Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1901-12-24
Officials Visit Wapello County's
Big Institution.
SOME MATTERS ARE INVESTIGATED
Visitors Are Well Satisfied With the
Condition of the Institution and
Fail to See Reason for Returning In
sane to Mt. Pleasant.

state. and better than those of many,
and visit of inspection by several of
the county officials to the farm yes
terday resulted very satisfactorily to
them. The members of the board of
| supervisors, accompanied by Senator
! elect S. III. Harper: representative, A.
W.Buchanan, Henry Wagers and Sam
uel Johnson, eX-members of the board
OF supervisors, c. A. Hyatt, overseer
Of the poor, and DR.. c. H. Russell, the
county physician, and a Courier re,
porter, paid visit to the county insti-
! tuition, and after thorough inspection
| of the building they expressed the
opinion that very few counties in the
] state make as good provision for their
| poor and insane.
An Inspection.
The visit to the farm was brought
! about largely by the action of the
/ board of control of the state in virtual.
/ ly condemning many of the features
of the county farm. The board sent
three we'll known physicians to the
/ farm for an inspection and report dur
4 ing the summer. Their reports have
I been received in this county and do
not prove satisfactory, as it is said
that they make statements that should
not, in justice to the institution, be
made. The county officials made an
| inspection of the house yesterday for
/ the purpose of learning whether the
statements made and objected to can
be borne out by facts.
Place Is Clean.
The visitors were escorted through
/ In hill
son and his wife, who acts as steward
ess. Something that is very notice
able about the county farm is it's abso
lutte cleanliness. This is something
that is very hard to maintain, owing
to the fact that many of the inmates
are insane and have no ideas of the
virtues of keeping everything clean
Constant watching and good rules dc
the work, however, and the visitor new.
! er fails to note the remarkable clean.
| illness of the place.
The First Floor.
! On the first floor, where the Office
and the sitting room, as we'll as the
dining room for the steward and his
family are located, is the insane mems
ward. Here the male charges of the
county who are unable to preserve
their mental balance, are kept. A
long corridor, we'll lighted and fur
nished with seats, is used for loung.
ing room during the day, for in the
cold weather it is useless to try to let
the inmates of the institution out OF
doors except for a short time. Along
the sides of the corridor are rooms
some single, some double, where the
men sleep. They are well ventilated
nicely lighted and warm, all that can
be required. In addition the beds are
comfortable and the room has some,
thing of home-like appearance which
/ Is lacking in so many institutions OF
| the kind.
| A Good Record.
| Directly below this ward and com.
municating with it by means of a
/ stairway. is another mems ward, one
of the places with which the board of
control examiners found fault The
floor is of concrete, which fact prob
ably left a bad impression upon The
minds of the inspectors, but the criti
cisms that the place was poorly ven.
tilated and poorly lighted is met with
+ the astonishing fact that during Mr.
/ Wilson'S stewardship of seven years
there has been but one case of typhoid
fever at the county farm. This is un
usually good for any community.
Good Food.
| The men We're eating dinner in the
basement when the party from this
city made its tour of inspection. The
\ food is well cooked, clean and whole
some and each inmate is given good
/ supply. They march into the dining
room with military precision, take
their chairs, preserve silence while
they eat, arise together at a word
from the attendant in charge and
march back to the ward.
Insane Women's Ward
The insane women are quartered on
the second floor, their ward being di
rectly above the mems ward. Rooms
are on each side of the corridor here
/ too, and the rugs, easy chairs. clean
neat beds give the place a home-like
/ appearance. A woman attendant is
constantly on watch here. during the
day, and the Wilson family's sleeping
rooms are just across the hall from
the ward, accidents thus being well
guarded against. Here cleanliness is
| - - ''ASi Z N'itNiib, anu lliS
seem well satisfied with their sur.
roundings. Very few of them require
watching and the majority are able to
talk intelligently. Their dining room
is Just off the ward. and is clean. well
ventilated and well lighted.
For Christmas Time.
| Mrs. Wilson is just now busy pre-
pairing Christmas presents for the in
mates of this ward A dress of gaudy
plaid is to be given to an old colored
woman who delights in just such pat.
terms of cloth, and another, which re-
sembles very closely a red tablecloth,
has taken the eye of another coIored
inmate and will be given to her 9th
ers are to receive aprons and other ar
ticles of wearing apparel, gifts being
the rewards for good behavior.
The Poor.
| The insane peoples quarters are
found in the new part of the building,
and the poor of The county are in the
old part. The second floor has sever
al rooms occupied by the poor, one
room being used as a barber shop.
where one of the inmates Yields the
razor and shears two days during the
week. Like all the other rooms these
are models of cleanliness which 10 ~