The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-08-30


ants.
Things looked black for the petted
spirited society beauty, when her friend
Mrs. Jack Bloodgood interested Ger.
self IN the case and managed. with al
torney de Lamere to obtain an interview
with Mrs. Wilmerding. Then they saw
Mrs Wilmerding's attorney. Mr.. Levy
who fatty denied me Diagnosis OF ar
FaAa2 physician THAI the patient had
insipient pareSs. and insisted that hi:
client was perfectly sane. All cslis has
caused q great upheval in New York soci
ETY., which has had 50 much 10 shock and
disturb Fl that by this time r should os
getting used 10 almost anything
SHE TELLS HER TALE
Meanwhile Mrs. Wilmerding IS not ST
lent She decares to the world iler sanity
and the story of her wrongs:
The sense of felplessness is one OF the
most frigsltful OF the awf1E chain OF sem
sattoTls felt by the sane among the insane
I have thought of escape and laughed al
Utle frlldltty OF II I could go no where
nowhere except under the cold gfeam o!
an attendants waechful. unsympathecc
eye. l felt like a miserable. half-dead
mouse, with an alert, over-grown cat not
& foot away.
~ am keenly sensitive 90 injustice. AS
a child I resented It. As a woman Tebel
against II. have never aeSitated 70
shrow my anger when felt thar a wrong
had been done me. In fact, 1 confess 70
having shared in a few scenes. domestic
and otherwise. but anger az injustice done
isn't insanity and tears are not rawlings.
The injustice OF putting a broken-hearr
ed. frIendIess woman IN Blooming'dale
asylum is an outrage, and I nave pro-
tested against it as any woman Of spirit
would have done 1t is because I have
grown angry at wrongs done me that
[ was brought here. and that IS why I
am kept-wily. indeed have been some
times paced in that chamber OF horrors
they call ward No 7. or the Disturbed
Ward. And l say now that II l never
como our into the light OF free heaven
that it is a high-ilanced outrage, a crime.
to keep me here, where my Ceason Is
endangered
Mrs Wllmerding constantly makes that
plea-that now she is sane. but Il kept
among the insane she VIII surely lose her
wits and go mad too
THE most painful thing about the many
sad Things in life Of the same with the in
nature cannot bear the strain muctl longer
and that you Wiz in time become a luna
tic yourself. I believe that many a. per-
son Of sound mind has gone into an in
sane asylum. became insane because OF
ASSOCIATION and died a mailman
Because I ripped up an old hat they
put me in Ward Z. 1 thought 1 was in
hell.
Imagine my surroundings-you whose
relatives have not thought you would be
in their way at their own homes. and 50
put You in Rlooningdale. l was in a
long. narrow sparsely furnished ward On
either side sat wild women creatures
most of them tied in their chairs. They
were shrieking, singing laughing. and cry
ing in every conceivable key. Next me
was a midde-aged woman with eyes
afame. She got as close to me as her
hands would allow. She struck her bony
fists upon her knees and each time she
struck she yelled:
my names Rosie! My names Rosie!'
Some Of the women cursed in the most
fearful way.
Some screamed nike lost souls.
Hell could Show nothing more terrible.
7 felt. indeed. as though 1 had died and
gone to hell. I had to fight that strange
fancy, or believe my reason would have
left me
1t is terrible 10 contemplate. very ter
AYERS Bur this is something as yet uDde
IT.
less victim of excess. Born into a lux1I-
Idous estate bright witted. beauty. mar
ried under fair auspices in her twentieth
year. there can hardly be more wretch
ed fate than that which has befalien
the beautiful gTeat-grand- daughter of the
famous old commodore, as she moves
up and down ne rluUur1ous
prison, always restless. al ways dreading
the horrible NO. T."
wEARIsOME MONOTONY.
She complains OF the wearing mop1tony.
She whose life used to be 50 varied and 50
0rimfm Of the joy Of living
There IS yet another reason why a. per
SON who is compos mentos on entering
may become non compos
nenc1s while there. 1t is the fearful mo
1otony and lack Of occupation. I car
strum on the piano a little. il is true. but
DO not like music. Some of the women
smbroider a little. 1 have taken up a
piece but do not like 1t. / have tried TO
Read Peter Sterling Of late Mrs. Blood
rood brought me silk for shirt waist
md I am making that II IS tile only oc-
,upation that have found pleasant since
I've been here I am fond of athletic
ports and my physical health would have
faster If had been allowed 10
fde a bicycle. but when I asked the doc
or for that privilege, he said Wet,
7ou are crazy 70 want % ride a bicycle"
others do so
seven months of hre such as this IS
weary time . grievous one, a time thnt
would make some women mad"
No matter which way the verdict swings
Re history ~ This far. fran woman car
les a heavy warning against self-lndul-
renee. dissipation AMI self-seelCug /
Trough for years she tTas spoiled exist
nee and for months has utterly guf-
ered. she IS still beautiful and still young /
the IS only IS
IN tue title court room AZ White Plains. /
where she has tod the p3tf1l details /
Z the Joys mat were hers IN eae days /
when she wass enved. Mrs. Jack c. Wi /
aerding rea ppeared yesterday between Z /
aIrse Of tn eBIooulu S5aie asylum and an /
friend
To this intimate frfersd-Mrs. Jack Blood /
GOD v>1o danced as E}od IN The Con- /
Iuerorors." IN tt7e two or three hours +
When she VS. nDr q sister Of charity /
< her husbands BEDSIDE every 6ay-M-s. I
ADDRESSED ber comments on /
re opinions expresses 5y foyr Yrlysic>sns 1
xpeTts ~ insanity. s1r11ga5y unEed n 4