The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1910-02-01
STATION IS UNIQUE
Railroad Porters Near Asylums
Have Peculiar Experiences.
Some Harmless Inmates Allowed to Go
at Large and Are Frequent Visit
ors-Make Singular lnquir-
les Of Employees.

London.-Unique in its way is the
station of Coulsdon, a small roadside
halt nesting in the Surrey hills some
six miles south of Croydon.
Coulsdon is the station for three
great lunatic asylums-the London
county, Caterham and the Surrey coun-
ty--institutions which between them
shelter Just under 5000 lunatics.
The porters at Coulsdon are tall,
strong, mild-mannered men, and be-
yond learning his official work the sta
ton master has undergone a special
training in the treatment Of the insaEe
at the hands of Sir James Moody OF
the London county asylum.
Some OF the station hands have some
odd experiences to relate.
Taking them on the whole. the III.
natics we get here are exceedingly well
behaved" said one of them. and less
than six months ago | 'unloaded' some
goo or more from one special train and
saw them all installed In the asylum
brakes without the slightest hitch Of
any kind occurring,
ION the other hand, however, a sim
gle lunatic passenger will often prove
fractions, even though his mania takes
no more dangerous form than sit,
ting down suddenly in the waiting
room, exclaiming that he is the prince
of Wales or Edward the Confessor and
firmly declining to move until he ina
gines that everyone has had time to
realize the Importance of the occasion.
But all my experiences have not
been quite SO mild.
Some years ago. for instance. two
| unhappy men dashed into the station
in state of semi-nudity, ratified on the
booking Office window, and threatened
the astonished clerk with sudden and
violent death if he did not quickly pro
| duce two tickets for the north pole.
Then only last Saturday evening a
well dressed woman, with far away
look in her eyes, walked into the Office
and asked for ticket to Croydon. BE
fore she could be supplied an asylum
attendant ran in after her and seized
| her from behind.
"A violent struggle ensued and II
was some time before we could pacify
the woman and arrange for her return
to the asylum.
Many of the harmless cases art
given the complete run OF the neigh
borhood and it is no unusual thing foi
some OF them to call in here and asl
for ticket somewhere.
Their manner or their dress, how
| ever, always betrays them. and our In
variable practice on these occasions il
TO give them the ticket they ask for
| show them into the waiting room ant
then quietly communicate with thu
i asylum officials
In nearly every case they return
| placidly enough
| Despite the easy access to the rail
s4y line here | cannot recall any cas-
of actual or attempted suicide.
But the inmates do occasional,
stray on to the metals and have befor
now been found sketching the bridge
from underneath or gazing In profoun
abstraction at signal post. But the
have always managed to stand quit
out Of danger,
Regularly about four days wee
for years one old man used to come t
the station and ask endless question
| about the type of the engines, tn
r time. OF the trains, scan timetable
and so on
VI But one other regular caller We sti
I possess. He tiptoes into the static
most mornings of the week and, wit
an air of intense mystery, buys dali
paper. Then he tiptoes out again.
You can see for yourself, conclu'
, ed the official, that the lunatics her
are not really very dangerous"
And he pointed to small plantatio
almost adjoining the station, wher
'' tiree lunatics, with uniformed a
/ 'endant, were engaged in cutting tree
With immense delicacy OF touch tw
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