The Portland daily press., 1898-11-21

1
| besides the mayor, Messrs. Mannix.
| Ronnds Dow and Smith,, voted unani-
mously not to send LinWood to the asy
lum
WHAT THE MEMBERS SAY.
Mayor Randall when interviewed Sat
urday about the case said he did not care
to discuss the matter for publication,
but did say that if TWO local physicians
and an expert tsstfi that the man was
insane he would have voted to send him
to the asylum if it had been necessary for
him TO VOTE
Speaking Of the present system OF
commitment to the asylum which re-
quires the signatures of two physicianssto
the oomPlaint and a majority vote OF the
| municipal officers before q person can be
sent to the Augusta asylum, Mr.. han
dali said the system could not be i'm
proved upon, but that it would always
| be well for the aldermen to carefully in
vestigate each case before taking action.
| Alderman Smith was seen at his home
| Saturday night and asked why he had
voted not to send Linwood to the asylum
| Mr. Smith replied because he was not
EsI am firmly convinced THAI there is
something behind this case that nei her
the physicians who have examined the
man nor any of the aldermen are familiar
with. 1t NAV be that the man is suffer-
| ing from mOnomania but even IN that
| it did not seem to me that he would be q
dangerous person to be at large. ID g
story was told In a straight forward man
ner and am frank to say that it impressed
me with tine idea that he was not telling
anything that was untrue l did not I'm
derstand that DR.. Sanb0rn believed the
man TO be dangerous person to be at
large. Some of the things that L1nwood
told us convinced me that there must be
something behind this story. l do not
mean to say that I am convinced that he
has been prosecuted by any one in par
ticular but | do think that mistake has
| been made somewhere and l want to
know more about the Boste end OF the
story before l vote to send him to an asy-
lun. The aldermen cannot be too par
tubular in matters of this kind and 1t ia
always my endeayor to investigate the
cases carefully before am prepared to
| vote for commitment.
| Mr.. Smith further told the reporter that
he had never discussed Linwood' g case
with any one of his colleagues in the
board of aldermen and bad never ex-
pressed his opinion upon the case to any
of them.
| Alderman Mannix, who was also seen
| Saturday night by PRESS rspori ell had
| formed exactly the same opinion in re-
gard to the case as had Alderman Smith,
and had voted against commitment foI
| the same reasons. He said: 81 am con-
| Boston end of this story that we do not
know. 1t seems strange to me that Lin
wood should have been arrested on the
street, taken to the city prison and then
sent to Deer Isle if the Boston officials
/ believed him to be insane. The place for
an insane man is the asylum at Dan
vers and not the city prison or the insti-
%,.<t Tcla i or,r1h nd rrsv
| mitted no crime as far as can learn,
then why was he arrested and treated in
this ways l spoke of this matter to DIR.
Sanborn and Alderman Dow and both
gentlemen agreed with me that the action
| of the Boston officials seemed strange. l
kept notes on Llnwood 8 hrst story as
told the aldermen and compared this story
with that he told the osrd on Saturday
In both stories he named dates and fig
urss and in no way did he vary in his
| facts 1t seemed unreasonable that an in
sane person could 40 coherently ell his
story twice in succession. l think there
are many men on the streets of Portland
today who are more deranged than Lin
wood. | admit that he may be little
peculiar in some of his ways but | can
not believe that he is dangerous person
to be at large. do not care to discuss
the Boston part of the story but l will
say that believe there is much behind
all of this that we have not learned and
until | know all about 1t / shall not
change my mind in regard to the story
of the man.
Alderman Mannix thought that the syss
tenn of commitment was all right but
he believed that the aldermen should al
ways examine into these cases with the
greatest care.
Linwood, so it was stated to a re orter
Saturday night, was being cared forlat
the almshouse but will be released as soon
as he desires to leave that institution az
the authorities have no right to hold him
in custody now.
DEERTNG.