The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1909-07-23
Commitments Made to the Re-
treat From This County.
ARE THEY ALL STATE CHARGES?
Official Inclined to Believe That Some
Whom the State Supports Are Not in
Fact Insane and Therefore Should Be
Supported by Towns.

Under section 37l5 of the Vermont
statutes insane persons destitute of the
means to support themselves and having
no relatives in the state bound by law
to support them shall while in hospital
for the insane be supported by the state.
While States Attorney Charles HI. Will
liams understands the law under which
insane persons are committed to the
Brattleboro Retreat he is inclined to be-
ieve that he may relieve the strain on
Lieutenant Governor Mead's bank ac-
count and materially reduce court and
state expenses in so far as Windham coun-
ty contributes to such expenses by in
sisting upon more rigid examination as
to the mental condition of persons COM
mitted to that institution as state charges,
his belief being that a portion of the
persons thus committed are not in fact
insane, and consequently town rather
than state charges.
Recently Mr. Williams in his official
capacity was called upon to investigate,
according to law, three commitment cases
to the Retreat from Brattleboro in one
day. 1t occurred to him that this town
was fortunate in having such cases taken
off its hands and charged up as state
wards rather than town charges. When
the number of commitments from Brat
tleboro totaled II within brief period
the states attorney conceived the scheme
of looking into the matter to ascertain
whether all of Brattleboros pauper popu-
lation was being railroaded to the Re
treat as state charges.
Believing that the matter is one for
the supervisors to investigate he has laid
the matter before the board consisting of
DR.. F. E. Steele of Montpelier, DR.. G. S.
Foster of Putney and Dr. R. M. Pelt6n of
Richford. The states attorney will pro
ceed in the matter under section BIZ
which gives him right to Investigate as to
insane asylum at Waterbury or to the
Retreat in this place is state or town
charge.
Mr.. Williams was in Brattleboro yester-
day, and in speaking of the matter was
inclined to think that the committing OF
person to the Retreat by the simple
process of observation upon the part OF
two physicians might tend to commit
person to the institution when there was
some doubt as to whether the person was
suffering from malady other than IN
sanity.
ney, member of the board of supervisors,
was interrogated as to when the matter
would be acted upon by the board and
said that it would be taken up in due
time. He was averse to any publicity be-
ing given the matter by the newspapers,
and denied the right of newspapers to dis
cuss matters relating to the Retreat:
That the states attorney intends to
have the board investigate the matter
without the aid of official whitewash is
apparent from an intimation made by
that official that the attention of State
Auditor Graham will be particularly
called to bills in the specific cases in
which he has called for an investigation
before the Retreat is paid. He did not
outline the course that he intends to
pursue but was decidedly emphatic in
stating that he believed that not only in
Brattleboro but in other towns sin the
state persons were being committed to
the Retreat as state charges who are
really town charges.