The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-11-22
PALM OFF INSANE PEOPLE
IMPOsITIONS PRACTICED ON SANA-
forums IN THE COUNTRY.
HabituaI Users of the Different Kinds
of Drugs and Their BanefuI Eff
fects on the System.

to the receiver.
YES" he said, after listening briefly to
some one whose voice came to his caller in
a faint tumble or sound. 1--WE room for
another patient. A woman, you say. Is
she sound mentality"
Again the period of unintelligible speech,
apparently turned to earnest appeal as the
superintendent interrupted with sharp
inquiry. 81 can't do it, he said finally;
this isn't an asylum" Interrupting ex-
postulation, he hung up his receiver and
turned to face his caller, whose face mir
rored amazement.
Say" he asked. they don't expect you
to take lunatics, do they?"
"They expect a sanatorium to take any
thing, especially cases no physician or. hos
pital can handle; we're regarded, apparent
ly. dumping ground. I've had wild va
rieties of lunacy palmed off on me- but the
trick can't be repeated without fiat false
hood from the physician in charge of the
case.
Conversation a moment ago relates to
a woman classifiedsas mildly insane when
1 pinned her physician down to fact; be-
fore that he said she was very nervous and
needed quiet. There are sanatoriums and
asylums for such patients of course but
people afflicted, and their relatives, seem to
have a prejudice against them; by hook or
crook they maneuver for admission to some
institution like mine, which is devoted To
alcoholic patients and victims of the drug
habit.
Last time I was deceived that way, a
woman came from a well known physician
who said. over the phone, that she had
She behaved rather Queerly when she ar
rived and 1 asked her husband, who ac-
companied her. If she had any mental
trouble.
Not to my knowledge he said. so
dropped the subject.
within an hour the matron sent word
Tor; found my latest arrival there, stand
ing off several women while she prepared
to fire a heap of chair and couch coverings
collected in the middle of the floor She
was violently insane and ragged all that
night 1t was late when discovered her
condition, so we had to keep her until
morning.
A nurse left to watch her was sadly dis
figured when she tried to check an attempt
to dump a chamber set from a third-story
window. Finally, / had to sit on her while
an assistant put her to sleep with chloro-
form. By sunrise had her doctor on the
spot to take her away She entered a hos
pital for the insane and died, heard after.
ward. from injuries received in jumping
from the roof. Since then my rule to in
quire assurance of mental soundness has
been inf1exible with all patients.
I've illustrated one sort Of imposition
we meet: there are others too numerous
for mention. You wouldn't fancy, I sup
pose, that a criminal fleeing from justice
would think of taking refuge here. But
papers here said a lot about slick con.
fdence man, who got few thousands
from suburban merchant and disappeared
in the city, as though the earth had swal
lowed him.
POLICE ON HIS TRAIL.
snThA p0lipo uara hot IN hiS trail hr,f 4
ended suddenly and next news came wher
the Philadelphia police collared him. HI
was brought back for trial, and by mer,
accident L happened to be in court as al
expert in another case, while he sat in the
cage, waiting for arrangement. At once
knew his face; his name enabled me t.
solve problem battling to the officers.
I'm the early evening of the day his
| swindle, the one in question, mean, came
to a head, a well-dressed and well-bret
| man appeared here and presented a caro-
bearing the name of New York broker
He said he had exhausted himself in put
| ting through big deal and felt an imper
| to me on the advice of a local physician
l knew was away for a week or two.
He rendered payment in advance, ant
| seemed all he pretended to be. 1 took hin
| and he stayed nearly fortnight, remain
| ing most Of the time In his room and say
| Ing little to anyone. Then he departed
| quietly and 1 next heard of him in court
| When i questioned him he owned the sci
and seemed to enjoy it hugely. Cleve
| idea, wasn't it?'
Does queerness extend to classes o
| cases you knowingly undertaken" inquired
the layman; his interest in sanatoriums hat
perceptibly increased.
Rather. Everybody knows about tn,
baleful popularity of cocaine and morphine
hut fQrx II IN hos nr6 fho
| choral is fancied by q considerable class
women seem to like 1t better than men
| L am now treating prominent societ!
woman, who has gone South, the socia
| tim of choral, nearly wrecked by it in
few months. No one can use any drus
freely In safety, but choral is especiall,
| destructive people Of sensitive nervous
organization are easily mastered by it.
| But for 'queerness, as you call it,.
| case I handled last month takes the bis
| cult. l cured man pasSionately fond o
bromide of soda, after hospital staff hat
| decided that an asylum was the only place
for him. He was. and probably Is, a bib
| ulous individual, used to steadying himsel
| with bromide after a debauch. AS tim
went on his consumption of bromide stead
/ lily increased; eventually he liked it bette
| than he liked liquor. He 'swlled' it. so t.
| speak, grew delirious and uncomfortable
| There was no precedent for treating sucl
a case, but l Strengthened him out event
ually."
| Are a majority of your PATIENTS hi
| audience of one inquired, alcoholic o
| drug victims? How many are merely vic
/ Tins of nervous Strains?'
| We'll, to begin at the end, comparativel,
| few are nervously disordered without SOM
| responsibility attaching to liquors or drugs
| For the rest. drinking, L find, is apt TO b
| the basis. In way an introduction, to
drug habit In my experience the two ar
| frequently related. There's truth in Bron
] son Towards derided attack on feminin
'wine-bibbers' of the smart set
ITO pooh-pooh his claim on the grount
| that health is fashionable and ooec:ence q
| laws Of hygiene a requisite. is evasion @
| the issue. Sports have done lot to max
| the modern woman strong. and they haV
| enabled her, too. in many cases. TO live a
| a rate the grandmothers could not hav
endured. They have more stamina bu
not enough. for example, to stand cocain
4 as many men do.
whats a fair average for habtua
| users?"
81 can't state. but don't doubt the CLAIM
| of a man arrested for forgery, not Ions
ago, that he averaged ninety grains day
| Many | have known used forty a day an,
| continued I'm business without arOusing tn
suspicion OF their associates. But thei
collapse was inevitable. and few grain
more would have caused insanity in mos
| cases.
Which habit is most tenacious?''
| II can't say: depends Oh the person. Blu
any one of them can be shaken off If
| patient has will power and fair physica
stamina. The first is really most essential
| no formula can supply backbone. 1t
| supertiuous to say, Don't touch We hav
| all heard that from childhood"
| Time Saver.
Philadelphia Press.
| II was coming down town the other doy