The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-02-25
DR.. THOMAS'S DEFENSE
SUPERINTENDENT OF SOUTHERN
HOSPITAL REPLIES TO CHARGES.
He Denies that He Has Becn NegIect-
full of His Duties and Cites the
Hospitals Record as Proof.

To the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal:
Feeling now that the criticisms of the
newspapers on myself medical superin-
tendent of this hospital have reached their
utmost limit, / hope it is proper for me
to make my statement. 1 have waited pa
tiently and felt that it was not proper for
me to rush into print in an undignified and
hasty manner. AS some of these criticisms
have been printed in your paper / hope
you will allow me space to reply to them.
shall be as brief as possible.
First am charged with habitual drunk
enness and that l am incapacitated from
cause. IT has also been stated that / adj
mitted this fact. ! said I drank whisky
been incapable of attending to my duties
from this cause. i did not acknowledge
did not cry and tell the COMMITTEES or any
one that 1 would resign If the report was
not made y prDe eoua not b
would be an admission of guilt. 1t is not
my. disposition to shiri my duty while
retent from drunkenness why liz Ii that
the hospital has made such a record? 1t Is
admitted that my corps of employees is
composed of good and capable people Who
selected these employees? / did, every one
OF them on my own judgment l desire to
present in connection with this charge, the
following facts, as can be seen in the
third biennial report Of this hospital:
pital in the State and / know of only one
in the United States which presents lower
death rate.
The percentage Of cures is much larger
than any hospital In the State and there
are only a few in the United states with
The lowest per capita of expense of any
of the. State hospitals--let the calculation
be made upon any basis
There have been no suicides, no homicides,
no serious accidents since it organized
and opened more than four years since.
HOW could all these things haDDen with
drunken superintendent. as he has to do
mo more .o than all others IN bringing about
In this connection am reminded of one
of Mr.. Lincolns experiences while he was
printed in the newspapers. When It was was
known that General Grant was to be trans
to be commander-n-chief of the armies
Of the United. States and to take imme-
mac, a large delegation of preachers from
New England went to see Mr.. Lincoln to
protest against the appointment Of General
Grant to this position account of sian
dercus charges of intemperance which had
been made against him. Mr.: Lincoln list
man OF, the. delegation il he. knew what
brand of whisky General Grant drank. This
astonished the preachers, and they asked
Why he propounded such question. Mr..
Lincoln replied that he wanted to know
barrels and have 1t distributed to the prin-
clpal officers of the Army of the Potomac,
al Of whom had been SO unfortunate in
."Fhe bearings of this. oberwation lies in
the application on it," as Cartain Jack
Bunsby so sagely remarked to Captain
Cutie.
second--T am charged With borrowing
mt ney from employ es and making appoint
ments to places depend upon such accom-
norations; in fact. that / was a place
broker and trafficked upon the necessities
of the poor women and men who We're
could for a moment believe this. All money
! borrowed was obtained as a purely bust
hess transaction. statement is made as
70 transaction of this kind with Miss
Mary Shannon. and it was said that the
authority of the trustees had to be called
upon before would pay it. | promised
Vas made si,perintendent more a.1e t fhsa' a
year before / was appointed. Some time
before | came to this hospital Miss Shan.
| asked me to have it deposited in a bank
for her. This was done. the money dra v
| Miss Shannon offered to let me have the
n Grey at per cent. interest. took the
stree have tonight q letter in my pos
session from Miss Shannon in which she
| denies having given Senator White the in
formation he gave the newspapers after
| returning to Indianapolis from the hospital
| Also, a letter from Miss Cora Wood, who
| was present at the interview between Dr.
| White and Miss shannon. in which Miss
Shannon's statement given above is fully
me voluntarily as soon as these girls saw
the publication of DIR. Whites statement
for must IS confess that ! have been so UNI
| had a burden OF debt resting on me for
many years, some of which has been paid
| spares me. For this reason [ have bor-
roWed money both from banks and pri-
Vate individuals. There is man whom /
| owe borrowed money but feels perfectly
safe as to his being paid.
| Is also made against me. Now, II is well
known that the superntendents of insane
| hospitals in this state have nothing to do
ing OF contracts. The trustees perform the
| latter duty, and the steward is the pur-
| supplies are delivered and placed in the
store. then 1t Is my duty to see that econo-
my v,,, Obtains , in the issue and use of these
| requisition books, In duplicate, when + came
here, and upon these acquisitions. approved
| of departments and receipted for by them
| Not a shoestring can be issued except upon
| acquisitions or stubs Will show how eco
| nomically l have administered that part
| OF my duty. In fact, my people in the
house consider me crank upon the saving
| of the stores and property of the State DR..
| White says ! do not present any vouchers
| for my contingent expenses He evidently
| meant receipts, as no money can be paid
| here except upon properly attested vouch-
err. The contingent, voucher consists of
| such as postage, expressage. freight rail-
road fare occasionally. l was never asked
by the board to file any receipts for these
small items. nor do 1 believe this is re-
| CURED Of any other head of an institution
l III tlle F,tdtt IL WOuiu De Il very lnCOnyent-
| ent matter to take receipts for postage
| stamps, railroad fare, etc. Upon examina-
ton of reports Of the expenditures of the
different institutions my contingent cx-
penses will be found smaller than any
Fourth-It is said that the hospital is con-
Quoted upon a partisan basis. 1t is true
that upon an average there have been more
| Democrats here than Republicans NV
| course In selecting employees has been never
| to ask the politics of the person who APP
piled. / never knew the politics of the
! house until the polls were taken at the gen
eral election. There has always been quite
n proportion of Republicans i'm the service
At one time it said that there were
| more Republicans in the service than Dem
| ocra5s. There were. on the day the lesis-
lative committee visited here, twenty -four
| Democrats eleven Republicans three whose
politics were unknown, and two minors on
the pay roll. The chief engineer the as
sistant engineer, the laundryman, florist
| chief farmer and chief night watch are
| Republicans. l have always, in filling q
vacancy, promoted the best man to the
| place. l have never bothered myself con
| corning their politics. | neither knew nor
! cared what their political faith was SO the
men and women hired were fitted for the
| positions they held. Since / have been the
| superintendent of this hospital / have en-
deavored in modest, dgnified and con-
/ scientious way to perform my duty When
/ / took charge of the premises the house was
/ incomplete and only partially furnished.
/ The grounds were almost swamp the
4 fall MIA