The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1897-05-20
THE HALL OF SUICIDES.
Precautions Taken at BIoOmingdale With
Patients Who Have Suicidal Mania.

Precautions Taken at BIoomingdaIe with
Patients Who Have Suicidal Mania.
In the Bloomingdale asylum at
White Plains there is a 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
are obliged to vacate their rooms in
a body, and the doors are locked be-
hind them, while they dress in the
corridor outside. They then repair
to the Mushroom in companies of
three or four, accompanied by an
attendant, who keeps them under
surveillance.
The meals are served in a light
and airy dining room overlooking
the asylum grounds. AS the pa
tients pass through the door and
take their seats at the 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 are deprived of
many articles of table service.
Knives and forks are never seen in
this hall. The patients are obliged
to eat with spoons. 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 an 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
have returned to the hall. On one oc-
casion a man who was known to
have made several attempts at self
destruction before being sent to the
asylum came very near Guiding the
vigilance of his keepers. While
walking with the other patients in
the grounds his eye CHANGED to light
upon a piece of broken glass lying
near the path. He was cunning
enough to know that if he stopped
to pick it up he 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 an attendant. He
was searched, and the glass was
found.
The rooms are SO arranged that
an attendant sitting at one end of
the hall can keep every bed in every
room in a direct line of his vision.
The patients are obliged to retire
promptly at 8 o'clock. They strip
off every article of clothing, night
shirts are given them and they go
to bed in a body. Their clothing is
left on chairs in the corridor out
side of their rooms, and the doors
are securely locked.
From the 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 moment to see 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
few weeks at a 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
Bloomingdale but the patients have
been inmates of other halls in whom
the suicidal mania has suddenly de-
veloped.
It is a popularity of patients so
afflicted that in a majority of cases
they are to all outward appearances
perfectly sane. They speak and act
like rational beings, can carry on
conversation in a logical manner
and, apart from the melancholy ex-
preston of their countenances, give
no evidence of mental disturbance.
Suicide seems remote from their
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