Los Angeles herald., 1906-12-31
SHERIFF HANDLES
THOUSAND INSANE
NEARLY ALL ARE FROM THE
EAST
Many Of Them Committed Before
Being In City a Week-5ig Deputy
Tells How He Handles
Patients

White as sheriff of Los Angeles county,
covering the last four years, 1151 men,
women and children have been arrest
ed on charges of insanity and S'S OF
that number have been committed to
the states asylum at Patton.
The last year has shown an increase
over 1905 by only 10, proving a general
falling off in the average. In 1903, the
tration. 161 patients were sent to the
state asylum. In 1904, 211 were sent
over the road; 1905 showed an increase
to 24S and this years record is 25S. T
OF the number arrested 273 have
been found innocent Of the charge or
have been treated at the county hos
pital, then released or have been taken
care of in private sanitariums.
Everyone of those patients, everyone
of the 1151, whether insane or just
under suspicion, has been handled by
one man. Deputy Sheriff Edwin H.
Hutchinson has arrested three-fourths
of the number and has had charge Of
all of them on their way to the asylum.
Big Deputy Gentle
Hutchinson, or big Hutch" as he is
commonly known throughout Califor-
mia, might be taken for a living i'm
personation of the spirit of the west.
Although a native of Maine he has
spent the greater portion of his life in
California and has become a part Of
it,. He is slightly over six feet in
height, weighs $50 pounds and is as
gentle as a woman when 1t comes to
handling insane persons.
He can afford to be. Other officers
have battled with insane patients,
often bruising them or causing ugly
wounds, but not Hutchinson. During
his four years of service he has never
hurt single patient. Not one of them
has even borne q single bruise under
his handling. Most of them have been
desperate, and big man, crazed and
in the hands of an imaginary enemy,
is capable of putting up an awful
fight, but Hutchinson has a system In
handling his prisoners and none of
them were ever hurt, none of them es-
capped and Hutchinson never even pre-
sented bruise to show for any of his
desperate work.
One grasp of the giants hand was
generally enough to hold the ordinary
prisoner, no matter how bad he might
be. If that failed two great arms
swept about the belligerent, crushing
his frantic arms to his side and hold
ing him secure while a strap around
his waist put him out of commission.
Then Hutch" would talk to them as
he petted them until they were quiet
During his experience with the insane
Hutchinson proved wonder in MAX
ing patients behave in court. Often he
was compelled to carry them before
the Judge, often they shrieked and
Hutch quieted them, for he understood
when to humor them, when to oppose
them. IF man refused to walk, Hutch
picked him upz and carried him; If he
fought, Hutch strapped him and led
him about. Everyone of the patients
when ordered committed had to be
taken by Hutchinson to Patton asylum.
He had to watch them during the long
trip to San Bernardino and the wagon
ride to the asylum grounds. but none
ever escaped from the great Morse
man" deputy.
Just Be Careful
"How have I managed with the in
sane?" said Hutch when asked for ex-
periences in his dangerous line of
work "Oh, all you have to do is be a
little careful with them and they will
be all right.
"I have had several had tussles
with them, but they always behaved
sooner or later; that is, all but one
man. He was an old fellow from out
in the country near Downey and he
went bad and stripped off his clothes
and played wild man for several days
before I located him. The skin was
gone off his hands and knees when
discovered him in a field and he had
beaten his toes off with sharp rocks.
1 had hard fight with him, for he was
big man and like a wild thing, but
/ got him and we brought him to town
and took him to the asylum just the
same as the other prisoners.
"The chief trouble with a prisoner
of that kind, however, is to get him to
the asylum. They all realize that they
are to be confined and they are as
sharp as tacks about trying to get
away. Many Of them are very funny.
zone man took to the asylum want
ed cigar and l bought one for him.
Then he asked for a match and when
/ gave it to him he spent about five
minutes trying to make the wrong end
of the match light. Finally I suggest
ed that he scratch the end with the
sulphur on it and he became indignant.
"'Any blamed fool can light the end
with the sulphur on it, but I'm trying
to light the other end he said, and he
spent the remainder of the trip trying
to light that match.
Nearly All fasteners
"But the hard part of taking care of
the insane is that the families are so
heart-broken. Why, the ordinary per-
son would rather see a relative in the
penitentiary than in the insane asylum.
More than sixty per cent of the people
sent to the asylum during the past
four years have been fasteners and
the majority of them had been in Los
Angeles little more than a week when
sent up. Many of them are shipped
out here by relatives in the east who
want to get rid Of them. Others are
brought here by fasteners who do not
want it known in the east that their
relatives are insane. OF the residents
In this county sent to the asylum over
half OF them have been released as
cured within few months; others have
been troubled with incurable insanity
and VIII die in the asylum. But all
have been taken good care OF and
have never hurt a single one of them. "