Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1902-05-08
AN UNDERSTANDABLE
PROCEDURE

The rather remarkable and Strateget-
ic procedure of some Mt Carmel
people who were determined TO force
patient into the Hospital at this
place now closed by quarantine call
ed forth a perfect storm Of indigna-
tion about town Thursday.
As might be inferred no patients will
be admitted to the Hospital as long as
the quarantine lasts. So that when DR..
Meredith was called up by the Mt
Carmel authorities ON Wednesday
night and informed that they had
patient for the hospital he peremptori
ly told them that the man could not
be admitted, explaining the reason
why.
The patient for whom admission
was asked was John SusZezcweZ (ren-
dered into English as " Savage } ma
tive of Russian Poland, 45 years of
age, who went violently insane on
IutSudS hlSit last. pNlHlhS t"o VI
his children he threw them out of the
second story window. He fell into a
perfect frenzy and it was necessary to
bind him with ropes. Savage is a
miner by occupation and a resident of
Mt Carmel township.
In view of his conversation with the
NJ Cor,,.l 90, \E,ln,-l.yr
night DR.. Meredith 5 surprise Thurs
day can easily be imagined when he
saw a two seated carriage drive up
to the Hospital, containing the insane
man, Savage, " and four other men.
They affected to know nothing Of the
doctors refusal the night before to
accept the patient Neither did they
know, they said, that there was any
smallpox at the Hospital until they
reached Elysburg on their way to this
city.
The party, which contained two
members of the board of poor over
seers, John \. Bricker and Columbus
Mcbride, were determined to leave
the patient at the Hospital. DR.. Mer-
edith, however, stood firm i'll his posi-
tion and refused to admit him. The
men finally finding further effort futile
without alighting from the vehicle,
turned and drove away taking the in
sane man with them.
C1Y,n+i,,,n Of p1 g., g,+r
was seen about the entrance to the
Hospital corridor who was recognized
as Savage, the insane man. Not
one of his four attendants, however,
were to be seen. Suspecting a trick
of some sort DR.. Meredith telephoncd
down town, asking the police to inter
cept the party and to come up for the
insane man. Not only did the fact Of
the quarantine preclude the admission
of Savage to the Hospital but the fact
that he hailed from Mt. Carmel, at
present hot bed of smallpox, was in
itself a cause sufficient to exclude him.
Officer Voris at once started for the
Hospital. He had not proceeded far
up East Market street when he met
Savage coming down. The officer took
him into custody and conducted him
in the direction of the jail. The in
sane man produced the commitment
papers, which had been placed upon
his person and incoherently and i'll
broken English began to ask some
questions concerning them. As they
approached the prison the man began
to resist. At this juncture Constable
Young happened to come along, who
willingly lent a hand. 1t proved to
be all the two nffinArs could do, "a"i"'
ed by an attache of the jail TO land
Savage in cell, who by that time
was in a frenzy.
The two members of the Mt. Carmel
Poor board and their assistants were
soon located. They took the view that
as one of the districts which helps to
support the Hospital Mt. Carmel
township is entitled to room for its
luSdut Ill Illt lnSllIulIOu, Shall pOA
or no smallpox They admitted that
they had turned the patient loose at
the Hospital after placing the com
mitment papers in his pockets, al
though they had no excuse to offer for
such a questionable procedure, whic II
placed the lives of innocent people in
peril. For Savage was dangerous, un-
fit to be at large, and more than or
dlnarily hard to handle, as was attested
by the fact that it required four men
to bring him to Danville
Trustee H. NJ. Schoch tried to reason
with the men, reminding them that
they might have to pay pretty dearly
for their folly if they attempted to
escape from town, leaving their pa
tient behind. They We're disposed to
spurn the warning; they halted be
tween two opinions for an hour or
more, but finally loaded up their in
sane charge and started back to Mt
Carmel