Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1897-07-21
THE HALL OF SUICIDES.
Precautions Taken at BlooaiagdaIe wItl
 Patients Who Have Suicidal Mania.

| Precautions Taken at BlooaniaEdaIe wIth Patients Who Have Suicidal Mania.
 In the Bloomingdale asylum at
 White Plains there is ward, or
 hall. as it is called, in both the male
 and the female divisions set apart
 especially for the safe keeping of pa
 tients afflicted with suicidal mania.
 Not movement of the patients con
 fined there goes unobserved.
 At o'clock in the morning they
 gre obliged to vacate their rooms in
 h b bldy. and the doors arc locked be-
 hind them, while they dress in the
 ? -lY.lGr od.side. They than repair
 to the washroom in companies of
 t!ir2e or four, accompanied by an
 attendant who keeps them under
 surveillance
 The meals are served in light and airy dining room overlooking the asylum grounds. As the pa- tients pass through the door and take their sea. 1t inc tables they are counted, and if one is found missing an immediate search is be- gun. They have the same food that Is provided for every other hall in the asylum, but arc deprived of many articles ri table service Knives and forks are never seen in this hall. The patients are obliged to eat with spofas. Glassware is also prohibited. and they drink from heavy china cups While eating they are watched by attendants, whose duty it is to see that they do not take away anything from the table when the meals are over. In order to be doubly sure of this, every spoon and piece of crockery is counted before and after each meal. Between meals these articles are kept under lock and key.
 About un hour after breakfast and dinner the patients are taken for their daily exercise in the asylum grounds, accompanied by attend ants During these walks they have to be most carefully watched, in order to prevent them from pick ing up any article which might be used to commit suicide after they l have returned to the hall On one oc- easion a man who was known to 1 have made several attempts at self destruction before boing sent to the 1 asylum came very near oluding the 1 vigilance of his keepers. While walking with tho other patients in the grounds his oyo chaueed tolight l upon a piece of broken glass lying l near the path. He was cunning enough to know that if he stooped 1 to pick it up ho would be observed. | so he feigned to stumble and fell in a heap on the ground, securing the coveted article and secreting it in his pocket His actions on return ing to the hall fortunately aroused | the suspicious of m attendant. He 1 was searched, and the glass was found.
 The rooms are so arranged that 1 an attendant sitting at one end of | the hall can keep every bed in every l room in a direct line of his vision. The patients are obliged to retire promptly at 9 o'clock. They strip | off every article of clothing, night shirts are given them and they go l to bed in a body Their clothing is left on chairs in the corridor out side of their rooms, and the doors arc securely locked.
 From tho moment they lay their heads on the pillows until it is time to rise in the morning two attend ants, one at each end of the hall, watch them. If one should move in bed in a manner to excite the suspi- cion of the watchers, they are at his bedside in a moment to sec what he is about The strain placed upon the attendants in the hall of suicides is so great that some of them are unable to stand it for more than a few weeks at Q time. Then they ask for a transfer to another hall or else resign.
 So carefully are the patients in this hall looked after that none has yet succeeded in committing suicide there. There have been suicides in but the patients have been inmates of other halls in whom the suicidal mania has suddenly de- veloped.
 It Is a peculiarity of patients so afflicted that in a majority of cases they arc to all outward appearances perfectly sane. They speak and act like rational beings, can carry on a conversation in a logical manner and, apart from tho melancholy ex- pression of their countenances, give no evidence of mental disturbance. Suicide seems remote from their thoughts, yet alienists know from that thoso patients who never refer to their designs are the ones who need the most careful Indeed attendants are less apprehensive for the safety of the patients suffering from pro nounced melapchOlia than they are of the apparently rational ones, for the reason that their suicidal pro pensitics are not of such an active nature. New York Sun.
 4 Modern Instance.