The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-08-22

 was fed only once a little bread and | syrup. The witness explained that visitors never go to the lodge room. be- cause of the extremely violent and in 1 sane inmates who are kept in this | department.
 Chairman KinI- asked Mrs. Crenshaw | if the nurses, in general, and Miss | Buck, in particular. were kind to the | inmates.
 ''No." she stated, they are not. Miss Buck is an old maid who never had her |. heart expanded, and is cruel to all of the feminine sex. l thought her pecu- | liar"
 On one occasion, Mrs. Crenshaw tes- tihed, she saw eight nurses sit on a Mobile inmate, one of whom took off the inmates slipper and struck her several times. The inmate was beaten. the witness stated. because she was in the habit of lying on the bed during the hours of the day, viola ton of the hospital regulations unless the inmate should have a certain de- gree of fever.
 Punished for Reporting. T told Dr. Searcy of the cruelty" Mrs. Crenshaw stated. and he only answered me, An, tut, tut or some thing to that effect. Because of the fact, however. that I had reported the cruelty. Miss Buck had me locked up in cross hall as a punishment" The witness augmented her state- ment by saying that the Mobile wo- man was really too weak to deny her self the luxury of bed.
 On another occasion. the witness testified. she had obtained permission from Dr. Searcy to write letter to the Y. M. c. A. of this city. Be- cause she did so. she explained. she was again punished by the nurses by get ting locked up in a cross hall. The letter to the Association was one in which she asked that efforts be made to have her withdrawn from the in- stitution. where it was evident she did not belong.
 Mrs Crenshaw said that the nurses invariably lectured the inmates when ever any visitor was to pass through the building. The same course, she said, was taken when a physician came through the building on his rounds, the text of the lecture being that should any inmate tell of any cruelty punishment would be inflicted.
 Because I did disregard the lecture" Mrs Crenshaw said, ''once when a Mis- sissippi and Texas superintendent vis- ited the asylum, and again when pr. Gaston of Montgomery visited our ward. I was punished both times by being put in the cross hall. However. when Dr. Gaston visited the ward, was not carried to the cross hall, but taken to a bath tub by two nurses, who placed me in the tub and poured cold water over me-"
 Mrs Crenshaw said that she had seen the hair of a woman named Mrs. Da- wis pulled by nurses because of the fact that Mrs Davis had refused to do work which was assigned her. An other woman, she said, was carried to the "epileptic hall" because of the fact that she persisted in reading Bible, a violation Mrs Crenshaw said, of the hospital rules.
 "Only one patient at the asylum" the witness said in her testimony. Mrs Mimms, the oldest inmates of the hos pitaI, is allowed to have Bible. They always refused me mine. claiming that the Bible and newspapers are calcu- later to run people crazy"
 The witness also stated that the wo- man above referred to as being carried to the epileptic hall because of reading her Bible, died within six or eight months.
 'aThe half can never be told" the witness stated in recounting the al- legged cruelties; "as God is our judge, could never tell a falsehood in re- gard to this natter"
 Mrs Crenshaw said that she never got enough to eat at the asylum. For breakfast, she said, the Inmates had l little grits, tea, bread and stewed beef l For dinner, one kind of vegetable and a little corn bread; for supper, two pieces of bread, some tea and black syrup. On Tuesday nights, she said, they were allowed cold biscuits, and another variety of bread on Saturday night. The inmates. she stated, did most of the routine work-cook. nurse, sew and a little ditching. The wit -k. AAak Cnc got much better food than the in- mates, it being also better prepared Instances of Cruelty. Mrs Loper of Mobile, Mrs Crenshaw said, was once severely punished by nurses because of reporting a cruelty to Dr Searcy. The inmate was. taken to bath tub, the witness said, un- dressed and ducked until she was all most drowned. Mrs. Crenshaw said that this punishment had been reported to her. not seen by her.
 Miss Peebles of the asylum was also knocked down on one occasion by chair. the witness stated, which was wielded by a nurse. At another time Mrs Crenshaw, according to her tes- timony, saw an epileptic patient kick ed by the nurses in charge of him. and again saw a Mobile woman, Miss Cotton, have her head thrust against the wall and floor of a cell in which she had been confined.
 Mrs Crenshaw stated that Dr. Searcy was aware of the cruelty practiced at the institution, through report. If by no other means. She said that once pr. Searcy asked her not to take part in any litigation that might be occa- stoned from an investigation.
 The witness stated that she never saw a nurse with pistol, but that she had heard them curse and swear She also said that she was forced to attend dances against her will. The witness also recounted experiences in which Miss King of Birmingham, and Mrs. Mcdonald had been been punished by nurses for rule violations.
 In closing, the witness stated that her husband had been dead about four years One of her daughters. she said, lived in Montgomery, but denied the mother entrance into her house. Be- fore he died, the witness said. her hus- bands hobby was to have her placed In the asylum, and since that time, she further stated, her Montgomery daugh- fer had taken up the argument. and had given her no rest since her with drawal from the institution. A sister in Luverne Mrs. Crenshaw said, had succeeded in getting her out or the asylum.
 The Investigating commission Will go from Montgomery today to Tusca- loosa. where their investigation VIII he continued. Chairman King said vesterday that he expected the commls- sion to be in the University town for quite a while, as they expect to exam inc a nupoher of witnesses.