Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1899-12-20
MADISON ASYLUM.

MADISON ASY llUM
Report of the Board of Control on In
sane at wintcrset.
Special to Times Republican.
Des Moines. Dec. 20.-1'he board of
control has just made public its report
on the Madison county asylum. The in
stitution was visited by Judge Kline,
who wrote the report as follows:
The lower story of the building is de-
voted to the care of the women, and
contained room used as dining room,
with table covered with an oil closh.
Several other rooms for inmates, gem
orally furnished with bed only. The
second story is for the care of the men,
and is similarly arranged, except that
there is no dining room; the men being
fed on tin plates in their rooms. From
each story there is access to water clos
cts, but there is no water. The building
is heated on each floor by two stoves.
which are set into the walls. and so ar
ranged that they are expected to heat
two rooms and the hall. They are sur
rounded by wire screens. The rooms
are good sized, Well lighted, but the in
terror of the building the walls are
dirty and dingy, evidently have not
been repaired for years. Opening from
| the lower story there is yard back of
the building. surrounded by a high wood
fence, in which. it is said. the women
are let out once a week, or once in Two
weeks, for half day or Il day at a
vrt. "A
1.-The attendant, man, had no previous
experience in the care of insane people.
| The physicians, of which there appear
TO be five, take turns In visiting the in
stitution when called There is no tele-
| phone connection with the city. They
| visit the insane and paupers alike.
| The superintendent receives $500 pei
annum and keep for himself and fam
lily The physicians Sio0 for the insane
| patients for the whole county, and this
| they divide between them. They furnish
their own medicines: no medical stores
are kept at the institution except VIVA
farmers usually keep. There is no rec
4 ord of prescriptions or changes IN the
| condition of patients. The only restraint
4 is to lock up patients at night or whef
/ they are dangerous or difficult to care
| for. When lookup is resorted TO on ac'
/ count of the dangerous condition OF tins
| patient, it is ordered by the stewart
and done by him. No record is kept OF
4 the case Physicians supervise thesdlet'
larry only when the patients are SICK
Meat is produced on the place. They
Il usually kill two or three beeves a year
4 and thirty two hogs. They purchase
some meat during the summer, bur DC
/ not know how much. They raise thei1
4 own wheat and have it ground at th'
i mill. Make their own butter and use i
/ all. Drugs are furnished by the physi-
clans.
The beds are part iron and part wood
1 They have straw ticks. WOODEN blan
kets and comforts, feather pillows ant
/ pillow cases Bedding is changed onc'
4 a week Two women sleep in one bed
otherwise only one patient sleeps in
{libed. There is no nightwatch ana M
lone sleeps IN the building where rhes
Fl people are confined. outside of them
selves. In the event of fire nreaklnl
& out in the building it would be newt
4 able that some of them would be badi.
burned. If not deprived of life. Waite
lis obtained from wells and ice from
Ilpond. They have movable bath tu
and battle their inmates once a week
sometimes once in two weeks. and the.
saw they usually arrange it so that tn
4 water is comfortable.
Three or four inmates battle in tn
same water.
They have no fire protection what
ever except the cistern They pay fror
SIS to Sc a suit for mems clothing an
{ for women they pay l2la cents per var
for material. Underwear 81 per SUIT 70
men; boots and shoes, $3.50 per PAIR TO
men and women. They claim the foo
is we'll cooked and Well served. The
have no crockery. Use tin pans eXclu
siyely 10 serve the food on to inmates
Three meals per day. No cases 9
abuse of patients. They have four epi
Ilantics three men and one woman, an
one man is very filthy. They claim tn
patients have regular exercise IN tn
omen air. but there is one man who ha
never been let out. and three wome
are only let out. as we have said before
. about once in two weeks. The wome
are kept separate from the men an
There is no connection between thei
!, department and that of the men. Ther
lis no classification of patients. Some {
tha men work on the farm and garder
: and some of the women do houseworl
! There are no amusements and no or
+ portunity for religious worship. 1t
a claimed that one man has gone nom
recovered They cannot tell the cos
of support. only they say that last yea
the support of thirty-five inmates in a
: cost from 81, 500 to $4,000. This include
e the expense of the superintendent an
: attendant, but not the physicians, an
3 only included the other things the
4 were bought. 1t did not include fari
: products. The farm consists of 275i
, acres. worth s45 per acre. The buile
r ings are heated with stoves and lighte
: with kerosene.
: When asked why the man attendal
: did not sleep in the insane building tt
:, answer was that formerly man di
e and it was claimed he got the consuml
: ton and since that no one had been RI
quired to sleep in there nights. The
t are all locked up at 9 p. m. unless som,
e thing unusual happens, and not seen
n visited between that and morning.
d In examining the bed clothing di
s covered some OF the sheets that We
b not In condition to be At to be use