The Washington times., 1927-02-23

TO detain the arrested person In
any police station or house Of de-
tention until such time as the Dis
trict Commissioners may elect to
arrange for his further disposition;
provided that the arresting officer
or officers Immediately file affidavit
that they believe the prisoner 10
be insane or Of unsound mind.
The District Commissioner are to
he empowered as follows:
To commit the prisoner to St.
Elizabeth's Hospital for 10 days in
addition to the time spent in the
police station:
Ten-Day Period
TO discharge the prisoner from
st. Elizabeth's at the end Of the
Today period; unless within that
time. two physicians have been
found who are willing to certify
that the prisoner should not be
allowed to remain at liberty: but on
such certificates Of two physicians.
the Commissioners may commit the
prisoner to st. Ellzabeth's indefin-
itely, without jury trial or appear
ance in court, or notification to the
court that such commitment has
been made; and no public officer Of
st. Elizabeth's or other hospital
shall be liable for damages in case
Of detention, IL the affidavits are
properly made out.
The superintendent of st. Eliza
beth's or other institution of deten.
ton IL to be empowered:
Other Provisions
To receive and detain until cured
or dead any person committed to
the institution; provided that &
any friend or relative Of the prIs-
oner, or the prisoner himself de.
mand a hearing in court. the said
court may order the prisoners dis.
charge IL convinced Of the prison.
er's sanity.
But no means is provided for
communicating. with the court; and
q prisoner locked up in Howard
Hall or in carefully guarded ward
stands a poor chance.
In the case Of a prisoner who
has no guardian or committee the
superintendent is empowered to ex-
anime all mail addressed to the
prisoner and to destroy It IL he
deems such action advisable.
The bill, H. r. 17045, is the third
OF four measures relating to lunacy
commitments that have been intro.
duced during the last month";. r.
12109. 1910. 17045 and 1887.
Two Of them-12109 and BIO
have already passed. and became
effective February IA.
With one exception every pro-
vision OF H. r. 17045, weird as it
may seem, is now in force in one
or more States. The result is
more easily imagined than de-
scribed, but we are going to at
tempt a description.
First Victim
We will start with the State of
Washington and the first victim Is
Mrs. Myrtle de Months. The two
physicians who certified that Mrs.
de Months should not be allowed to
remain at liberty disavowed their
certificate after the victim has been
locked up four months, and we
append here the doctors acI1nowl.
edgement of their mistake, so we
can start the story with a clear
record, as 1t were:
This certifies that in the case OF
Myrtle de Months, who was com.
mitted to the Washington State Asy.
lum for the Insane on April Z, 1916,
the testimony Of witnesses was in.
competent and misleading: she was
at the time of examination suffering
from acute mania due to ptOmaine
poisoning. A further knowledge of
the patient, who has been under oh.
servatiOn at various times, has DEM
Onstrated these facts and established
her sanity and the error of her com.
mitment.
(SigneD
''F. w. SOUTHWORTH, M. D."
''This is to certify that / was one
OF the physicians called to examine
Mrs. Myrtle de Months, of Gig Har.
Dor, at the time she was committed
to the State Hospital, SteiIacOon, on
April Z, 1916. wish to state that
at the time Of her commitment q
physical examination was impossible,
the testimony was afterwards proved
unreliable, and from the complete
recovery she has made it is possible
that her condition was due to other
causes than true insanity. And /
would advise that the record Of her