The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1891-05-15
MANIAC AND DOCTOR.
An Insane Negress ThrottIes a
Physician In a Cell,

New York telegram
DIR. Z. G. Dent, superintendent of the
insane asylum on Blaciwells Island, told
me OF thrilling experience he had with
mad negress. DR.. Dent has been for
ten years connected with the asylum,
has treated the most violent cases and
has had many narrow escapes from
death, but his battle with (te giant
negro woman. he said, was the closest
call he ever had.
When DR.. Dent became superintend-
emit Of the institntinason Blackwelrs ISL
land he abolished allthemechanieal re-
strsint apparatus, and he determined
that all harsh and repressive measures
should be expressly 'forbidden. Hisidea
was that in the treatment and care of
patients they should be made to feel at
home and among7friends; but in spite of
all thecare and kind attention and the
endeayor to pleaserthe patients, there. are
q number Of thelatter on the island, the
doctor said, who are as ferocious as wild
animals. Theseviolent cases occasion
ally take advantage of the fact that there
are no straitjackets- restraining ma
chimes in the institution, and they be-
come insuiting;and aggressive and often
times very dangerous.
The negress was one OF these cases.
She had been in the institution for sew
eral years and was incurably insane.
All the attendants and nurses in the
ward in which she was confined were in
mortal dread of her, and they were
obliged to keep constantly on the watch
for fear Of sudden attack from the mad
woman, whose name is Ann Kinney.
She is nearly six feet in height and very
muscular. She had been a laundress in
this city, and during an alteration with
her husband she received blow on the
head, as a result of which she became
insane
81 was summoned to the acute ward,n
said DR.. Dent, where found the negress
in terrible rage. She had driven all
the nurses out of the ward and the other
patients were completely cowed. She
was rambling about at will, brandishing
half a picture frame she had torn from
the wall Her eyes were bloodshot and
she was foaming at the mouth. When
appeared she became more violent, and
the other patients were crying out in
terror. She began tearing off her clothes,
and presented hideous spectacle.
'"There was only one thing to do, and
that was to confine the negress before
she could kill or MAIN any of the patients,
which, with her strength, she could do in
few moments. There was no time to
summon other help, so opened the door
and walked in. The mad woman made
a dash for me, and when within half a
dozen PAGES she threw down her picture
frame, which was of light pine, and
Selling a bench, which she broke with
ease, and catching up a heavy oaken
bench rung, she prepared to attack me,
/ spoke to her gently, calling her bv
name, told her it was all right, that no
one wanted to harm her, and to keen
quiet. This did mot soothe her in the least.
Thinking to catch her off her guard I
grabbed for the arm that held the bench
rung. My antagonist dropped the rung
and swore that she would kill me, and
to tell the truth l was a little afraid she
would, for I was only about half her
size. The way she chucked me about
the floor, picked me up and threw me
down again, almost took the life out of
me. She played with me as a cat does
with amouse, but, strange to say, though
she had me at her mercy, she did not at
tempt to beat my brains out with her
club. 1t all happened in a very few
minutes. When she gave me breathing
spell l appealed to her sympathies and
she Gained down considerably, and after
talking to her in conciliatory manner
we decided to compromise. She agreed
to go to her cell quietly, after / had
promised to give her something to ease
the pain in her head. walked to the
cell with her, in order to fasten the door
on the outside. opened the cell door,
and as I did so she grabbed me around
the waist, lifted me from the ground
and carried me bodily into the cell, then
slammed the door. Now I will kill you,
sure,' she cried.
''She imagined that it was who had
hit her on the head and had caused her
all her sufferings. Her powerful hand
was at my throat when the attendants
rushed in and rescued me. 1t was the
narrowest escape had ever had. She
was given an opiate to quiet her, while
!, more dead than alive, was carried to
my Office considerably bruised"
GLOW about the cases Of rough usage
to patients that have occurred in the in
stitution" asked.
SIN spite of all the care and SUPER
vision and under the most rigid disci-
pline, it rarely happens that the patients
are roughly spoken to, much less rough
ly treated, by the nurse; but, of course,
attendants upon the insane, like the or
binary run of mankind, are not uni
versally sweet tempered, nor endowed
too literally with that spirit of Christian
forbearance so beautifully inculcated
in the Sermon on the Mount.
1--WE have too few attendants here.
We should have at least one for every
ten patients, but we have not half that
number. The employees are overworked;
they are kept busy constantly from the
time they get up till they go to bed,
with duties of most trying character.
They are cut off for the most part from
social pleasures, and their sacrifices are
many for small pay. But whenever
case comes to my attention of nurse or
attendant caught in the act of abusing a
patient there is an immediate discharge.
The patients are encouraged to tell their
grievances to their supervisors and ply
sicians, whom they are taught to regard
as their friends and protectors, and
their reports of i'll treatment are inves-
tgated carefully when there is the least
ground to believe that they are true.
We are now investigating tho cases re-
ferred to in the daily papers, and as far
as we have gone we find that our keepers
are not at fault. In case we should find
otherwise we shall see that Justice is