St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1917-02-28
w. III. Jeffrey, Special Correspondent


Montpelier, Feb 27.-This was
Jones' Day at the Brattleboro Retreat
hearing. Three witness, examined at
the forenoon session were: Joseph C.
Jones, a prominent lawyer from RUt-
land not related to the other Jones:
Lena e. Jones and C. e. Jones. both of
Sheffield. The lawyer had been pa
tient at the Retreat several times for
the liquor habit and the other two
Jones were former attendants at the
institution. Their story was strongly
conhrmatOry of that which had gone
before. II was not as sensational, but
it came from people whose appear
ance and standing will go far to clear
up the actual conditions which obtain
at the Retreat
Joseph G. Jones Of Rutland told of
his going to the Retreat in 1911. He
said he occupied a room in the Marsh
Building, and that the food was very
fair. .He said, zone day I left the
Retreat and went down to the depot
and got some liquor which I had Or
dered by express. The night watch,
Mr.. Hills and Captain Haigh, an Eng
lishman, came and said [ would have
to go to the main building of the Re-
treat | objected, and they grabbed
me and twisted my head and chol1ed
me very badly. / complained to DR..
Lawton and he said it ought not to
be so, but he did nothing to correct
| things.
Il have seen the night watch, Mr..
Hills, drunk several times on duty.
'"The man who runs the laundry
came to me and said there was a Wo-
man in the laundry that had come
| from my county and who had en-
tirely recovered and ought not to be
| detained. I went over and talked
| with her. Later 1 went back and at
that time she would not talk. She
| said, DR. Landas told me not to talk
| to you.
Il went to see Dr. LaWton aud call
| ed his attention to the law and told
/ him that she could not be detained
| I found that she was a keeper on one
/ of the wards. The next morning they
| let her go.
Yes, / was the attorney for Mrs
Hattie Guilford and negotiated the
settlement with the Retreat for hel
claim against it. I did this with
Judge Tyler. He met me at Bellows
Falls and we went over the matter
Later they settled for $1,000.
81 was there two months and did
not see DR.. Lawton about at all, ]
was in the Main Building two weeks
and did not see him there
Lena c. Jones, wife of c. E. Jones
told of having been employed at the
Retreat as an attendant. She told OF
IS patients being cared for on the
second hall by only two after dants
that there were no attendants al
night, merely night watch. She said:
II saw the nurse in charge bend a
patient over the railing of an iron
bed. The bed did not have springs
or matresses,-it was just the iron
railing. [ thought she would break
her back. She did it because the pa
tent refused to mop the floor. At
tendants most always made the pa
tients do the work, if they could"
1.-The food was poor. We had soup
"a tin pail of soup for breakfast
bread an butter, and poor coffee
When we had potatoes, they were
/ cooked with the skins on and had
never been washed. We picked
meats"
She was asked by Committeeman
Rierdon: What about roast beef and
roast pork" and she replied: Il new
er saw any"
Under cross examination of Attor-
ney Gibson, Mrs. Jones said: There
have been days that no doctor came
through the wards. 1 never saw DR.
] Lawton but twice in my life. [ saw
! DR.. LaWton on the wards only Wher
he came with the state supervisors
or the trustees. Then we would gel
notice of the visit and Slick up 9
! Bit
g.. e. Jones, of Sheffield, said: 50
am son of DR.. S. A. Jones of Shelf
field. | was at Bratleboro Retreat az
an assistant supervisor. 1 have beer
employed in the Insane Asylum a
Waterbury and the Insane Asylum