Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1900-01-03
FINDS MANY FAULTS
Judge Kinne's Report on Muscatine
Asylum Shows Terrible State
of Affairs.
The Institution Evidently One of
the Worst Inspected BY the
Board
fama County Makes a Better Show.
ing, But Is Far From
Good.
Special to Times Republ;ean.

!
the board of control, has made report
ofsthe condition Of the Muscatine coun-
4 " insane asylum. He characterizes it
as outrageous. 1t would appear to be
one of the worst, if not the worst, We,
inspected. a report on Tama county is
also made, 1t appears to be bad
enough, but good in comparison with
Muscatine. The Muscatinc report is in
part as follows:
4 "On the oath day Of October, 1899 i
A visited the county insane asylum Of
4 this county, which is situated about
three miles west Of the city eff Musca-
tine The buildings are all brick, two
lstories high. The main building has a
basement in which there are five cells,
where they keep filthy insane women.
but some time since the grand jury
i condemned their use and they have not
4 been thus used since last September
4 The first story of this building is used
for men as an eating room, and sepa-
4 rate sleeping rooms and water closets.
A The ward contained Very poor stools,
not self-cperating. and no urinal. a
4 new modern stool and urinal, it is said,
are to be put in. The second story is
for women, arranged the same way and
lpresents the same condition. There is
a separate brick building, the lower
story of which is used for boiler
house; also one room in it for filthy
men, where three men We're found, two
Iof whom were chained to the wall.
This room was probably fifteen feet
Il square, and had cement floor. There
was a man who cared for these men.
In room up stairs. a little larger,
8 there were found three filthy women,
two of whom Were on the cement floor,
and the other leaning against the wall.
The room was in too filthy a condition
almostto be described. 1t had not been
"a cleansed that morning, and in this
Iplace there was no ventilation, and the
Istench from the excrement on the floor
was fearful. The attendants Wife and
the superintendent son slept near the
wards. and a man sleeps at the sepa-
rate filthy building. and unless some
unusual noise is made by the patients
after they are locked up the attendants;
do not see them until the next morn
ing. The filthy Women, spoken of. at
night are put in cribs and locked up.
Each of these cribs has a spring and
!, mattress and blankets.
Back of the main building there is q
: / yard surrounded with a high board
fence. which is 6fsxso feet in size and
! the women from the main building arf
permitted 10 go out in it, but just now
s lit is not In repair. and is not used
There was yard for filthy insane men
but it has been torn down and another
it is said, Will bc built. The clothes Of
Fl the three filthy women We're tatteret
and torn. and they presented a most
abject appearance The woman at
| tendant excused the condition of the
room they were in by saying that she
could not get around to clean IT until
about 10 o'clock on after each morning
No blame can be attached to her. as
: she has work enough allotted to her 70.
three women. OF course, If these
women become filthy at night they
must remain so until morning. All OF
! the insane, except the filthy ones eat
in one room. Men and women al sepa-
rate tables The main building is q
good building and quite We'll kept. con-
sidering the amount of work two peo-
! pie have to do The closets are fairly
i built, but are filled with gas ans'ssmells
and With the filth above spoken of In
: the other building. are simply horrible
! The yards above spoken of back of TIL
building have a barbed wire run arounc
the top of the fence. There is but ons
bath tub fer the patients, except tho
= flthy men. Filthy women are WASHED
in a wash tub: WAS told the men il
the main building went out at pleas
ure, but it is evident they can only se
out when the attendant happens TO bt
There. as the ward is locked up.
..'rhe manner in which filthy people
are cared for is outrageous The at
tendant and his wife appe.r to be soot
and capable, but there is not sufficien
help to properly care for those in theil
!, charge. The facts gathered wer,
/ chiefly from observation and from th'
!, attendants as the superintendent wa.
!. away from home.
THE insane patients are in charge .
r a man attendant who has had some eS
+ perience in hospitals in Chicago. Hi:
+ wife. who has charge of the women
E has had an experience of one and one
half years here.
: DIR Morgridge, the county physician
' attends to both paupers and insane
when called. They have telephone con
: nection With the city. The insane anc
paupers are kept separate. The super
n intendent and his Wife get $3.50 eaci
per month. This superintendent is TIN
same one heretofore spoken of as al
attendant. They attend to both pau
pers and insane; do all the cooking. al
the work and render all the care tina
l the insane people get.
Following is the report of Tama conn
$ ty asylum. also written by Judgi
e Kline:
"Ons Oct. 20, 1899 in company viii
|. Hon II. j. Stiger of Toledo. | visited tn,
S county insane asylum. which is situate
). about three miles north of Toledo
t There is one large brick building, tw'
: stories and basement, built in 1884
5 The west wing is. the insane depart
s ment. The rest of the building is occu
pied by the superintendent and his fam
lily and the help and paupers. The frs
floor of the insane department is use'
for mems ward. Day rooms and sleep
: ing rooms. water closet and bath room
n are near by II also has dining room
e for a part of the men. the rest of tn
y men eat with the paupers in anothe
r part of the building. There is a bait
n room for each floor, hot and cold water
y and iron tubs. The stools are old style
and they smell badly. and the rooms II
y which they are are poorly ventilated
The women are kept on the second floor
"a 1b;cl, ic q "a rup ad like the first floor