New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-06-29
PATIENTS
AT MONTEFIORL
HOME SHUT OUT
Fifty-f Disliking Rules,
Flee in Night-Camp Out
Until Sent Here.
DON'T LIKE FOOD, AND
FROLICS ARE TABOO
Many Later Want to Return,
but with 200 on Waiting List
Officials Say mo"

Fifty-fve men and women. tubercu-
losis patients, are no longer inmates
OF the Nontcfiorc Homes sanatorium at
Bedford Hills, n. Y. Apparently dis
satisfied VIII the conditions there.
these persons, many of them well ad-
vanced in years, walked out on strike
Saturday evening, and when some OF
them, pen.tert, tried TO return TO the
in Institute on yesterday they found that
DR.. Louis Shalet, the superintendent,
had barred the doors against hem.
Trouble has been brewing among the
inmates since June !, when DR.. Sha!et,
formerly of Otisvihe, succeeded DR..
! Rosenberg as the sanatOrium's head.
The new superintendent revoked some
of his predecessors rules, and the
warning element of the rs inmates OBJ
iected. Saturdays fight was the cul-
minaton OF their protests; yesterday $
appeal to be taken back was the after
, math.
In place Of the ifty-fve who evacu-
ated their fortress a number will be
chosen from the two hundred appli-
cants who are awaiting an opportunity
TO enter the sanatorium, 1t was an
II
Wachsmann, medical director and SUI
perintendent of the home. Jacob II.
Schiff is president of the institution,
and on it's board of directors are sew
eral men prominent in Jewish circles.
Bedford's population was shocked as
il paraded the village streets Saturday
night about 8 o'clock TO see a rival
parade in action. This was composed Of
the patients who had come from the
sanatorium, a mile or more away, to
the Harlem Railroad station, where
thew proceeded TO camp out and see
what their move would bring forth.
They waited for some one to help them,
figuring that either the authoritiei OF
the home would send a conveyance to
take them back to the place they had
so summarily left or that kind hearted
persons would furnish them with
tickets for New York.
Strike for Liberty.
The latter supposition proved cor
rect. and after debate between Or.
Shalet and acting Chief of Police Mill
Ter tickets were forthcoming, and the
seceders continued their journey tow
ard Manhattan.
Back of their fight is a series Of pro-
tests against the new superintendent
methods. First, the inmates complained
when an order was issued torblddlng
them TO visit the town and mingle with
the villagers. Then they were forbid
den to walk at all after supper. To cap
the climax, instructions came when
eliminated all the frolicking they had
INDUCED in under the former regime. .
The protests ended in the dismissal
of four inmates, leaders of the seces-
sion movement. The others, VINO had
warlike tendencies were aroused, and
they raised objections against the ex-
pulsion, but to no avail. Then there
came complaint against the food, but
according to Dr. Wachsmann, there is
/ no ground for protest in this direction,
as the food at Bedford is of the same
quality as that served in the Bronx
buildings, IIhich has always been
deemed satisfactory.
Feeling that they had been deprived
of their liberties, the leaders in the
protest movement worked, DR.. Wachs-
mann says, like politicians" and won
the rest of the ifty-tive over to their
way of thinking. The escape followed.
In town the former residents of Monte
] fore poured their tales of woe into the
willing ears of listeners, and sentiment
soon began to run high against the in
/ stitution for its tyrannical methods.
But the explanation for the outbreak
furnished by DR.. Wachsmann places
the situation in different light. While
he did not criticise DR.. Rosenberg, he
took the part of his successor and said
that the rulings made by DR.. Shalet
tended to improve order in the sana-
torium. He admitted that the inmates
had a perfect right to leave the in
| stitution which has cared for them
gratis, but doubted whether their &C
| ton merited a return upon their re-
| quest.
At least twenty of the ffty-fve have
asked to b. reinstated, but DR.. Wachs-
mann said that none of these would be
readmitted. II is thought that the de-
cision not to take the miscreants back
! into the fold will prevent any further
outbreaks.