Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1901-08-08

| II there IS one Institution of the State il
which the people are more generally
interested than another it is the State
Asylum for the insane There is scarcely
township in the State that has not at least
one of its citizens there. Gloucester county
with its 81, 600 population, maintains or
an average fifty patients there at an annual
cost of about So, 600, hence information as
to the management of this institution is Of
general home interest.
Complaints having been made as to the
food furnished the inmates and general
sanitary condition of the institution an in
vestigation was ordered. Two adjourn
ments have taken place, but last Monday
the first session of the investigation was
held. Managers Judge Joseph Thompson,
of Atlantic City; Henry r. Baldwin, OF
New Brunswick, and B. W. Andrews, OF
Woodbury., sitting as the court of inquiry.
Governor Voorhees, was also present, and
asked questions.
DIR. John Ward was the first witness, and
his testimony was directed to the system OF
management, etc.
Our space will not permit full report
Of all the witnesses, but the testimony Of
attendant W. o. Miller is fair sample of
the evidence to sustain the complaint. He
said =
Eight mOnthes ago, when l first came
to the hospital,'' he said, ''the food was
not fit to eat. 1t continued to be SO. A
short time before the complaint was made
to DR.. Ward it was worse than ever. !
signed the petition. Mr.. Ingram handed
it to me. We had talked the matter over
before. None of the medical staff had ever
spoken to me about it,
ALMOST EVERYTHING BAD.
''The canned corned beef smelled badly.
1t was tart and sour, moldy often, never fit
to eat. The boiled potatoes were never fit
to eat until after the complaint. New
potatoes have since been served. | ate
what was fit and the patients had to eat
them or do without eating.
1.-The rice was bad. 1t wasn't cooked.
1t was rare rice, soaked in water. The
dried beef was fair. The prunes were dried
and hard. The meat stuck to the bone.
They had bitter taste. At some meals
they were not so bad as at others. / like
good prunes.
''The tea was fair sometimes At other
times it was simply water
The ham was maggoty number of
oiiico' louilu IL 81 vi my OWL plitte bllfet
or four times.
81 made no report to any one because /
did not think it my business until things
got so bad | couldn't endure it any longer.
when we at last went to DR. Ward.
1.-THE coffee was tolerably fair. The
cabbage was never fit to eat and the corned
beef cooked with it was in similar condi-
ton. The cabbage was often rotten and
never half cooked. The corned beef was
tough, Shiny and had bad smell. 1t was
rank sometimes
"The cheese was fair sometimes, but was
generally unfit to eat The bread was too
heavy. The butter was sometimes fairly
good, but was usually so strong we couldn' t
eat it,
''The beafsteaks were always tough. The
coal roast beef was sometimes really good.
Other times it was not fit to eat 1t was
oftner bad than good.
1.-THE tomatoes varied. They were always
stewed. Whether canned or not | cannot
say. Sometimes they were sour and Shiny.
They were usually served Sunday What
berries we had were usually good Some
times we had bad Strawberries The soup
and Irish stew were not fit to eat OF the
soup never managed to eat a single plate.
1t was unseasoned and too thin. | have
attendants since the second week l was
here"
The investigation then adjourned until
Thursday at II a. M, when Miller will be
called back for cross-examination