The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-12-30
UGLY REPORTS FOR SEVERAL
MONTHS HAVE BEEN uEApD
ABOUT THE INSTITUTION
BROUGHT TO HEAD
BY RECENT EVENTS
TWO CoRPSEs SENT HOME, THE
FRIENDS DECLARE, BRUISED
AND BATTERED
SUPPRESSED SCANDAL
ALSO GOSSIPED

The Board of Trustees Forced ,o
Make an Investigation as Re-
suit of the Stories That HAVE
Reached the Public Ear-May
Begin TOday-The MfnneapoIt.
Cases Not the Only Ones.
Inat condition Of affairs that need
Su 01ilhS exists In the state insane hos
pltaIs OF this state has long been sus-
pected by people whose attention ner-
sohal or of1cial, has been called to the
status of these institutions For months
rumors have been afloat that involved
these hospitals and especially the ST.
Peter institution, and now within the
week, two corpses have been brought
from that institution, both of which
sorroWlng relatives declare showed
marks of battering and bruising which
seem to warrant investigation. and.
"hlch In one case, has inspired a pri-
Vate organization to pursue an inquiry
OH It's own behalf into the causes lead
ing UP to the death Of Adclph Win
qulst OF Minneapolis, a day or two
ago.
There was a change IN the STAFF at
the st. Peter hospital last spring
which, thanks to the star chamber
methods pursued by the beard of trus-
tees In company with other state
boards, which cherish such traditions.
did not attract any notice The board
OF managers was too anxious to keep
1t quiet, because unpleasant charges
had been made against one Of the phy-
s1cians whose name ceased to appear
on the hospital pay rolls. The doctor
was, perhaps, as innocent of the
| charges made against him then. as
he is of the murder of the two patients
recently sent dead to their homes in
Minneapolis, but If he was innocent.
| then he should have been. permitted to
prove it to the public.
It has been openly charged in the
press recently, that a woman patient
at ST. Peter was subjected to such
abuses that her removal to the hospi-
tai at Rochester was provided for. No
denial of this charge has ever come
from the st. Peter hospital The
G o e has made some inquiry into
the case in question, and is rewarded
with the statement of the secretary of
the board, who is also the resident di-
rector of the Rochester hospital. that
the woman suffered from d delusion
that she had a certain disease. Her
| husband too. not an inmate of the
hospital Secretary Titus SAYS. was
'deluded" into believing that her de-
fusion was fact.
ARE THESE DELUSIONS?
Similarly, perhaps, it will be attempt
ed to establish that the teeth of Mrs.
john G. Bauer were not missing when
her corpse reached her former home.
but that her sorrowing husband was
"deluded' into believing that her teeth
were not there.
Similarly, too, perhaps, Mrs. Adolph
WinQuist did not see frightful lacera-
| tiCns on the body of her dead husband.
but was 'deluded" into the notion that
/ the corpse was mangled.
The frequency of such "delusions"
1npels one to wonder, at least, whether
or not the ST. Peter insane hospitaI
deserves the name of hospital so charft-
ably bestowed upon it. The popular
sense of the word hospital implies in
telligent treatment tending toward the
bereft CT the confined, and was adopted
by reason of supposed harshness in
the wcrd asylum
If the cases of Mrs. Bauer and Of
Adolph Winquist are what they an
! pear to be, then the proper name to
apply to that massive fortress that
| oVerlooks the valley of the Minnesota
river from the plateau back Of st. Peter
| is neither hospital nor asylum. This
! state is paying hundreds of thousand
Of dollars annually for immense str1c
lures. equipped with the finest of sur
gfcal apparatus, broad acres of we'll
kept greensward, and indeed, the best
that nature and science can give to the
help of those suffering people whose
reason has been dethroned. can bo
carefully and properly cared for-not
maltreated
is CLUBBING DESIRED?
The maniac can be dubbed to death
in charnel house as well as in a pal
ace, and, if that is the end and aim Of
| an institution, the state might save
money by employing a couple of Her
culean bruisers in Carver's cave and
let mature take its course"
Who was Winquist?
A laborer, for years employed in the
waterworks department in Minneapo-
| lis
What was his delusion?
That he was soldier.
And Agate Anderson, the deputy
sheriff who took him to the hospital
ten days ago, says that the briefest
demand was all that was necessary to
keep Winquist in absolute quiet, as
though he were under military or
ders
This was the man whose corpse was
brought home Wednesday, with bruises
on face, knees, elbows, and in parts
of the trunk where the possibility of
their being self-in1icted, his friends
| say, seems unlikely.
The undertaken who called at the
hospital for the body was told that the
scars on the. face We're there when
Winquist came there.
Deputy Sheriff Anderson says that
they were not. 1t might be question