New-York tribune., 1920-03-20
Board Will Probe
Commitment of Two
Sisters as Insane
Many Demands on Lunacy
Commission for Inquiry
When Spinsters Are Freed
After 10 Years in Asylum

The State Lunacy Commission Is to
make a prompt investigation Of the
commitment and confinement of Phoebe
X. Brush and her sister, Ada, at the
State Hospital for the Insane at Kings
Park, Long Island. Numerous demands
for such an inquiry were received by
the commission yesterday following the
publication of the story of the ten
years incarceration of the two elderly
SpiAstcrs and their release at last as
sane.
According to Clarence Alexander, the
Yonkers attorney who represented Miss
Phoebe and Miss Ada in the habeas
corpus proceedings, they were commit
ted to the asylum on the complaint Of
near relative. The papers in the
case did not show who instjgated the
proceedings, revealing only that the
application for the commitment was
made. by the Oversee: of the Poor at
huntington, Long Island, where Miss
Phoebe and Miss Ada lived.
Henry Brush, of Huntington. one of
their brothers, declcd to discuss the
case, even to say whether he approved
OF the release of his sisters or to COM
ment on the sworn statements of Miss
Phoebe and Mss Ada that not one of
to inquire for them. The, home Of Mrs.
James Brush, sister-n-law of Miss
Phoebe and Miss Ada. to whom they
referred in their testimony, was closed
yesterday the family having left Hunt
ington for vacation in Florida.
Will Try to Get Allowance
Ny. Alexander said an application
would be made through the Supreme
Court to the committee appointed to
handle the property of Miss Phoebe
and Miss Ada to obtain an allowance
for their support The value Of the
property is estimated at about $50 1000,
Mr.. Alexander said, although at the
time of their commitment the value of
the securities was greater. The at
torney. said every one concerned with
the commitment of the two sisters
seemed to have gone about his task
with the idea firmly planted in his
mind that they were insane and that
the procedure wss mere formalty.
Ihc physician who testified Thurs
day that he signed the commitment did
not know the fellow practitioner who
signed the document with him." said
Mr.. Alexander. apparently no hear
ing as to the sanity of these women
ever was held, in or out of the hos
rital. The physicians signature seems
to have been affixed upon hearsay evil
dence, and neither OF the physicians
seems to have been sufficiently inter-
estcd to try to discover what progress
the women were making for better or
for worse.
Court Declared Mislcd
"The county judge at the time of the
commitment found it would be unwse
to serve a notice of examination upon
the women, fearing, it was explained,
that it would induce hysteria or lead to
some rash act"
The attorney had no fault to find
with the treatment the sisters received
at the hospital, and denied they were
confined for ten years on a temporary,
ten-daY commitment. So far as the
formalties were concerned. he said,
everything appeared to be "regular.'
DR.. William S. Garvin, superintend-
ent of the asylum at Kings Park,
thought the Supreme Court had been
misled in deciding that Miss Phoebe
and Miss Ada were able to take care of
themselves. Their cases had been
diagnosed AS parano'a, he said, and
complete recovery was improbable if
not impossible.