St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1917-04-04

the officers of the institution, and in
all such eases coming to the knowl-
edge of DIR. Lawton or his assistants.
have been discharged. Such super
vision of attendants should be en-
forced as will certainly prevent occur
rences of this kind.
The GuiIf0rd Case.
In this case the following charges
We're made by Mrs. Hattie M. Gull
ford:
/. That she was put into straight
jacket and tied to o. bed and left
there for several days at a time, and
while in a straight jacket, she was
compelled to eat her food from a tin
plate placed on the floor of her room.
2. That she was knocked down
three times a week, and on one oc-
casion was struck with a piece of iron
or lead pipe, leaving scar upon her
head
8. That she was thrown on to n
bed by an attendant and her head
pounded against the wall until she be-
came unconscious.
4. That she was put into place
(dungeon) under the floor of her room
and left there for two days without
food or water.
5. That she saw a patient killed in
the hall by the night Waterman.
7. That she was compelled to take
an oath not to disclose the truth re-
specting conditions at the Retreat.
s. That she sustained a broken jaw
while confined at the Retreat
With reference to the first seven
charges as made by Mrs. Guilford
| fords jaw has been broken, but we
are unable to find from the evidence
that she sustained this injury while
she was a patient at the Retreat.
/ Your committee find that the Re-
treat disclaimed liability for the in
jures claimed by Mrs. Guilford to
have been sustained while at the Re-
treat, but to avoid expense of suit
and publicity settled her claim for
damages by paying her $1,000.
The Barrett Case.
In this case it was claimed that one,
w. z. Barrett, patient at the Re-
treat, from January, 1912, to July,
1912, sustained injuries to his nose
and forehead.
Your Committee investigated this
matter very fully and are unable to
find that the patient was injured while
at the Retreat We find that during
the latter part Of his confinement
there Mr.. Barrett failed rapidly and
death was the result of the disease
from which he was suffering at the
time of his commitment.
Should not Settle Cases.
Concerning the settlement made b!
the Retreat in the Guilford, Adam:
and Jones cases the committee fine
that the Retreat in each case dis
claimed liability for the damage!
claimed but to avoid the expense o.
suit and publicity, considered it fol
the best interests of the Retreat tt
settle these claims.
The settlement of a threatened Law
suit is often times a combination o
eXpediency, to save expense of litiga
ton, to avoid publicity and to avoit
the possible miscarriage of justice. Al
insane asylum cannot afford to settl'
threatened law suit for any or all o
the foregoing reasons, but only Whel
it is fully satisfied that some of it
servants have been guilty of sucl
negligence or misconduct as may b.
actionable against the asylum AM
then the fullest publicity should be b.
it given to the entire subject matter.
The unfortunate Clement incident i
| the result of a mistaken policy. TIL
| Retreat is not so equipped with isolat
ed apartments that it can from an
| aesthetic view point satisfactorily car
for certain types of insanity withou
recourse to the usual restraint an
should have SO advised in the case re
1 ferred to.