Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1901-07-12
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 Prof. thereby.

A novel form of criminal offense is un-
DER investigation ut indianapolis. 1t is
believed that an Insanity trust" exists
there, through the operation of which
lullacy proceedings are brought against
sane persons and are conducted in such
a way rs to deny to the subject the full
rights given by the law.
Ihc belief is based upon the fact that
80 per cent of the insanity inquests held
liz the Hoosier capital are before a cer-
tain justice of the peace, that the wit
ncsses in these eases are nearly always
the same. that the physicians also are
the same, and that these inqucsts have
cost The county many hundreds of dol
lars. these fees presumably furnishing
the motive for the operations of the per
sons concerned. Interest i'll the disclos-
ures has been heightened by the fact that
the proceedings in many cases are taken
in secret, and that 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 tie
insane hospital. Some cases. it is true.
were not followed by verdicts of insani-
ty, but, as the county pays the fees
whether the person under suspicion
proves to he insane or not, the ends OF
the trust We're accomplished just the
same.
The particular case upon which the
Attorney General is acting is that OF Il
domestic who had been working i'll Il
family for several months. Her mistress
never noticed anything peculiar in her
actions. The first the girl knew of in
sanity proceedings against her was when
the sheriff called with Il 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 adduced so to show that
the girl was not insane, and the Attorney
General is convinced that n grievous
wrong has been done. He declares he
will prosecute the witnesses against the
girl for perjury and will sift the lin
sanity trust to the bottom and hold all
implicated in it to Il rigid accountability
for .F.eir,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 not examine Ross
az the law requires, nor was the subject
given an opportunity to sumnlon wit
nesses in his own behalf or to make II
statement for himself. He received an
injury some time ago while AT work in
the packing department. of Kingan's
~porkhousc. and Went to 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 shows that he was adjudgcd i'll
sane, and that the Witnesses who testi.
fed against him We're dispcnsary i~nternes
who had given him a prescription for
medicine when he called at the dispen-
sary for treatment.
The record of fees received by physi-
clans. justices and witnesses in insanity
inquests since Jan. l shows that to one
person was paid $3.50. to another S299,
and to others. $19l, $3.50, and various
sums down to $50.