The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-10-25
CRAVE CHARGES.
Topeka Asylum Management Is
Severely Criticised.
Suicide of Charles B. Hardy Is
the Cause.
NOT PROPERLY FED.
Claimed His Condition Was Due
to Treatment.
Horrible Condition in Which
Body Was Sent Home.

The Kingman Journal this week pub
lishes charges against the management
of the Topeka hospital for the insane in
connection with the suicide of Charles
b. Hardy, of Kingman county, who was
an inmate of the asylum, which, if true,
ought to cause a shaking up among
those who are responsible for it.
Hardy was formerly register of deeds
of Kingman county He lost his mind
about three months ago and was sent
to the Topeka asylum. About two weeks
ago he threw himself in front of a Rock
Island train while out walking with an
attendant.
Among other things it is charged that
Hardy committed suicide because OF the
treatment he received at the asylum
MS Wite was making preparations to
take MIN out of the asylum at the time
After he committed suicide Bank Com
missioner Morton Albaugh chairman of
the Republican state central committee,
advanced $75 to pay an undertaken for
preparing the body of Hardy and buy
ing coffin in which to ship it to King
man. Notwithstanding this it is alleged,
and the statement is backed up by af-
hdavlts, that the mangled body of the
suicide was placed in a cheap coffin.
without washing or removing the dirt
and cinders from the flesh or fragments
of clothing which had been ground into
the wounds. The limbs were severed
from the body and placed in the coffin
without regard to the body and the
whole was packed in sawdust
The Kingman Journal first published
letter written by NJ J. Albright a
brother-in-law of Hardy to his sister
relative to the matter. from which the
following are extracts:
My Dear Sister:-It is with the deep
est feelings of grief that l tell YOU of
the tragic death of my wife's brother.
hC vi 1ac
his death and his treatment before and
after death that it makes me shudder.
Having lived near him for so many
years, as you have done I know that
you viii sympathize with US in this our
terrible bereavement When Charley
broke down mentally, q bout two months
ago, his friends here thought best to
send him to the state hospital at To-
peka for treatment, as they are we'll
equipped to careffor their patients. But,
oh, what a mistake, He was confined
there and not allowed to see any of his
friends-not even his wife-for nearly
two months, and l am told by men who
have worked in that institution that the
Vlctuals are not fit to eat. One gentle
man (an ex-SuperintendenD said he
could not eat the mixture prepared for
the inmates 1t seems everything is
thrown in and cooked in one great mass,
and six or seven hundred men and wo-
men are fed like so many dumb crea-
lures This, and the lack of love and
respect, was more than poor Charles
could bear. and as a result, he wasted
away to a skeleton of his former self.
Finally, last Sunday week, the super
intendent consented for his wife to see
him, and she was admitted the next
day. She found him so emaciated and
dissatisfied that she determined to get
him out and take him home where he
could have the tender care 50 much
needed by one in his sad condition.
When Charles last talked to his
wife he seemed full of hope, so that she
said she could and would bring him
home. But he said he would only give
her one week in which to do So He told
her he could not eat his rations and
that he would commit suicide before he
would remain there longer. He gave his
wife his watch and other valuables,
stating he did not wish to die with
them on his person. And she. poor be-
wildered girl, did not tell the manage
ment because she feared he would be
kept away from her. but why prolong
the sad story? Allie came home Tues
day. and on Wednesday, while getting
ready to come out to get me to go for
Charles, she received telegram that
he had thrown himself under the train
and was horribly mangled.
His friends in Topeka ordered the
body properly cared for and shipped to
Kingman, but when it arrived it was in
such a horrible state that it shocked the
entire community. MIR. Albaugh the
bank commissioner of Kansas had or
dered it prepared without regard to ex-
pense, and afterwards advanced the
funds to pay the bill himself to the ex-
tent of SIS, but they put the poor boy
in a cheap box, without trimmings
They neither washed or cleaned the
body, nor did they embalm it. They sim
ply picked up the remains and threw,
them in the box without regard to posi-
tiOn and then filed it with s:4w5luSt
So horrible was the appearance that old
underta kers and doctors shuddered on
bebolding it. When the family learned
n l.of fl,as~
very lives were threatened.
'Oh. we all feel so bad to think we
allowed dear one to go to such place.
But we did not know We naturally
supposed that he would be properly
cared for by great state whose citi-
zens so literally contribute to the SUD-
port of its charitable institutions / win
never again allow relative to be sent
to this institution of death If I could
only do something to arouse the people
to the brutal and inefficient manner in
which this place is conducted No one
knows when some Of their dear ones
will be bereft of reason and sent there
for treatment. but until then they do
not give it 2 passing thought The fact
that Charles Hardy had so many friends
is to q degree a consolation but with
all his friends, consisting of state off
GERS and others in prominent places, he
was so shamefully treated that he was
driven to suicide. If he, with all his
friends at court was so neglected what
may be expected when n poor friendless
mortal is sent there? It seems now that
when a patient dies up there, there is
no lament-there is one less to be cared
for, Charles only plea to his wife was:
Take me home and love and nurse
me-"
The following affidavits are also pub
lished:
-ses October %. 1902.
On October Is. 1902. I was present
wren the casket containing the remains
of C,has. z. Hardy was opened in the
undertaking rooms Of the Livingston
Furniture company of this city The
limbs had been separated from the body
and were packed in sawdust. without