The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-01-15
CLUB CURE FOR INSANITY.
A PIECE OF ROUGH SURGERY THAT
SURPRISED THE DOCTORS.

From the New York sun
During my career as a physician"
said the man with the white whiskers.
81 have observed number of cases where
men apparently hopeessly insane have
recovered their mental balance by mere
accident. About year and a half ago.
though. cure was effected in the most
remarkable fashion have ever heard of.
and have been studying diseases of the
mind for more than forty years.
1T has been my practice for some time
to spend three or four months out of each
year at one of the biggest insane asyiums
in the state. They have about $500 pa
tents in the institution, and the oppor-
tunities for studying the various phases
of dementia are unexcelled. Nearly two
! years ago l shut up shop here and made
my accustomed trip to the asylum. which
is about 200 miles from this city ana stu
ated on top of a mountain overlooking
some of the finest scenery in this state
My friend Dr. Wells, the Superintendent.
greeted me cordially, and in response to
my inquiry as to whether he had anything
more than usually interesting said
mo unless Mr.. Blank will amuse you
MIR. Blank turned out 20 be handsome
stalwart man. He was in one of thel paw
wards. and was allowed to indulge his
slightest within. He had been a prosperous
man and the owner of a
large business. Some months be-
fore his incarceration in the as
YUM he had shown signs of insanity and
had been sent to sanitarum. There he
was nursed back into apparent sanity and
resumed life where he had left off. In less
than two months he made an attempt to
kill his wife and committed other acts of
violence He was examined by a number
of experts, who pronounced him hopelessly
insane and advised his immediate incar-
ceration in the asylum which / am in the
habit of visiting.
We'll, found Mr.. Blank an exceedingly
interes ting patient. He had bad spells and
good spells and when not violent was a
splendid subject to study. There was APP
parently no reason for his insanity. Care
full examination had revealed no accident
and Investigations into his ancestry and
his own mode of life showed nothing to
explain his condition. For a dozen gen
erations no member of his family had suf-
fered from any mental disorder, and his
own life was AN exemplary one. He was
addicted to no excuses, and had not al
lowed his large business interests to alb
sorb him so as to break him down. Plainly,
he was not paretic; in view of all of
which he was more than interesting.
I'm his moments of violence he was one
of the worst patents / have ever seen.
Strong and powerful, he would bang the
keepers around like so many ninepins. A
straitjacket would hold him in, but it was
next to impossible to get one on him. On
the other hand, he was one of the gentlest,
most cultivated men have ever seen when
rational. L don't think he ever quite realiz-
ed where he was or what was the matter
with him, but sometimes you could talk
to him by the hour on topics of the day
and he would discuss them most inteli-
gently and without a sign of his trouble.
ITO guard this man the superintendent
of the asylum had assigned a keeper whom
| shall call Jack for convenience. Jack
was a big, good-natured fellow, who had
handled lunatcs for ten years and knew
his business thoroughly. He was fearless
and had remarkable control of his tenn
per- a characteristic which made him an
exceedingly valuable man. In all his ex-
perence, though, don't believe Jack had
ever had to handle so tough a patient as
MIR. Blank. Why, Blank would tackle him
Unexpectedly, and without a word of
warning plant a big fist In his eye or on
his nose. Jack used to quit at night some
times with both eyes backened and his
nose red and swollen. The beatings that
man took were something remarkable, and
used to be sorry for him If he could on
ly hit back, there might have been some
happy moments In the job; but the rule
against striking patients was rigidly en-
forced in the asylum and not only would
a keeper who broke II be discharged but
he would also be prosecuted in court. The
keepers were all armed with hypodermic
syringes loaded with a mixture that would
send patient into trance In two minutes
IL properly injected This was the only de-
fence they had against attacks, and some
times they would be horribly manled be-
fore they got chance to use II.
well, one day DIR. Wells and / went
into Blanks room to see how he was get
ting along. We found Blank sitting in one
corner with a sullen expression on his
face, and Jack standing over the sink
alternately bathing his right eye with cold
water and wipng blood, which was flow
ing from his nose, from his face. Blank
had had tantrum, and had done up his
keeper in short order. While we were
standing there, Blank suddenly sneaked
up 10 Jack, and, before we could stop him.
punched him twice in the face with ter
rife force. Well / never saw such an I'M
holy look come into the keepers at that
moment He gave a roar of anger, and
grabbing a chair rung from a corner of
the room, cracked the lunauc over the
head with it with tremendous force Dr.
Wells and 1 sprang forward to stop him,
but we were too late. Blank threw up both
hands and sank in a heap on the floor
Jack staggered into a corner, dazed by
what he had done, while Dr. Wells and
1 picked Blank up and carried him over
to his bed.
Honestly, / thought the man was dead
H, had about as bad a fracture of the
SIX II as have ever seen. Ii took us what
seemed an age to find his pulse and get
him in any kind of condition. Then DR.
Wells turned to the keeper, who was still
standing in the corner.
Jack he said gravely, you've come
mighty near to killing this man BY your
act you have disgraced the asylum and
me- I'm sorry for you, but you'n have to
take the consequences. You're suspended
for the present, but don't leave the
grounds.
"Three days after this Blank showed
signs of returning consciousness. 1t was a
blessing for poor Jack that his life was
spared but we coulden't help but feel
that II would have been a mercy had he
died Now comes the remarkable part Of
1t all. As Blank improN ed, we noticed a
decided change in the expression on his
face. The old look of ferocity and the far
away expression which he wore alterna-
tely before the assault had disappeared
In their place was a puzzled look but no
aigr ~ insanity One of his first fttestiops