St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-03-10
CROWDED LANES OF LUNACY
Hundreds Of Patients De-
prived Of Even Fair Ac-
commodations.
WOMEN SLEEP ON FLOORS.
hospital Officials Powerless
to Do Anything in the
Matter.

Conditions exist at the St Peter
hospital for the insane that the
state of Minnesota should be
ashamed Of.
This statement is true, not be-
cause of mismanag cement or willful
Wastefulness on the part of the Of
ficers of the institution, but because
of a disgraceful failure on the part
of the state to properly provide for
the poor creatures sent to ST. Peter
by process of law and for the safety
of society.
This institution is forced to re-
cefve the insane from thirty-siX
counties of the state. In round num-
bers there are now 1000 inmates, or
close to that figure. The facilities
to properly accommodate over two
thirds of these at the outside are
entirely lacking. In several instances
the buildings in which the afflicted
beings are lodged are not simply de-
fective, but they are dangerous even
to the health of the most robust sane
person.
Think of two grown women, crazy,
fretful and suspicious, being forced
to sleep in single bed.
Imagine a lot of sick, weak and
demented females forced to sleep on
the floor in the corridorsl
Conceive if you can, dear reader,
a rich and enlightened common
wealth allowing such niggardly ac-
cOmmodations that twenty or thirty
beds must be placed in a room whose
cubic air space is sufficient only for
half a dozen!
Imagine what a sweet-smelling,
health giving, mind-strengthenin
place such a room will be on a hot
night in midsummer
Consider how wise and generous a
state must be to it's stricken and
hopeless ones when it allows six
beds to be packed into room big
enough for one! Then in your minds
eye see the door shut on possibly
ten or twelve insane people planted
in that room for the night!
Alas, for the rarity of Christian
charity in the breasts OF healthy and
happy record-seeking legislators,
who pinch the pennies on appropria-
tions, while thousands are wasted
because of bad facilities and abso-
lutely uncontrolla BILE conditions.
The heart aches and the mind is
stunned when one has seen these
things and analyzes their meaning.
BAD, WORSE, ACCOUNTABLE.
A GLOBE reporter went through the
st. Peter hospital with a committee of
legislators yesterday, and writes of
what he saw and heard and felt and
revolted against. While others may
have passed with laugh on the lip or
the passing word of pity, the eye
trained to observe and the mind
schooled to consider, compare and an
alyze even the commonest scenes and
incidents, work together in producing
impressions that last. From the first
moment I set foot in the first ward
there began to grow on me a feeling
that sickening experience was being
gained-that inhumanity and legislat-
i've monkeying with sacred trusts were
ings, by idiots
Every corridor was crowded with all
sorts of patients, more particularly in
the female wards. Every sitting room
and recreation room were alive with
lodging, dancing, declaiming or de-
plorably respondent creatures-the
quiet ones staring and wondering; the
chronic maniacs imploring or threat
m hEvt tntr fIaO 49,
ing more volubly than they talked:
the rough ones jostling nurses as well
as fellow patients; the unruly ones.
under the nurses watchful eye, seek
ing to be clear of restraint; and some
even laying hands OH visitors as when
one quietly vicious woman pushed the
reporter almost off his feet and barked
his shin with a misplaced kick.
On through one hall, into another.
and still the same. In an endeavor to
make the trip through these lanes of
lunacy as agreeable as possible, win
dows were thrown wide open and the
cold wind swept through to sweeten
the air and prevent offense to the nos
trils. With these windows shut and
all the hundreds of women breathing
the limited amount Of air supplied. the
unhealthful and repellant, in odor. and
in fact. In not one instance is the
ventilation good, for the reason that
not the slightest Improvement in this
respect has been made in these build
ings since they were first erected
I found one room where the men as
signed to remain there cannot all be
seated at one time, when all are pres
-
with patients that even the dullest
mind would rebel against the cramped
conditions apparent. In the room
where the men assemble who assist
in the farm and outside work the smell
of the barn, of the horse, was too
strong and prevalent to be endured for
more than very brief period.
Standing or seated in doorways and
in window receSSeS were scores of i'm
beetles, almost as imperfect in bodily
health as in mental capacity. In open
daylight with ventilation as free as
might be, with freedom of movement
and the ease that comes from choice of
position, these corridors present pic
ture of being criminally crowded
crowded to the danger line-crowded
beyond the power of doctor or nurse
to do effectual work-crowded to death,
while representatives of a rich and a
proud state withhold that which cor
rodes and rots some hearts, which,
properly used, might save many lives.
1t is nothing less than Wonderful-a
magnificent, even if silent, tribute to
the skill and management of Dr. Tom