The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-08-03
IN THE STATE ASYLUM.
4 LOOK OYER THIS BIG INSTI-
 TUITION

Tucker and Curtis are There All Righ
 -The Magnitude of the Work of Car
 ing for Thirty-Fivc Hundred Inmates
 Play Spells, Games, Laundry Work
 Etc.
 Persistet rumors have come to the lHartford Courant that Daniel J. Cur tis and William Harvey Tucker, both of whom had been sentenced to the IConnecticut Hospital for the Insane by the superior court of this county, were mot inmates of the institution, One lman said that he had seen and talked Iwith Mr. Curtis in Boston, and anoth- Ter Hartford man said that he had seen and talked with Tucker in New York within ten days. The men who gave the information said that they were Iwell acquainted with Curtis and Tuck CT and were willing to make affidavit that they had seen and talked with the men as indicated.
 l MT. Curtis is the Springfield man who on January went into the office tof G. F. Heuhein & Bro. with a shot gun, intent on taking the life of Colo mel Louis F. Heublein In the superb or court on March 23 he was sentenced to the Connecticut Hospital for the In- sane for one year after there was medical testimony of an expert char aoter that he was of unsound mind. Tucker shot and killed his wife at Windsor on March 26 and after experts had certified that he was of unsound mind he was committed to the Con- necticut Hospital for the Insane for the rest of his natural life. At the time of the commitments it was known that under the provisions of the stat ute under which the commitments are made the men were free to make ap- plication to the superior court at any time to be discharged on the ground that they had fully recovered their reason, but before they could be dis charged 1t would be necessary to prove to the satisfaction of a judge of the superior court that their claims were true.
 The men who gave the information to the Courant that they had seen Cur tis and Tucker, as already outlined, were so insistent in their belief that a Courant reporter who knew Tucker and Curtis, went to the Connecticut Hospital for the Insane Monday after noon without any notice of the visit being given to the management of the istitution When pr. Allen R. Diefen- doff, one of the alienists connected with the management of the institu- tion with Dr. Henry s. Noble, was told of the information that came to the ICourant, he smiled and said that in- quiries were frequently made from rel atives of people committed there. People would tell relatives of persons committed that they had seen the per- sons in different places when as a matter of fact the persons supposed to have been seen had not been away from the hospital grounds. The rela- tives would naturally get worried and they would telephone or come to the hospital in person to make sure that their relative ,had not escaped. Tt is case of mistaken identity with the people who say they have seen Tucker and Curtis" said Dr. Diefendorf. Come with me and l will show you that we have them here.
 Dr. Diefendorf took the reporter out over the hospital grounds and said, We will go and see Mir. Curtis first. " When some distance from the arbor where Dr. Diefendorf said he thought Curtis would be, the reporter saw Cur tis, He was playing crlbbage with an- other patient and there were fifty or more inmates under the arbor or lying on the grass about all under guard. EDr Diefendorf spoke to MT. Curtis, and the reporter was introduced to him. "So you thought you'd come down to Hartford and see the bug house and the playhouse people," said MT Curtis. He told pr. Diefendorf that his health was good and that he ! had increased in weight since being in the institution. He said that his son. in-law was managing his brick busi- ness and that the business would net him a profit of ten thousand dollars l this year. 'That Is first rate" said lDr. Diefendors, Very good" said MT. Curtis. but tl1e money isn't any good to me here. If was away from here could afford to take you with me on trip to Cuba next winter" Mr. Cur ! tis said that members of his family had been from Springfield to see him every week since he was committed, but he did not expect to see his son-in- law or his daughter for few weeks, as they were going to the seashore on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. lDr. Diefendorf told MT, Curtis that dealers in brick at South Norwall1 had been asking fifteen dollars a thou sand for brick. Mir. Curtis thought that was too high a price. He said: 'I'll sell you all the brick you want at eight dollars and half thousand, and there will be profit of from three dollars and a half to four dollars at that price" He said that he had learned to play cribbage since he was committed, and he found it good way to pass the time.
 Tucker when seen by the reporter was located in altogether different sur roundings from those occupied by Cur tis. He is with a class of men with whom the managers of the hospital