The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-03-30
One Leaps From Wagon and
Boards a Train
inst as 1t is Leaving Tecumseh
This Morning.
STRUGGLES WITH MEN
Who Seek to Keep Her From In
iuring Herself.
Another Insane Woman Found
Wandering Around.

This morning Geo. SPAIN, SANTA |
Fe shop employe who lives at lo5 |
North Klein street. drove to Tecumsea
with his sick wife to receive treatmens
from DR.. Reed When they arTlwiu T.i1i
there the Santa Fe passenger trdll t |
y hich reaches Topeka at 1880 was
standing at the depot
AS they neared it with blood curd-
ling scream Mrs. SPAIN Suddef:ly |
leaped from the wagon and rushed
for the train. You're going to tak9
me somewhere to hurt me- she crIed |
back in a wild, jeering tone to her
b dumbfounded husband. Before ne |
could tie his horses she reached tne |
train and jumped aboard as 1t was
hind.
All the way to Topeka Mrs SPAIN
raved violently. She was bound to
jump off the swiftly flying train, and
only by great efforts of the train force
was she held on. She struggled with
twice her natural strength.
Before the cars stopped at the TOpe-
ka depot she ran out upon the platform
and fell. The conductor was right be-
hind her, and he picked her up care
fully and held her until the train stop
ped When she fell to the platform
of the car, Depot Master Pat Sherman
and Police Officer Frank PARCELS ran
to her, and they assisted her from the
car when it stopped The case was
explained to PARCELS, and Mrs. SPAIN
acquiesced when he asked her to ac-
company him.
When they passed the baggage room,
however, Mrs. SPAIN became violent
again and refused to go. crying that
the officer was going to take her to a
bad place" PARCELS called an ex-
press wagon, and she was driven to the
county Jail.
A herculean struggle took place when
Jailer Larry Sheehan, Under Sheriff
Bert Lucas and officer PARCELS at
tempted to carry her up the stairs to
be T1 oh mt
me in this place" she screamed. When
they finally got her into room, the
jailer could not get out, for every time
he started out she would take hold of
him and walk out behind him
For an hour Mrs. SPAIN raved in the
room until her mother, who resides
here, came to see her. She kept cry
ing, Let me out; you'll be fined, to
the jailer- When her mother came,
however, she was quiet and she was
allowed to go home with her with the
understanding that Mrs. SPAIN should
be treated.
The woman has been sick and weak
for a few weeks, and has shown symp-
toms of wandering mind. 1t is believ-
ed she viii regain her faculties when
her health is restored.
Another case of dementia is at the
county Jail today. In the side cell at
the jail there is queer looking woman
dressed in most outlandish fashion.
Her dress from her head to her feet is
all of one piece, and is made of coars-
est kind of brown cloth. She wears a
yellow leather belt three inches wide
around her waist, and one might take
her for the new woman desperate. If
he did not know that the poor creature
is insane. Her face is thin and her
black hair is parted in the middle; she
wears an old fashioned comb in it. All
night long last night she paced her cell
and cried ''I want to get out, want to
get OUT with unceasing repetition. A
number of times she tried to climb out
the grated window. During today,
however, she was calm.
The woman was found wandering on
the highway Saturday morning five
miles east of Topeka. She stopped at
the home of George Beam, and inquir-
ed if she was on the Hannibal road.
She was told that she was not, and she
was taken into the house and given
something to eat. Mr.. Beam was COM
ing to town. and brought her with him.
When Newland's grocery in Park
dale was reached. Miss Echman, so
she gave her name, jumped from the
wagon, and, saying she lived but a
block from there, walked away. While
Beam wondered at this he did not fol-
low her, but came up town to do his
trading.
When the farmer returned to his
home in the evening he was amazed
to find the Echman woman there. She
had evidently retraced the five miles
foot.
From his talk with her, Beam hat
no doubt of her insanity and immed
lately hitched up again and brought
her to town and turned her over to TIL,
county jailer. He SwOre out a com
plant before Probate Judge Wood, anC
the hearing was set for o'clock thi:
afternoon
A reporter talked to the insane wo
man in her cell today while she wa;
writing a letter to her mother in Cher
~ Dale, Marion county, Mo. She wrot
slowly and laboriously and looked III
hsuessly when questions were asked
She talked ramblingly.
My name is Ida Echnan" she said
I am 40 years old. I started to e,
to the mountains from Missouri bu
got ticket only to Emporia 1 didn'
have any more money. The mayo
there got me a ticket here. but
couldn't get one any farther and i
was getting dark and had no place +,
stay, and 1 started out to walk
The woman must have spent Frida-
night shelterless in the country Sb
was noticed by several people standin,
on Kansas avenue Friday afternoon
Miss Echman is the woman mentione
in Saturday evenings Journal in
dispatch from Emporia stating tina
she had been sent here, and was in
sane.
Just why Shawnee county should b
made to bear the expense of the unfo1
tunate creatures trial for her SAINT
when she was known in Emporia to b
insane is not easy to see. She shoul
De sent to her home in Cb0rV.xr Dal