Category Archives: 1900s newspapers

Newspapers in the 1900s were full of opinion and misinformation. They usually contained personal tidbits about local people

Gaining Prestige for Asylum Management

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Bellevue Hospital, NY, 1885, courtesy Wellcome Images

One of the immediate issues facing insane asylum superintendents was their initial lack of status. The term “mad-doctor” had little to recommend it as an indication of learning and professionalism. Even the term “alienist” did not convey to the public the intricacies of helping disabled minds. To enhance their stature, these early psychiatrists found it helpful to band together in professional groups.

The American group first communicated with each other informally through letters. Then a group of thirteen insane asylum superintendents met in 1844 to share information and exchange ideas about the treatment of the insane. They named their group the Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane.

German psychiatrists united as a professional body in the Association of German Mad-doctors in 1864, though the General Journal for Psychiatry and Psychic-forensic Medicine had begun publication in 1844. The British organized the Psychological Society in 1901. They changed their name to the British Psychological Society in 1906, to avoid confusion with another organization of the same name.

These early societies were successful in gaining stature for their profession. Many alienists began to testify as expert witnesses in public trials, and the public in general felt safe in relying on their judgment.

Published June 25, 1911, courtesy sundaymagazine.org

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Children at Asylums

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An Epileptic Boy, from Criminal Man, 1911

Children lived at insane asylums. They were the children of  patients or children of staff, or sometimes they were the patients. Married staff who lived on the grounds of an asylum had no choice but to raise their children where they were placed. At the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians, Dr. Hummer’s two boys ran through the wards freely, often aggravating the attendants with their noisiness and mess. Presumably, children at other asylums did the same things, and enjoyed playing in the park-like settings and wide lawns that were such a feature of large asylums.

At Southwestern Lunatic Asylum in Virginia, one patient with a young baby refused to be separated from her child, and the baby was allowed to stay for awhile. Sometimes patients became pregnant at asylums, and their babies were allowed to stay until other arrangements could be made. One child born to a  patient at  the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians stayed until she was four years old.

Canton Asylum took in a few young children; the youngest actually entering as a patient was six years old. A 1958 newspaper article from the Nevada State Journal described how children lived at the Nevada State Hospital (former Nevada Insane Asylum). The paper said the children stayed in a small ward with older [insane or feeble-minded] women, who cared for them. They played outside in fair weather, and played inside otherwise. Children ranged in age from four to seventeen, and usually lived in wards with members of their own sex once they reached age twelve.

Nevada Hospital for Mental Disease, circa 1890, Dr. H. Bergstein with son and Staff, courtesy University of Nevada School of Medicine

Nevada Insane Asylum, circa 1980, courtesy University of Nevada School of Medicine

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Dr. Turner’s Travels

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Mesa Grande Indian Chief Cinon Mataweer, courtesy San Diego Historical Society

As the only physician at the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians, Doctor John Turner was necessarily a valuable employee. However, he was on the road to pick up patients  more than anyone else on staff. In March, 1906, Turner went to Pennsylvania to visit his sick father. At the time of this visit, a Mesa Grande Indian who had escaped the asylum in 1904, Moxey, committed some sort of crime in Virginia and wound up in jail.

Turner had to go to Virginia and get Moxey, then return to the asylum. He brought back both the patient and his father, who was very ill. One of Turner’s chief complaints about Gifford’s management of the asylum, was that Turner had to do much of the traveling associated with picking up patients and retrieving them if they escaped. His absence caused problems with the health of his patients, and Turner’s complaint to Charles Dickson, supervisor of Indian schools, instigated an inspection that brought superintendent O. S. Gifford sharp reproach.

O.S. Gifford

Mesa Grande Indian, c. 1906, courtesy Dan Diego Historical Society

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Employees at Canton Asylum

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Settlers Wait to Enter Surplus Lands at Fort Hall Reservation,1902, courtesy Library of Congress

When the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians first opened, employees took on a variety of tasks not necessarily in their job descriptions. Dr. Turner, the assistant superintendent and the only doctor at the asylum, often traveled out-of-state to escort new patients to the asylum.

On February 4, 1905, the Sioux Valley News reported that Turner and an employee named Hans Loe, had just returned from Fort Hall in Idaho with two Shoshone patients. That week, the financial clerk also returned from a trip to bring back an Apache patient. Turner was scheduled to go to Indian Territory to pick up an insane woman at Union Agency, while O. S. Gifford was set to go to Minnesota to get a patient from White Earth reservation.

Though this may have been an especially busy week, employees obviously could not give patients their full attention.

Indians Making Maple Sugar at Cass Lake, 1905, courtesy Minnesota Historical Society

White Settlers in Indian Territory, 1883, courtesy Robert E. Cunningham Oklahoma History Collection

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A Growing Population of the Insane

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AMSAII, courtesy National Library of Medicine

In 1844, thirteen superintendents of insane asylums met to exchange ideas about how to best run institutions for the insane. From this meeting, they formed the Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane (AMSAII). As recognized experts in a very young field, they felt themselves the top authority on all matters concerning mental disease. Some of the superintendents were somewhat arrogant, but were undoubtedly sincere and enthusiastic.

In 1844, the Association proposed some ground rules for asylums. Among other propositions, they agreed that asylums should be in the country, but easily accessible from a large town. Each site should have about 50 acres of landscaped grounds besides other acreage for its needs. Superintendents felt strongly that no building should hold more than 200 patients, and only 250 at the very most. In 1866, they increased that acceptable number to 600. The original members would have been shocked to find how quickly overcrowding became one of the worst features of asylums, with sometimes thousands of patients crammed together in filth and disorder.

Crowded New York Lunatic Asylum

Unruly Patients at Blackwell's Island, from Harper's Magazine, 1860, courtesy New York Public Library

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Newspapers And Local Mention

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Many early newspapers had society columns which detailed the entertainments and travels of prominent people. Small-town newspapers often had their counterpart, and reported on anything of interest which the town’s citizens might be doing. Here are entries in The Sioux Valley News‘ Local Mention column for Dec 4, 1903:

First Thanksgiving, (photo circa 1900-1920) courtesy Library of Congress

— Tom and Mrs. Stinson entertained a number of friends on Thanksgiving day.

— Oliver Carpenter’s many friends in this city will be pleased to learn that he has been promoted to the law department of the bureau of commerce at a salary of $1,200 a year.

— Mrs. C. M. Seely and Mrs. Dr. Turner gave a very pleasant dinner party to a few of their lady friends Monday afternoon at the Indian asylum.

— The Flandreau Indians scalped the Canton boys in foot ball Thanksgiving day by a score of 11 to 10. As this is Canton’s only defeat this year, the boys are quite happy. The game deserves an extended write-up but lack of space prevents.

Genoa Indian School Baseball Team, courtesy Nebraska State Historical Society

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Digging Through Newspapers

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The Sioux Valley News, August 9, 1895

Newspapers can give tremendous insight into an era, and small-town newspapers are gold mines of localized information, attitudes, and values. Many reported the comings and goings of their town’s citizens and reported on odd topics of interest. On Jan 22, 1904, the following items appeared in The Sioux Valley News in Canton, SD:

— Mrs. George Alexander of Poughkeepsie, N.Y. began crying for no apparent cause and literally sobbed herself to death.

— A few days ago H. Davison of Norfolk, Neb., purchased a pair of blue socks. Now his feet are in such a condition from wearing them that his attending physician says they will have to be amputated.

— As a result of drinking ginger ale flavored with lemon extract, Charles Benke, Albert Lewis and William Prudence are dead at Alexander, Ark.

The modern reader wonders what in the world happened in these three medical incidents, which were published as straightforward news items.

Vintage Ginger Ale Ad

Vintage Cigarette Ad

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Escaping the Insane Asylum

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1890 Census Report

Few patients enjoyed their stay at an insane asylum. Sam Black Buffalo managed to escape from the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians the week after Thanksgiving, in 1905. Canton’s weekly newspaper, The Sioux Valley News,  recounted the escape, saying that Black Buffalo slipped away during an afternoon rain shower and wasn’t missed until supper. The paper called Black Buffalo “sharp as a tack, but deaf and dumb.” Even this early in its existence, the asylum was being used improperly to detain inconvenient, rather than insane, Indians.

On the same day it told of the escape, The Sioux Valley News gave its conclusion: “Dr. Turner, assistant superintendent of the asylum, went west Tuesday and discovered the fugitive on a way-freight at Emory. The conductor picked the fellow up at a watering tank and was afraid to put him off for fear he would freeze.”

Sam Black Buffalo was returned to the asylum on Wednesday, after two days of freedom.

One-Handed Alphabet for the Deaf and Dumb

Deaf and Dumb Asylum, Little Rock, Ark., (1905-1915)

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Miss Smith Goes to the Insane Asylum

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Female Patient, Bellevue, 1885, courtesy Wellcome Images

Families sometimes committed their relatives to asylums for convenience or spite. In 1910, New York resident Alice Stanton Smith was arrested for carrying a small revolver for protection. She was sent to Bellevue hospital, stripped, forced into a chair, and injected with morphine. Later she was released as sane. Adorned with diamonds and other gems, Smith appeared in the Harlem Police Court to defend herself the following week–not so much against the crime of carrying a revolver, but to plead with the court not to send her back to Bellevue.

The court magistrate called the psychopathic ward at Bellevue to talk with the examining physicians there; they said Smith was only “a little nervous and eccentric.” Her brother sent an agent to court, saying that Smith had been doing “crazy acts” for years. When pressed for an example, he said that Smith had once slapped a guest at a dinner party.

Smith–worth $100,000 in her own right–told the court that her relatives had tried to have her declared insane a number of times. Though Smith did not appear deranged to the reporters in the court nor to the physicians at Bellevue, the magistrate sent her back to the asylum.

Bellevue Hospital Ambulance

Lunacy Law, 1913

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Insane Asylums and Economics

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Lakota Camp, 1891, probaby near Pine Ridge Reservation, courtesy Library of Congress

Lakota Camp, 1891, probably near Pine Ridge Reservation, courtesy Library of Congress

Though insane patients were not always embraced by the communities around asylums, communities were often glad to have the institutions near them. Asylums meant jobs, and even small ones could have an economic impact. When the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians opened, residents desired the available positions.

Andrew Hedges, a full-blooded Santee Sioux Indian and the asylum’s first patient, arrived to the delight of the asylum staff on the last day of 1902. They met him at the train station, though this was probably the only time the entire staff turned out for a new patient. The greeters were Mrs. Seely (the financial clerk’s wife) was the matron, Mrs. Turner (the assistant superintendent’s wife) was the seamstress, W.F. More was the attendant, and Hannah Mickelson was the cook.

Canton’s newspaper noted that “Notwithstanding the most specific promises and a petition largely signed by prominent republicans of our city, and county, Mrs. Naylor was not given a position at the asylum.”

By 1927, 21 people were employed at the asylum besides the superintendent. Though Canton residents appreciated the asylum’s jobs, the work was often unpleasant. Attendants came and went with regularity. Dr. Hummer found the lack of trained, dedicated professionals a particularly frustrating aspect of running the asylum.

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