The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1918-02-21

habitual users of these vessels
curing the night. and as a result
of not having the vessels the
testimony shows that the rooms
have absolutely become filthy.
The testimony also shows that
tie window panes, and in some
instances, the entire sash, have
been broken out, and that this
coalition is much more serious
than in any previous adminstra-
tons.
The breaking of the window
panes and sash is attributed to
the fact that the superintendent,
DR.. Butler, had adopted the pol
icy of doing away with jackets
and cribs. DR. Butler may have
had a desire to adopt a humane
policy, but we have closely ex-
amined the attendants who have
been there-fr five to nineteen
years, and it is the opinion of
these attendants that the jackets
and cribs were humane and nee
essary with violent patients. The
Jackets are to prevent the patti
ents who are violent from break
ing out windows, from tearing
up their own clothing, and from
attacking other patients who are
in the same wards; and the cribs
are for the purpose of holding
the bed clothinglon the patients
during the night, or while they
are in bed.
CHARGES OF CRUELTY.
Charges of cruelty to patients
have been made. One charge
was against some attendant who
had thrown a patient into a tub
of hot water and scalded him.
This attendant was discharged.
Another charge was of negro
who had been violently insane
being placed in a room where
the entire sash was broken out
of the window, on a very cold
night, with poor bedding, and
almost no cover. This patient
died early the next morning,
We don't know whether this
patient froze to death or not,
but we are constrained to think
that he did. There is no doubt
that anyone in the circumstances
and conditions and surroundings
of this negro patient would have
suffered terribly from the cold
in such a room on such a night.
and we think there was great
carelessness in not seeing that
this patient was properly pro-
tected. Complaint has been
made that one of the fe-
male attendants was cruel to the
female patients in her ward and
often whipped the female pa
tents either with a hair brush
or strap which this attendant
seems to have had for this pur-
pose. This attendant is. still re-
tanned in the asylum, but the ev-
idence is that she has gotten rid
of her strap. and we don't know
whether she has promised be-
havior or not.
SUPERINTENDENT IS CENSURED.
The salary of the superintend-
ent, DR.. r. M. Butler, is So, ESQ
per year, and in addition to that
he is furnished a home with
heat, light and water; also an
allowance of $50 per month for
board, and an allowance of $50
per month for the upkeep of his
automobile. This is good COM
pensation for the position held
by DR.. Butler. We found furth-
err that DR.. Butler has been Sc
curing certain goods and proper
ty of the institution without re-
QUESTIONS and without their be-
ing charged to him. And that
he uses the gasoline of the insti-
tuition for his automobile with
out charge or pay.
We found that his automobile is
kept in a state of repair by one
of the employees of the institution
who is a good mechanic, and this
is done without charge. We found
that DR.. Butler had used chick
ems and eggs, butter, milk, pota-
toes, light bread, ice and vege-
tables without any requisition for
these items, and without paying
for them. It seems to have been
the custom for many years, even
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