Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-29
RAZING HOWARD HALL TO PUT
81 MURDERERS OUT OF HOME
40 Drab Years Behind st.
Elizabeth'S Prison
Section.
Talented and Terrible Char.
aCters Among 1000 Con-
fined There.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.


roof
This strange assembly of demon-rid-
den men is now confined at Howard
Hall, the Federal walled hospital for
the criminal insane at st. Elizabeth's
Hospital here.
After approximately 40 years Serv-
ice, during which it has housed some
of the country's most infamous GRIM
inals, Howard Hall soon will be dis
continued under the new Federal priS-
on-building program with provisions
for pSychiatrtc hospitals under the adj
m1nistration of the Public Health Serv-
ice. Through all these years it has
been a pioneer center for scientific
study of the criminal and the causes
and possible cures of crime. Nearly
1000 slayers have passed through its
gates. About half its population has
consisted continuously of men whose
hands have been stained with the
blood of their fellows.
All these men have been pronounced
insane. For the most part they have
been transferred here from Federal
prisons. But there are many kinds and
demonstrat of insanity. The in
mates range from raving maniacS, in
surable and kept locked up most of the
time for the safety Of the others, to
gentle Missionaries who have killed in
response to hallucinatory heavenly
voices and who ordinarily are the most
inoffensive of men.
Howard Hall never has been house
of maniacs. Specifically the inmates
on the whole might appear an almost
normal group of men of all sorts and
appearances. Many of them were not
insane when they committed the crimes
for which they are imprisoned but,
Iair1a and cancifivo Vuora VVHndc
insane by prison discipline. Such. cases
are described by DR.. John E. Lind,
physician in charge of Howard Hall and
one Of the country'S foremost PSYCHE
artists and criminologistS, as situation
psychoses." The sensitive soul cannot
endure the routine life of a Federal
prison with its strict discipline and al
most complete crushing of individuality
behind q striped suit and a number,
together with the crushing remorse for
his crime.
Left without Escape.
He is even denied the certain escape
always open to persons in the outside
world who encounter absolutely unen-
durable situations. The guards keep
him from blowing his brains out. There
is only one way left to escape prison
through the ever open gateway of the
mind, where even the most strictly regu-
lated prisons have no centres posted.
The man can force himself to deny
absolutely the real world in which he
lives with its armed guards and barred
cells and build up out of his mind
alone phantom world to live in, as
beautiful as he desires. 1t is like eScap-
ing into the fourth dimension-aI1d
the fellow ends in Howard Hail. It is
true insanity, for the time being, as is
any wholesale denial Of reality. But
such cases, says DR.. Lind, usually clear
up quickly enough when the situation
causing them Is changed.
Many others come to Howard Hall,
DR.. Lind says, as drug addicts. These
can be cured-for so long as they can
be kept out of the way of temptation
in four or i've days so that they act
normally for the rest of their period Of
imprisonment. They usually 60 back 10
their drugs again shortly after they are
released-but that is another story.
Queer, almost mythical, cases of hui
man abnormality are found in Howard
Hall. A few years ago strains of beau
tiful music continually Aoated about
the building. The player was a master
vioiinist-a dreamy, gentle man with a
long siiken beard who looked for all
the world like one of the apostles.
Most Of the time he acted like one of
them. DR.. Lind describes him as a
"Christlike figure"
But this man was subject to epilepsy.
During the aura which preceded the
attacks he became one of the most
violent human beings imaginable-a
man who would kill and mutilate on
sight. Afterward he would remember
nothing of 1t. 1t was like possession
by demon.
Talented Artist Escapes.
On one wall hangs a life-sized paint
ing of Christ, which has been valued
by competent art critics at anywhere
from $500 to several thousands, DR..
Lind says. It is not quite finished
for the artist took advantage of a con-
venient opportunity to escape just be-
fore putting on the last touches.
On the outside this fellow, whose
genius might have made him one of the
foremost American artists, was an &C.
complished confidence man. During his
confinement at Howard Hall he was
allowed the use Of a large room as o
studio and painted many pictures.
Several near geniuses have been con-
fined there. One murderer was an ac-
complished mathematician and one of
the country's best chess players. The
doctors and the most intelligent Of the
other prisoners were helpless before him
on the chesSboard. Several of the pris-
oners have patented practical inven-
tons. They are encouraged, SO far as
possible, to work according to their
own interests
For many years human vampire
was confined there. He was sailor,
who developed an uncomfortable i'm
pulse to feast on human blood. Other
wise he appeared normal. Phantasies
take queer forms and often are unex-
plainable.
Few men have had more experience
with murderers and other criminals OF
all sorts with all degrees of mental de-
terioration than DR.. Lind Out of his
years of contact with them-more as
physician and friend than as jailor-he
has developed an essentially practical
viewpoint concerning the criminal him.
self and the roots of crime. He has nc
specific for the cure of criminality, nc
claims Of the working of miracles
Sometimes, he says, an individual can
be greatly improved by psychoanalytica
methods. Sometimes reformation can
be brought about by physical treat
ment. Sometimes good can be accom-
plished even by the old platitudinous
"fatherly advice" and talk about home
and mother.
Some Are Hopeless.
But for the most part the chronic Of
tenders who come to Howard Hall have
the roots of a social conduct too deeply
buried In their characters and too Arm.
ly fixed by the years to give much hope
of permanent reform. Generally speak.
ing, the younger they are the better
The real point of attack on criminality
Dr. Lind believes, is with the child anC
| adolescent in the process OF becoming 9
criminal.
But at Howard Hall every case Il
| dealt with on its merits and right here
is a striking difference between thil
Federal hospital for criminals and mos
L OcArA Lad