Bridgeton pioneer., 1901-07-25
PROBE WILL GO
IN VERY DEEP.
PrOvender for the State Hospital
for Insane to be Investigated.

IOT 1HSduo 10 De investigated.
Trenton, N. j., July 22.-The
charges that a superabundance of
prunes and lack of steak go to make
up the bills of fare at the State
Asylum for the Insane in this city are
to be probed to the bottom-or, the
prune pit, as it were. Nor is there
to be any delay in the investigation.
Every prune is likely to be examined,
and if found to be too lean or too aged
Is likely to be condemned. A call
was sent out to the members of the
Board OF Managers to-day for them to
meet III the office of President Vroom
In this city tomorrow morning, at IL
o'clock, to make arrangements for be-
ginning the investigation, which will
probably begin next Thursday. Gov
ernor Voorhees, will be invited to be
present at the hearing, which, it is
expected, will last for a week or ten
DAYS.
DIR. Ward, medical director of the
asylum, for the first time since the
attendants sent him the petition for
better food and more of it, consented
to be interviewed to-day. 81 re-
gret, " he said, "that so much notori-
ETY. has been given this affair, which
might have been adjusted without
any trouble or publicity had it not
been for the fact that somebody in the
institution, unfriendly to it, gave the
petition of the attendants to the press
before the warden or the Board of
Managers had had an opportunity to
act upon it.
This is not the first time that at
tehdants have complained, but here
tofore no publicity has been given the
matter and it has always been
Strengthened out quickly and to the
satisfaction of everybody concerned.
Some OF the reports have been widely
exaggerated. l think that the attend
ants would be better satisfied if there
We're more variety in the dietary.
The quality of the food is good, and
1T is well cooked. The meats that
the attendants get have on my own
table, and they are first class. I have
investigated the statement that bad
ham was served yesterday, and am
told that one small piece found it's
way somehow to in the dining room,
but was quickly discovered and
thrown away.
/ 70 the service of rotten potatoes,
| will say that at this time of the
year it is hard matter to get fresh
potatoes for such population as we
have in the asylum I have been
compelled to eat what we call old
potatoes. They came out of the same
pile from which those served the at
tendants were taken. There was some
complaint about the potatoes a few
days ago, and I spoke to Warden
Hayes about it. That day or the next
new potatoes were served.
II understand that two or three
people were made sick by eating stale
eggs. Everybody who gets eggs from
the market nowadays is apt to find
some that are stale among them, but
why anybody should eat them 1 can't
understand. There is certainly no
reason why the attendants here should
do that. The statement that there is
filth in the cellar and the air-vents is
an exaggeration, and we do not throw
away tons of food because it is ined
1ble. OF course, in a great institu-
t1on like this there is necessarily a
good deal of waste. That can't be
helped. The sanitary condition of
the asylums is carefully looked after,
and | don't think that it was ever
better than it is o-day. l presume
there will be an investigation. For
my part, I am willing that it should
come
There is a suspicion among the
managers that the trouble was insti-
gated by a member of the medical
staff who was dismissed, and who is
said to have laid his dismiss at the
door of Warden Hayes.
G