The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-02-11

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The asylum s rules forbid attendants to
I give information to visitors about the pc
| cuiiarltles of inmates, but the reporter
1 found little difficulty in in getting in
| formation as to Miss Miteheils mode of
life. She rises at $50 o'clock every
( morning and puts her own room in order,
| though not obliged to do it. She has
breakfast-and she usually eats hearty
I meal-aJ 1880 aids the attendants in
cleaning up if she feels disposed, reads q
little and talks and plays games with
those OF the patients who are sane enough
10 Join IN such diversions. Dinner is served
at 1850, and in the afternoon, if the
weather is fine, the patients are taken for
a walk over the grounds. These walks
are a source of delight to Alice. She is
allowed considerable degree of liberty
on them. and races around after the sheep
that are permitted TO feed on the campus,
makes friendly with the Jersey cows in
the pasture and romps like u child with
DIR. Douglass setter dogs.
FOND OF MUSIC.
After the walk and on rainy afternoons
Alice devoted herself almost exclusively
to the practice of music. She played the
French harp, the auto-harp, and is the
organist at the chapel meetings on Sun
day mornings. She takes great interest
IN the hospital Sunday school, and is con-
sidered the best scholar in the Bible
class.
The weekly dances are a source Of great
delight 10 her, although when strangers
are present she sometimes refuses to at
tend. She is a graceful dancer, and is
always in demand as q partner. The
patients are never thrown with persons Of
the opposite sex, except at these dances.
IL Is not strange, therefore, that at
them there should be some little flirting.
Sometimes male patient falls violently
IN love with a female attendant, and oc-
cas1onally demented fair one conceiveS
passion for male attendant, but it is
rarely the case that one patient becomes
enamored of another. There was an ex-
ception to the case last fall.
A young law student from Trenton,
Tenn, who lost his reason from too close
application to his books, became infatua-
ted with the fair Alice and they carried
on quite pretty little Irritation every Fri
day night for months. The young woman
did not encourage him more than would
nave been seemly in outside society, and
the asylum authorities regarded it as
harmless and let the affair run until Miss
Alice concluded to dispose of her victim,
which she did by declining TO dance with
him
Before Miss Mitchell was sent to the
asylum she was extravagantly fond of
animal pets. While in the Memphis jail
she had several cats, and on the same day
she was taken away she prevailed on the
sheriff to take her by her home and let
her kiss her pets good-by. Since she has
been in the asylum she has had various
pets, among them pair of flying squirrels
and o screech owl. She wants parrot
now, and will probably get it, as the
superintendent is very indulgent, and her
parents never refuse her anything in
reason.
GREATLY IMPROVED.
DIR. Douglass says that mentally Alice
is much improved since she entered the
asylum, but he refuses to give an opinion
as TO whether she is sane enough to be re-
leased. In point of fact, 1t is doubtful if
the girl will ever leave the asylum, even
though she may never evince another
symptom of insanity. She has proved
herself possessed of a homicidal mania,
and public opinion will demand that she
be kept where possible recurrence of it
cannot work harm to others. In the
event that she shows no disposition to re-
lapse into the delusionary condition that
caused her to murder Freda Ward, she
will probably, in the course of time, be
made an asylum trusty, and possible be-
come regular paid attendant. Since her
confinement she has never attempted to
in1ure any person, although she has hot
temper and has quarreled several times
with attendants and patients On none
of these occasions, however, has she
shown a greater degree of resentment
than a sane person might, and but for
her past record, it is doubtful if an expert
on insanity would suspect that her mind
was unbalanced.
She converses coherently and with av-
erage intelligence on all subjects except
her crime, and this she refuses to speak
of at all. Neither will she talk about
Memphis or her old life in this city.
When any of these topics are brought up
in her presence she becomes silent, and as
soon as possible steals of to her room.
DIR. Douglass, and, in fact, all the ex-
perts who have studied her case closely,
believe that the girls insanity is heredi-
tary. 1t was shown that on the distaff
side of her family there was a predisposi-
tion TO insanity, and when she was born
her mother was afflicted with puerperal
lunacy.
ATTENDS CHURCH.
The asylum authorities have little fear
of an outbreak from Alice, but they keep
her under constant surveillance, never
theless. She sometimes attends church
in Bolivar, but always with an atten-
dant, and several times she has been into
the town, but never alone or without a
companion employed the asylum.
She seems perfectly satisfied with her
lot, and is probably the only patient in
the hospital who has never demanded or
requested liberty. In the event that she
should be declared sane she would be re-
leased, but would be sent back to the
Shelby county jail and tried for murder.
The trial would result in verdict of not
guilty on straight plea of insanity, but
there is a small chance of there ever be-
ing such a trial. The girls family deem
it best for her to remain where she is.
and it is not likely that anyone else will
ever take steps to show that she is not a
matte.
Sombreros Out of Fashion.