be forced to eat, rest and susten-
ance being the only needed factors to
insure her recovery. The state of my
sisters finances, rendering private
asylum impossible, she was, much to
Susie's regret, removed to the state in
stitution at Danville, and her friends
were soon gladdened by the report Of
her apparent rapidly returning health
Later she was removed to another estab-
lishment at Goshen, and it was from
there that the letters charging persecu-
ton, etc., emanated 1t is a common
thing for people, only trife deranged
even, to imagine that their nearest and
dearest friends are arrayed against
them, and therefore her charges against
her sister Susan should not have re-
ceived the attention they at once did.
Worried and sick herself, and conscious
of the self-sacrifce of her own actions,
it is not remarkable that Susan should
Indignantly rise in her own defense
against the injustice of a too-credulous
public.
"It is scarcely necessary to enter into
the charges in detail; that has already
been overdone, besides there are things
referred to on both sides OF which l
know nothing. In regard to other
charges 1 can only say that they are OF
the kind, which, if all the circum-
stances were known, their trivial found
ations would appear ludicrous, yet they
do have enough foundation to prevent a
truthful PERSONS declaring them lies
formed out of the whole cloth. You
know how even an angry person will
distort the most harmless acts, while
my two sisters are not only angry but
worn and wearied, one with ceaseless
work followed by serious illness, the
other by hard work and the labor of
nursing"
The professor brought out letters
written by his sister Susan to him,
which he allowed the reporter to read.
They all breathed a sisterly spirit of
love and interest in her sister
Anna and the brother in far
distant California. They also incident
ally gave an insight into the difficulties
she experienced in keeping up home
for the invalids she so lovingly cared
for, and her own sorrow that she was
not able to do more. The letters of the
time she was obliged to allow Anna to
be sent to Danville were very affecting,
and could scarcely have been written by