Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1897-06-07
The Gazette. Charges.


Agqinst pr, BesgStein's management
If the Hospital for Mental Diseases
and showed how groundless they
were when tho books and prop
erty. wore examined. Three
other matters yet remain that !
interest the public, Those are; the
sale Of hidssss tho erection Of the NOR
que and the violent death Of two in
mates OF tho hospital. These viii re-
ceive attention in this article.
DR.. Bergstein reports the sale of
2s7 hides during the years 1856 toy
the sum of $237 IS trife over 81
each. AS DIR. BeIgstein consigned
these hides to a nephew iu San Fran.
cisco and received less than the cur
rent price for butcher hides in Reno
MIR. Bragg claims that they were sold
for less than their value in order to
give a relative OF the DR.. a chance to
swindle the State. When the matter
is investigated, there does not seem to
be much of steal in the hide bus
mess. It must be remembered that
the animals killed for Hospital use
are small beeves and calves and that
they are slaughtered and dressed by
the patients, only one of whom Is a
butcher. Crazy men are not apt to be
very careful in their work and the
hides Governor Sadler informed us
were badly cut. This decreases their
value and they bring much less in the
market 5han hides dressed by butch
ers outside OF the Hospital. Besides
this the books show that 81 of the
hides sold were veal hides. These
are the facts as we understand them
from the books and the information
given us at the Hospital. .-
The INDEPENDENT does not be-
ieve that the State has been
swindled IN the safe OF the hides, but
it cannot escape the conclusion that
DR.. Bergstein acted very unwisely in
consignIng them to a relative. In
doing 80, he opened the way for bis
enemies to impute corrupt motives
In this connection it is not amiss to
say that DR.. Thoms, the predecessor
Of DR.. Bergstein, made no mention of
hides in His report for 1912 and 1893.
4. Our readers should not infer from
this that DR.. Thoms appropriated the
hides to his own use as they are
doubtless included under another
heading. q
Tho erection Of a dead house OF
morgue and it's proximity to the
building in which the milk and but.
ter is kept is another source Of com
plant. The mofgue is a substantial
brick building erected % or 80 feet
from the milk hous Sc. All autopsies
are held here ON the bodies of pa
tients. We examined the location Of
the buadiag and failed to see any
improperly liz building it where. it
is. It certainly cannot have any
effcct ON the milk and butter in a
building 25 or 80 feet away. All
such claims are but the freake Of Q
disordered imagination. A trip to
the hospital and an inspection Of the
building would certainly convince
any reasonable man OF the ground
lessness of the complaint that the
milk and butter could be affected by
the proximity Of the morgue to the
milk house. The morgue cest tho
the State S5O2.96. We. take it that
the construction Of this building was
a necessity or it would not have
been built. But on this we express
no opinion as we have no Informs
ton ON the subject.
During the years 1865 two pa
tlents Dest their lives at the hospital
through accidents, one by falling
from tho roof Of the Hospital and the
othsr by drowning in the Truckes
river. 1t is claimed by DR.. Berg
a.a;,,,a critica that khaae deathn urA