St. Paul daily globe., 1891-05-29

the official case book, throws grave sus-
picion upon all the testimony of DR..
Northrup in the matter. That woman
of seventy-eight years of age should
suffer with partial senile dementia. as
testified by DR.. Bartlett, is not very
surprising, and would not seem to JUS
tifv incarceration in a hospital.
Judge julius Schaler was
Guilty of a Breach
of his official duty in not making for
NAL examination when the woman was
first charged with insanity, and was
guilty of further breach of duty in
Issuing the warrant of commitment
based upon no legal process, and of
which the records in his Office according
to his own testimony have not the
slightest trace.
DR.. Bartlett, the superintendent, tes-
tifies that as the warrant was in regular
form, his duty in the case was simply to
receive the woman upon the warrant.
There is no question but what the war
rant furnishes prima facie case in his
fovor. and by strict construction his
legal duty may end with that document;
but the fact that DR.. Bartlett sent to
julius Schaler, the probate judge,
certificate of the woman's i'll
sanity on the 25th of Septem-
there had been DO proper examination
of the woman as required by law, and
that therefore her commitment must be
illegal and irregular. The certificate
proves that the superintendent 5
knowledge went further than the mere
letter of the formal warrant. There is
no adequate explanation of the fact that
though the case book shows by its en-
try of Feb. a full knowledge of the
circumstances in this case, and strong
conviction that the woman is not in
sane, neither DR.. Bartlett nor any one
else called the attention Of the trustees
of the hospital, the lunacy commission,
or any other of the state authorities TO
this case for investigation. Your com
mittee find it impossible to approve of
the action of DR.. G. K. Bartlett, super
intendent of the First Minnesota hos
pital for insane in the case of Saph-
ronia Northrup.
There is no evidence of any wrong
motive on the part of Julius Schaler,
judge of probate, in this case. Your
committee does not believe that he was
influenced by anything else than the
desire to do the best for the woman un-
der the circumstances.
1t would be proper further to state
that in the practical workings of the
y,
in the interest of humanity, to receive
patient for a few days, though the
papers are Irregular, or even wholly
wanting. This has been the practice
heretofore, and seems to be necessity.
There is no evidence before your COM
mittee to warrant the belief that DIR.
Bartlett has acted cOrruptly, and there
is no evidence of financial or other i'm
proper influence in this case.
1hsumming up, your committee are
compelled to hold that
1t Is a Disgrace
to the state of Minnesota that it is pos
Sible for woman to be incarcerated in
one OF the hospitals for insane for the
space of eight months without any legal
authority whatsoever. While it may be
that in the case of Saphronia NOrthrop
no hardship had resulted. aud the
woman may have been more comfOrta-
BILE than under the charge of her son,
the precedent is one that may we'll eX-
cite alarm in view of the weakness of
human nature and the many cases
where motives exist of financial OF
other character to tempt the evil-minded
to procure the custody of those in their
power in order to serve base personal
ends. With great respect,
SAMUEL &. SMITH,
G. EUGENE RIGGS.
G. Amundson, the third member of
the committee. was present at the in
vestigatiOn at the hospital, and the COM
mittee were unanimous in their finding
of the facts. Mr.. Amundson was not
present at the examination of julius
Schaler and S. j. NorthrOp, and is not
responsible for the final conclusion
presented in this report.