The Washington times., 1927-02-23

commitment be erased from the.
records.
iSigned) &C. nj. STEELE, M. D."
This matter coming on regularly
to be heard, and the court having
read and filed the statements OF f..
w. SOuthWOrth and g. VI. Steele, the
committing physicians IN this case,
81 the effect that they are OF the
opinion that an error was made i'm
finding Myrtle de Months to be in
sane on April I, 1916.
And the court. having fully con-
sidered the matter, IL Is ordered that
the record committing said Myrtle de
Months TO the Western State Hos
pitai for the Insane be, and the same
is, hereby vacated.
Signed ERNEST M. CARD,
Judge.
dated October Is. 1918"
Cultured Woman
Mrs. de Months Is a charming lady
OF Colonial-American ancestry. She
had just returned from a six years
course OF art study in Switzerland,
France and England, and a perhaps
somewhat prolonged stay In Madrid,
where she first met Senior de Months.
at the Prado Gallery.
He returned with her to the United
States. In 1915, Senior de Months was
called back to Madrid by the death
OF his mother, and Mrs. de Months
remained on this side rather than
risk the submarine-infested Atlantic.
One evening, alone in the de Months
summer home, ''ToquaP' 10 miles
from Tacoma, on Puget Sound,
Washington state. Mrs. de Months
was seized with sudden attack of
ptomaine poisoning.
Hurrying from the house, half
delerious with agony, groaning in
articulately for help, she made her
way blindly to the cottage Of a
tenant family.
They set her down as crazy, and
this diagnosis was later confirmed
by two physicians. Instead of re-
lieving Mrs. de Months Of her
frightful agony, the doctors ordered
her to the State insane asylum,
laced up in straightjacket.
HideOusIy Tortured
And all through the terrible suf-
fering attending her unaided re-
covery, and for six week there
after, she was kept in that hideous
device Of torture. And when, at
the end of the six weeks period,
the thing was removed, her body
from head to foot was black and
blue with the beatings. klckings
and maulings she had received at
the hands. feet, and clubs Of patti
ent nurses.
Her delicate white fingers, skilled
by years Of conscientious work to
the use of brush and pencil, were
knobby and distorted at the joints.
The nurses, she says, twisted her
fingers when she screamed.
After four nightmare months she
was released on habeas corpus.
and is letting the world know. in
most convincing way, what the
inside Of modern insane asylum
is like. Do you wonder that hos
pitaI authorities SILVER at thought
of habeas corpus action?
And for all this, we neither ask
nor expect you to take our word
Mrs. de Months Is now at 1910 New
York Ave-, at the headquarters OF
the American Equity Association, of
which she is secretary. Her hours
there are from 8 a. m. to 4:30 p. m.
with an hour off for lunch, and she
will be pleased to meet you and tell
OF her experience and give docu-
mentary proof Of It.
In later article we will discuss
the pending bill further. unless it
passes in the meantime.
The National Committee for Mental
Hygiene, financed by the Rockefeller
Foundation, has written three-page
letter to Representative Zihlman,
urging passage Of the bill.
So perhaps we'd better hurry with
the, next article.