The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-08-03

l take no chance of escape. There is a | double lock on the door of the build ing and in the rear there is a yard
 where the occupants exercise under 1 guard. The yard is surrounded with a fence of matched boards about twenty
 feet high and there appears to be no possible chance of escape. Dr. Diefen- | dorf talked to Tucker and the reporter talked to him, too. He said that mem 1 bers of his family had been to see him
 several times since he was committed. He told Dr. Diefendorf that he had
 gained one and one-half pounds since
 he was committed and he said that his
 health was good. The men kept in this building have their meals there | and at night each man is put into a
 room by himself. The ventilation is
 by small barred window close to the
 ceiling of the room. There were about twenty men ill the yard with Tucker.
 When, Dr. Dieferdorf and the reporter
 entered the yard Tucker was sitting on
 the back door step He stood up when
 talking to Dr. Diefendorf and later he
 walked about the yard, as many other inmates were doing
 | No person who has not visited the
 has any idea of the magnitude of the
 institution conducted by the state at
 MiddletoWn to care for the unfortu-
 nate people who become inmates.
 There are about thirty-f1ve hundred in
 the hospital now. The buildings are
 on an elevation and are surrounded by
 large lawns, beautifully laid out with
 many flower beds and an abundance
 of sade trees Monday afternoon un-
 der the shade trees infront of the hos | pital were many women inmates, old and young, who were out in charge of women attendants, and many men in-
 mates in charge of attendants were
 uder the trees and under the arbor in
 another part of the grounds. Close by the arbor is a large flower garden from | which flowers are taken to set out in
 the lawns, and then close by is a small pond in which are hundreds of gold fish, and this same pond furnishes a skating place for inmates in the win ter.
 On the grounds is a baseball field. There is a baseball team connected with the institution. The players are
 made up of attendants in the hospital and some of the inmates who are good libaseball players are members of the team. The team has not been beaten this season and two games a week are played. When games are played in mates of the hospital who are trusty l tfx,or 41,,S assigned to one section of the field and
 the men in another, and all are under guard.
 There are many detached buildings connected with the plant, and the equipment Is up-to-date. To feed the
 inmates fifteen hundred loaves of
 bread are baked daily. Meat worth thirteen hundred dollars was bought last week, and when the Courant re-
 porter was in the refrigerator Monday there was but few sides of this supply left. Many of the inmates were at work in the kitches, while others were at work in the wash room, laundry 1 and mending room, about the lawns f and other places. Tn these depart AAiSAAlS Ol lLlV lllStAbuLlOll OllS Ctil tlSlL and come away without any suspicion that the great majority of the workers
 are Insane people; the work is being done with the same degree of earnest
 ness as in hotels or laundries.
 A visit to many of the wards of the
 institution discloses more clearly the
 cause of the detention of the people. tAll of them knew Dr. Dlefendorf and
 many of them spoke to him and talked
 as if they were possessed of full req Son. Women more especially than men asked when they were to be released.
 All who asked when they were to be released declared that they were just as sane as any person Attached to the different wards the outside sun parlors where many of the patients go
 on sunny days and enjoy a sun bath while they swing in hammocks or in rockers. There is no indication of vii ciousness on the part of those inmates and on visit to the institution one comes away with an altogether differ ent impression from that he had be-
 fore entering it.