Tag Archives: Dr. John Turner

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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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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Power at the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians

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O.S. Gifford

O.S. Gifford

Asylum superintendents were powerful by the nature of their jobs (see previous post). The situation at the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians especially consolidated power in its superintendent, simply because there was no other likely person to share it.

When Canton Asylum opened on the last day of 1902, superintendent O.S. Gifford (a non-medical man) used the services of his assistant superintendent, Dr. John Turner. Though Gifford was ultimately responsible for the asylum and could call all the shots–which he sometimes did to the detriment of patients–he realized that some authority had to go to Turner as the only medical person at the facility.

Dr. Harry R. Hummer

Dr. Harry R. Hummer

Harry R. Hummer replaced Gifford in 1908. Dr. Turner resigned after less than a year, fed up with Hummer’s arrogance and dismissive attitude. In August of 1909, Hummer received another assistant superintendent, Dr. L.M. Hardin, from the Leech Lake reservation. Early in 1910, Hardin quit in frustration. After that, Hummer never employed another physician at the asylum.

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