Los Angeles herald., 1910-06-25
'RA|LROADED,' SHE
SAYS. TO ASYLUM
Wife Says Or. Heron Drugged Her
Before Taking Her to
Hospital
HUSBAND CHARGES BOOKING
Woman Released from Patton
Appears in Court and
Makes Statement
HUSBAND CHARGES BOOKING

Claiming that she was first drugged
and then, while in that state, rail
roaded" to the asylum for the insane at
Patton, Mrs. Amy A. Heron, recently
released from that institution and wife
of DIR. c. N. Heron, 1913 West Jefferson
street, yesterday created a stir In
Judge Rives' court. The occasion was
the hearing of her petition for the re-
moval of the decree of incompetency,
which, after the testimony of two ply
sicians had been taken, the court
granted.
DIR. Heron emphatically denies his
wifes charges.
WHAT HERON SAYS
st kept her In the house for years"
said he "and it was necessary to sup
ply her constantly with liquor to have
any quiet at ALL
''Finally one Of the neighbors, Miss
Helen Clark, came to me and said that
if l didn't have her sent some place
the neighbors would. 1 concluded IT
was time to do something, so 1 had her
examined. 1t was necessary, I'll admit,
to deceive her when we took her out,
otherwise she would have raised such
a racket as to make an exhibition.
II am not opposed to her being de-
clared competent, and l hope that she
is all right again."
my husband had me put there for
another woman" Mrs. Heron testified,
land ] was drugged with a tonic be-
fore I appeared before the insanity
commission"
Gould you not be mistaken" in
quired the court.
mo, sir. I am positive"
NOT OPPOSED
Mrs. Herons petition was not op-
posed, and though her husband and his
attorney were in the room no reply was
made to the accusations.
The record shows that on January
29 Mrs. Heron was regularly examined
before Judge Wilbur and Drs. Brainard
and L. II. Chase, who found her suf-
fering from delusions believed to have
been induced by alcoholism.
"They didn't give me chance to say
anything" explained Mrs. Heron yes
terday. "They asked me If ever saw
the electricity dancing out of the gas
Jet" Here she laughed. "And when
started to tell them that since taking
that tonic I had had all sorts of queer
feelings. They said insane and COM
mitted me before 1 could complete the
sentence.
TAKES RIDE
ITO get me there the doctor asked
me to go out for a ride, and at the same
time asked me to take some more of
that tonic, which 1 did. 1 was first
taken to the county hospital, where 1
was kept for several days. 1 quit talk
ing the medicine, for 1 perceived what
it was doing to me. But / was still
under its influence when they took me
to be examined"
Mrs. Heron is a little woman with
silvery gray hair. She told the judge
her age was 65. AS she continued the
story her anger increased.
"I paid the money to set him UP in
business and to pay for the home" she
said. "Some eight years ago he paid a
fine here for practicing without a IL
cense, and since that time he has had
DIR. Ellis. with whom he is associated,
%. X everything"
SECRET RELEASE
Mrs. Heron's discharge from Patton
was secret, according to her story in
court. The officers there advised
against her letting her husband know
of her release, she said, for which rea-
son she went to the home of her friend,
Mrs. G.. L. Dennison, 521 Court street.
One of DR.. Heron's reasons for wish
ing to get rid of her, she said, was her
interest in their home, for which she
testified she had been offered $4,000.
In addition DIR. Heron Is said to be the
chief stockholder In the IN. C. Heron
Eucalyptus Remedies" a corporation.
No evidence of alcoholism was intro
duced in court, though DR.. Heron
stated outside that she was addicted to
the use of whisky in large quantities.
On the stand Mrs. Heron was asked if
she ever hal consumed as much as one
gallon of whisky in one day, to which
she replied no" To the query, "Was
she accustomed to drinking?" she like
wise replied in the negative.