Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1901-07-10
AN INSANITY TRUST.
MOST PECULIAR FORM OF CRIME
AT INDIANAPOLIS.
Persons With Alleged Normal Minds
Have Been Arrested, Examined and
Confined, So That Physicians and
Others Might Profit hereby.

Have Been Arrested, Examined and
Confined, So That Physicians and
Others Might Profit hereby.
A novel form of criminal offense is I'M
der investigation at Indianapolis 1t is
believed tsat an insanity trust exists
there, through the operation of which
lunacy proceedings are brought against
sane persons and are conducted in such
way as to deny TO the subject the full
rights given by the law
The belief is based tpon the fact that
10 per cent of the insanity ;nquests held
in the Hoosier capita, are before GER
tain justice of the peace that the wit
nesses in these cases are nearly always
the same, that the physicians also are
the same, and that these inquests have
cost the county maRy hundreds of dol
lars, these fees presumably furnishing
the motive for the operations of the per
sons concerned. Interest in the disclos-
ures has been heightened by the fact that
the proceedings in nany cases are taken
in secret and THAI many OF the persons
who have been committed to the insane
hospital did not know that their sanity
was questioned till the officer placed
them in custody, and by authority from
the. commission, hustled them off to the
Insane hospital. Some cases, it is true,
Were not followed by yerdicts OF insani-
ty. butt as the county pays the fees
whether the person under suspicion
proves to be insane or not. the ends of
the trust were accomplished just The
same.
The particular case upon which the
Attorney General il acting is that of a
domestic who had been working in a
family for several months. Her mistress
never noticed anything peculiar in her
actions. The first the girl knew os in
sanity proceedings against her was when
the sheriff called with a warrant to take
her to the asylum. She protested that
she was not insane and the sheriff said
he knew nothing about the facts, but
must execute the Judgment of the com
mission. The employer of the girl then
appealed to the Attorney General. All
the facts so far adduted go to show that
the girl was not insane. and the Attorney
General is convinced that grieyous
wrong has been done. He declares he
will prosecute the witnesses against the
girl for perjury and will sift the in
sanity trust" to the bottom and hold all
implicated in it to Il rigid Accountability
for their acts.
Another case in which charges are TO
be preferred is that of John Ross, which
presents the salient features of those OF
many who have been adjudged insane
without proper compliance with the
law. The justice did moi examine Ross
as the law requires, nor was the subject
given an epportu','y TO summon wit
nesses in his ow 1ehalf or to make a
statement for himself He received an
injury some time ago while at work IN
the packing department Of kingan's
porkhouse, and went 10 the city dispen'
sary to get some medicine. The next
thing he knew he was dragged away
from his work to the hospital and inves
tigation 'hows that he was adjudged in
sane, and that the witnesses who testi
Fl I'd against him were dispensdry internes
who had given him prescription fol
medicine when he called at the dispen
sary for treatment
DIR. w. 3. Fletcher. an insanity ex
pert and for many years superintendent
If the Central Hospital for the insane
| in recent investigation developed III
startling fact that 20 per cent, or on
out of every FIVE persons sent to the asy
lium during the year was discharge,
soon after reaching that institution, th
expert examination there showing tina
they were sane. But, notwithstanding
this, the physicians who testified or act
ed as examiners got SO in every case
and the justice and witnesses also go
fees.
Describing shc procedure, DR.. Fletcher
says: This is the way the law is fol
lowed: Let Us suppose that man is al
epileptic. For short time he has mtn
tai confusion. He is picked up by th'
police and is considered a deranged per
son because he has had fit. Some on'
of the dispensary physicians or others il
the business files complaint. In M
records the name of the matron figures
over and over again as a witness and al
the one filing a complaint. The justice
is selected and h. in turn selects the ply
stefan who sends FOR him. This is n kin,
of endless chaiu concern, in which al
are assured of their fees. The fact i
the statute makes il the duty of the Off
GERS to call as the physician the one wb'
has been attending upon the alleged luna
tie, but the physician who attends on tbs
ease writes himself down as the attend
ing physician. though he has never seei
the person before, and for this he gets (
fee of So
The record of fees received by physi
clans. Justices and witnesses in insanity
inauests since Jan. l shows that to ont
person was paid $3.50. to another $500
and TO others. Sl91, $3.50, and variou,