The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1891-04-30
THE REPLY OF THE REGENTS.
They Defend Their Administration OF Asy-
lum Affairs.


lum Affairs.
The Regents of the Asylum have
prepared the following reply to the
structures upon the management of the
institution by the Legislative commit
tee of investigation in their recent re-
port.
To His Excellency, Gov. 3. r. Till
man:
THE committee appointed by the
Legislature in December last to exam
inc into and report upon the condition
and management Of the Lunatic asy-
lum, has completed its work, and made
its report to the Chief Executive Of the
State. Inasmuch as this report brings
several charges directly against the
Board of Regents, we deem it proper
in the outset to state the fact that the
inQuisition was made by the committee
without notice to Us, without any init
nation to US that We were to be put on
trial, and consequently with no oppor-
nifty given US, or any Of the officers in
charge OF the institution Of rebuttal. 1t
was entirely en- cr-parte proceeding,
where witnesses were examined in pri-
vate.
''The report with the charges therein
contained, has gone il semi-official
form, before the people Of the State,
thorugh the newspapers Of the day.
after an examination of such por-
tions of the testimony taken by the
legislative committee as has now just
been submitted to us by the Governor,
We find that in alarge number Of cases
the witnesses giving the most unfavor-
able testimony were either discharged
attendants or employees having some
fancied grievance to avenge. The two
principa charges against the board
proper are: First, failure to meet as
often as their rules require; and second,
a lax performance of their duty when
such meetings are held.
''The first charge we positively assert
to be without foundation in fact. The
rules Of the board require monthly
meetings and our records will show
that since the passage of the law
ten years ago there has been no single
instance of our failure to meet as re-
quire6. But few Instances have occurr-
ed in which every member was not
present, and in every such case the alb
sentee was prevented from attending
by sincSness or other unavoidable
cause. True, every ward is not visited
at every meeting, the largely increased
size Of the asylum rendering this work
oftoo much magnitude for one days per
formance, the rule of our board being
that at the conclusion of each meeting
the board appoints committees of two
to inspect the different portions of the
entire institution, and our records
show in the reports of said committees
that large portion of the building is
regularly inspected by us, and the tes-
timony of the witnesses before the leg
islative committee goes to show that
those portions Unvisited We're always
in proper condition, the purpose, there
fore, of the inspection having been as
fully accomplished by the known IN
certainty as though the examination
had been made, Only very few in
stances have occurred in which the ex-
animation was entirely postponed or
omitted, and these omissions were
caused by the press Of more important
matters.
"BeSides all this the executive regent |
for the cUrrent month, resident in Co.
lumbia, has invariably in the discharge |
Of his duty visited and inspected, once
or twice each month, the entire build |
ings and grounds as is clearly shown +!
by his reports in our minutes.
''In prudential point Of view it is
manifestly improper for strangers to
intrude in those wards where the more
violent patients are confined, the very
presence Of strangers tending to cause |
undue excitement and thus to interfere |
with the proper treatment and to retard |
the cure.