Canton Asylum

Though some families initiated their member’s confinement to an asylum, others missed their presence very much. Particularly in the case of patients at the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians, who may have been sent to the facility for reasons other than insanity, families often pleaded to have  a patient released. Dr. Hummer usually dodged responsibility by claiming he could not release anyone without the permission of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. The reality was that the commissioner would almost always take his cue from Hummer’s assessment and wishes in the matter.

Frank Cox wrote to the commissioner on July 14, 1926, saying that Dr. Hummer had told him he needed the commissioner’s permission to release his son, John Charles. Cox said, “I am his father and all his family would like to have him home if possible. I am 52 yeas old, I know I can provide for him. I have lost my wife and John being around me it would me a little joy to live for.”

Edgar B. Meritt, courtesy Library of Congress

The assistant commissioner (Edgar Meritt) replied, “You are advised that this is not deemed for the best interests either of you or of your son, inasmuch as it is not shown that John Charles Cox has been pronounced sane, and having once been committed to an insane asylum it would not be safe to have him returned to your home until a cure has been effected. For this reason your request will have to be denied unless Dr. Hummer can give a certificate of sanity.”

Visitors to the Texas State Lunatic Asylum, courtesy Austin Library

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Interior Staircase, New York City Lunatic Asylum

Early superintendents of insane asylums asked for large, beautiful facilities amid a park-like setting, because they thought the environment within imposing structures would help cure their patients. Asylums were built to serve the poor and middle class, rather than the rich, and these lovely “homes” were deliberately built to be as unlike a patient’s typical home as possible.

Alienists (early mental health experts) believed that insanity was often caused by something in the patient’s home environment. By leaving that unhealthy environment, patients could renew their minds and get well. Family visits were actively discouraged, and it wasn’t until late in the century that superintendents began to consider trial visits home, or furloughs, as beneficial.

Dr. Hummer, the superintendent of the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians for the majority of its existence, did not seem to move with the times. He always discouraged visits by family members, and only once or twice allowed a patient to go home on a trial basis.

Social Room at Arizona Insane Asylum

Visitors Arriving at Missouri State Hospital for the Insane

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Dr. Harry R. Hummer

The Canton Asylum for Insane Indians was unusual in that it was a short-lived institution with only two superintendents. Unlike Oscar Gifford (see last post), Canton Asylum’s second superintendent was well qualified to run an insane asylum. Born in Washington, DC and educated at Georgetown University, Dr. Harry R. Hummer was an ambitious young man who desired prominence and prestige.

He worked at the Government Hospital for the Insane ( St. Elizabeths) for nine years before applying for the position of superintendent at Canton Asylum. Married with two children when he moved to Canton, South Dakota, Hummer badly wanted to run his own institution.

It must have been a difficult move for the whole family, since they had no ties whatsoever to the West. Norena Guest Hummer, cousin to the poet Edgar Guest, was used to the nice dinners and servants available as a doctor’s wife at St. Elizabeths. Hummer was used to having his orders obeyed without question, common at authoritarian eastern asylums, and certainly common at the military-style government asylum. It was a shock to both Hummers to arrive in South Dakota among a much more independent type of employee.

Poet Edgar Guest

Georgetown Medical School, circa 1900, courtesy National Library of Medicine

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Pennsylvania Institute for Feeble-Minded Children Drum and Bugle Corps, circa 1900

The Canton Asylum for Insane Indians had a fairly stable population, since so many patients had epilepsy or other chronic conditions. Dr. Hummer also felt that “defectives” should not be released even if they were doing well under his care, as they could have problems later.

In 1927, Hummer had a number of patients who did not fit the profile of most asylum patients. Amelia Moss was 10 years old, Henry Frenier was 12, Richard Fairbanks and E.F. Mahkimetass were 14. Winona Faribault (born to patient Elizabeth Faribault) was 9 months old, and had been already diagnosed as an imbecile.

A Case of Paralysis in an Insane Child, 1899, courtesy National Institutes of Health

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Patients Working in Laundry Room at Texas State Lunatic Asylum, 1898

Most insane asylums tried to use patient labor as a way of holding down costs, or as a sort of occupational therapy. At the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians, Dr. Harry Hummer had a real mission to hold down expenses, since he knew that his small facility didn’t have the economies of scale that larger institutions did.

Female patients generally worked on household tasks, like sewing and laundry. Susan Wishecoby, an epileptic patient, wrote about scrubbing the floors, and other women complained about the amount of work they had to do. Men usually worked in the gardens or helped with livestock. Dr. Hummer couldn’t actually force patients to work, but many did because it helped them pass the time. They may have also wanted to please the attendants or Dr. Hummer by appearing cooperative.

Patients Sewing at the Cherokee State Hospital for the Insane, early 1900s

Patients Picking Cotton at Alabama Insane Hospital

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Dr. Harry Hummer

St. Elizabeths was under Congressional investigation for patient abuse in 1906. Dr. Harry Hummer, who later became superintendent of  the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians, testified about the food served at St. Elizabeths.

Hummer said that sick patients were given an extremely liberal diet of eggs and milk: 17 dozen eggs daily and 35 gallons of milk for between 125 and 130 people, along with other food. Patients in the dining hall did not receive milk to drink, though they received food that used milk in preparation. Hummer also stated that employees complained about tough meat and that they could not eat the oleo (margarine).

Early Oleomargarine

Epileptics, who were considered insane by most doctors, ate at a special table in the dining hall. Hummer said that they were “not allowed to have anything that we think will upset them in the nature of corned beef or cabbage, and heavy indigestible food.”

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Seal of Menominee Nations

Though the superintendents at asylums undoubtedly read patients’ letters at times, they don’t seem to have censored or stopped them as any kind of universal practice. Many letters from patients to relatives and other people have survived, including letters from patients at the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians.

Agnes Caldwell, a Menominee Indian from Keshena, WS, wrote frequently to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to ask for her release. On January 1, 1920, she wrote: “I got a letter from home I show it to him [Superintendent Hummer] the letter I heard about my little Boy he was very sick we all like to see are [sic] children. I am feeling just blue from that day.”

She begged the commissioner to write to Hummer, to let her visit her family. Superintendent Hummer didn’t feel she should go, so the commissioner wrote back, saying, “Your superintendent will be the best judge of the proper time for your return to your home.”

Menominee Indians Camping, circa 1917

Menominee Reservations

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Athens Insane Asylum Kitchen, circa 1930

Most insane asylums of the period put patients to work in gardens, considering their labor useful as occupational therapy as well as a way to defray operating costs. At the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians, patients tended gardens, picked berries, and fished if they were able. The bulk of their food (especially meat) would have been issued as government commodity rations–usually a lower quality grade than what appeared at a butcher shop or good grocery store.

By the end of 1909, both patients and staff (who received rations as part of their salary) were going hungry. Ward attendant Jesse Watkins told an investigator: “At breakfast, as a rule, the patients have only syrup and a little butter, with plenty of bread, and coffee. When there is milk, they have oatmeal and sometimes oatmeal without milk.”

Dr. Hummer

Superintendent and chief physician, Dr. Harry R. Hummer, did not know how to use the ration tables supplied by the government. He distributed what he thought were the correct amounts of rations to his staff and patients, while allowing his wife to draw extra rations for himself and his family. An investigator uncovered his mistake and showed him how to use the tables properly.

Gladesville Mental Hospital Menu, 1929

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