The Democrat-sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1906-1935, 1907-02-21
tPomeroy Democrat.)

hoeuor VI NlHboh couuby, icnIJ
Harkins of Zaleski, and g. II. Bo
bo of Albany, beat w. j. Barnes
a Monroe county patient, to death
Tuesday of last week, while at
tempting to subdue him They
subjected him to the ''tramping
out" process, method they have
for making patients be good, and
one which has proven fatal on
more than one occasion. The me-
thod is for two or three big burly
attendants to unite on one poor
weak inmate, throw him to the
floor, and while one of them holds
his feetto prevent him from kick
ing, the other jumps up and down
on the prostrate body, sometimes
using the feet and other times the
knees. The result, is to break all
the ribs loose from the back bone,
drive the shattered Jagged ends
into the vital mechanism and cause
the subject to become 80 very good
that he will never after give any
trouble. In the case of Barnes, a
third attendant belabored him with
section of rubber hose, while the
other two were engaged as before
stated.
Barnes was middle-aged man
and was sent up from Jolly, Monroe
county, last June. He is said to
have been one of the worst pa
tients in the institution to manage,
having a mania for lying on
lounge and talking to himself.
This, ib is said, annoyed the keepers
on that ward when they wanted
to read the paper or take noon
nap. Hence, the three united in
an attempt to make him good by
"tramping him out" The un-
fortunate feature connected with
the affair was that he died on their
hands even before they could get
him into his bedroom and put him
to bed.
The three attendants at once
agreed that the man had met
death by accident and so declared
to the Hospital doctors who were
called to examine. the patient.
When the doctors found seventeen
ribs caved in and suspected rough
work on the part Of the attend
ants, they explained that the pa
tient had struck at one of them
and slipped on the oiled floor, had
fallen across the bed rail on his
left side, thus breaking loose the
ribs on that side. He then very
obligingly gotup and struck again,
this time falling across the bed
rail on his right side, breaking the
ribs on that side.
This all seemed very plausible
but the doctor wanted to be on the
safe side and notified the coroner.
Prosecutor Foster also got wind |
of the affair and the two united in |
an inquest which developed lot
of testimony on the part of other
inmates who had witnessed the
affair to the effect that three at
tehdants had deliberately killed |
the patient because he fought back |
when they attempted to punish
him for failing to preform some
duty put upon him.
Warrants were Issued for the
three men upon nm affidavit sworn
to by the prosecuting attorney,
but when they went to arrest the
offender, all had left the Institu-
ton. Reeder and Harkins were
found at their homes near Zaleski /
however and were brought to the
Athens Jail. Bobo escaped the
arrest for the time being.
The blood of the hundreds of
Meigs county people who have
dear ones confined at Athens, must
boil with Indignation at the stories
of ernelties inflicted upon the in
mates of that institution. The
death of Barnes last week, and
the death ef Stephen Kane couple
of years ago, is no evidence that
they were treated any worse than
the hundreds of other inmates who
still live. 1t is only evidence that
Kane and Barnes, because of ply
steal weakness, were less able to
Withstand the punishment in vo-
que there. The testimony of