The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1907-02-15

This vas the man whom Bertha charges
witt! responsibility for her first wrong
step as . girl, sending her first TO the
G"lenwood, Ia, Home for the Feeble
Minded. Later she charges that this man
taught her the f~atnting trick, by which
she fa!nts in the arms Of a man or woman
wearing jewelry or carrying money and
in the confusion biting the stone from a
pin and swallowing 1t. or with small, sup
pie hand taking a purse from a pocket or
a watch from It's fob, perhaps with inno-
cent eyes and d.mpled face assisting the
loser In the search for she missing valu-
able,
Says Gunther Promised to Marry Her
That man Gunther promised to marry
me she said, lowering her voice. no
sent me out to steal and when i wouldn't
do st he used to beat me when l came
home. DO you wonder I'm what am?
There was a burst of what might have
! been tears. Her face was buried and her
figure shook with sobs. But In five sec
onds the dimpled face appeared again,
dry eyed, and at a remark on the moment
she turned. winking an eyelid slyly.
Painting Bertha" Lebecke almost has
lost consecutive track of the asylums and
prisons In which she has been locked.
From this Glenwood home for the feeble
minded she was released. She got INTO
trouble again and was sent to the Clarinda
State Hospital for the Insane. Here, In
the words of the superintendent she was
looked upon as a case of moral lmpe-
cility, with some maniacal complications.
Here an operation was performed, and IN
the opinion of the superintendent she was
! elig.ble to discharge soon afterward as I'M
proved.
st. Demands asylum at Council Bluffs
cared for her for a time, but she succeed
ed in escaping from it and was not re-
turned.
In asylum No. 8 at Nevada, Mo, in spite
OF the close watch kept upon her. "Faint-
ing Bertha" escaped several times, but
was caught soon after and returned to
tho Institution. On December q, 1901, she
was discharged as not insane and returned
to Omaha. where she had lived for a time.
Here Bertha remained about two years.
acting as a maid of all work in house
holds. Her experience in Chicago ard llli-
nois generally reads holder than fiction.
Most Unruly Prisoner in Joliet.
On a charge of shoplift,ng she was given
an indeterminate sentence of ono to ten
years in the penitent.arE at Joliet.
Records of Joliet prison show her to
have been the most unruly prisoner ever
confined in What institution. Her conduct
was such that Prison Physician Fletcher
declared chat she was insane and she was
sent to the asylum at kankaIee.
Twice she escaped from k~ankakee. once
as she says. with the aid of an eInployt
of the institution, whom she refuses u
name. This first escape was made within
four months of her arrival at the inst.
tuition. the second after a year. ON he
return to that institution for criminals he
actions We're such that the hospital au
thorities decided that she was not insane
and sent her back to Joliet prison.
On this second Imprisonment Granting
Bertha showed what she could do j
making herself impossible i'm even a prison
Her cell was in the north wing of tn
building overlooking the street. Sh
would appear in the window with he
clothing torn to ribbons, shr.ek.ng tina
she was being murdered. According t
prison officials there was no language to
impossible for her glib tongue. Her furio
of temper caused her to heap unspeakabl
abuse upon matrons and guards aux
Deputy Warden Sims, responsible for Oh
der and discipline, says he has bee
abused by her beyond belief. Her pla
was to sleep In daylight and make I'll
whole night hidcous with her screams al
cries and ~unspeakabie language.
Penitentiary Glad to Be Rid of At
AS a last resort the tortured prison o
fcials at Joliet. taking the diagnosis
Physician Fletcher, sent her to the ca
of superintendent Podstata at the lllg
asylum. There after consultation of Il
asylum physicians it was found that 81
should have been confined IN an asYlu
for the feeble minded when she w;
Younger; that. lacking this treatment, 81
had grown and developed such dcStruct'
tendencies that u hospital for the insa
was the only haven for her.
But Bertha escaped from the asylul
which has for its safeguards the lock al
the steel bar. Locks and bars are not
ing to "Fainting Bertha" She was l
captured and returned, only that she mig
escape again on Christmas night, tindit
her way TO Peoria. where her escapad
in going through the town were fnarvt
TO the Peoria police. The conductor
the Peoria tram from whom she to
$50 has not claimed his money. But h;
a dozen stores in which She operated a
the salesman from whose samples in t
Fey hotel She took hundreds of dollars
silks, jewelry. clothing and perfumes {
tiyes found piled high around her in
chair car N an omaha train. The PEG
ties police locked her up and while the char,
Itch rested DIR. Zeller of the asylum for the
of durable insane at South Bartonvillc ash
at of Or. Podstata and the penitentiary
han thorities the custody of Painting b
tina" Warden Murphy at Joliet was
tor lighted at the idea. Superintendent p
I'm stata at l.lgin was as greatly pleased.
lose Zeller at South BartonVille Asylum for
nds Incurable Insane, receiving the yol
,ket woman, was conscious of having a uni,
into addition to the 1893 other inmates of
Her barlcss cottages OF detention. In the
nal tory of the South Bartonv.lle asylum, O
rom one female inmate has escaped, and
lace was found dead soon afterward in a ra,
into which she had fallen.