Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-09-26
INSANE PATIENT BEATEN.
tbs Death on Wards Island, New York,
to Be Investigated.

| New YORK, Sept. 25.-After hearing
'he evidence regarding the death OF
-Apriham Wendorf. tailor. Of 166 East
lVoth street, In the Manhattan State
Hospital for the Insane on Wards Ia
land on May 1. Coroners jury brouph,
In a verdict. Tuesday, recommending
that the case be thoroughly inyesti-
gated by the Grand Jury.
! VENDOR was taken to Bellevue on
Aprli 10 by policeman who had
caught him just as he was about tn
throw himself into the East River
He was suffering from paresis and was
sent to Wards Island, where he died
An autopsy showed that eight OF his
ribs had been fractured that both Of
his eyes had been blackened and that
there We're many cuts and bruises
upon his body.
DIR. Haviland of the Manhattan
Hospital testified that he stripped and
examined Wendorf when he was adj
mitted to the hospital. He said that
there were many bruises upon the
mans body.
Did you notice that his ribs were
broken?' asked Frederick House. who
appeared for the Wendorfr family.
No" responded the physician.
III they had been fractured at the
time, would your examination have
disclosed the fact?"
Il think So" said DIR. Haviland.
Or. John r. Knapp. the physician at
the hospital, who attended Wendorfr,
stated that the patient was very vio-
lent and must have injured himself.
Persons suffering from paresis," he
said, have very brittle bones. 1t takes
very little pressure to break them"
He then told how. on the night be-
fore his death Wendorfr had Ieaped
from his cot, Sprang to the cot OF
another patient and then fallen to the
floor. OverturninG a flower pot az he
did so which struck him In the face,
causing a slight wound under one OF
his eyes. DR.. Knapp said that he
had examined Wendorff on his arrival
at the hospital
1T is possible that his ribs were
fractured then, but escaped my no
tiCe," he said.
Was it necessary to use force to
quiet the patient when he became vio-
lent?" asked the lawyer.
Not always" said DIR. Knapp. IT
would sometimes give him n sedative
when he seemed on the verge of one
Of his bad spells"
when you grew tired of him, did
you give him a sedative from the
Black Bottle "
I'VE have no such thing rs a Black
Bottle at the hospital" indignantly
answered DR.. Knapp.
Coroner Scholer interfered In be-
half Of the physician. Come, come.
counsellor" he said. There is no
such bottle at our public institutions"
There is such a bottle" insisted the
lawyer. when a patient becomes
troublesome he gets a dose from the
Black Bottle Then he goes to glory
and troubles no person again"
Coroner's Physician Schultze read
his report on the autopsy, In which
he said that Wendorff died Of paresis.
Gould the fractured ribs have has
tened his DEATH" asked the LAWYER.
That cannot be denied" answered
DR.. Schultze.
when do you think the mans ribs
were fractured?"
'They We're fresh fractures" said
DR.. Schultze. "They may have been
made the day before his death"
Mrs. Julia Wendorff, sister-in-law Of
the dead man, testified that she visit
ed him on the day before he died. IL
was kept waiting for some time" she
said
while standing at the door I could
hear him scream. as though in pain.
When l was at last admitted, he was
unconscious and could not speak to
me. He was strapped to a bed.