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MAN'S INHUMANITYAWFUL CONDITION Ofl*V AFFAIRS D . LA CROSSE ASYLUM*of the Miumffement oltlic La CrosHe County Iiimuiic Any-t turn Reveals Some Sensationalw *» ,| Testimony — Former Enuiioye*( Testify Tltat Vatlcn ts Werej] Knocked Dovrn ami Kicked midf, , Imprisoned. for Thirty-six Hoi^rs 5 Without Food—Borbaroos Trent-1; citeiit- /4r . -La Crosse, yvia., Jan. 27.-—Tho Investigation of the management of the La Crosse county insane-asylum began In ’West Saiem yesterday. Some of the testimony' was sensational.'Martin Lyden, a former employe, who, together with F. B. Smith, extrustee, preferred about thirty of the charges against Supt. McKown, told of the latter’s knocking down a harmless patient named . Chase and who kicked him in the face /m’d stomach; tie alao told of the superintendent ordering two patients to be locked up thirty-six hours without food.The. witness Baw Lizzie Heinze, an attendant, hold the head of a patient named Swenson-In a pail of soapsuds Until she was nearly strangled because *he could hot understand English and. therefore,‘couid not obey the attendant’s orders. In reply to a question as’ to the quality of food’ used in the asylum the witness said the patients were fed on barley coffee, sour bread and meat that could be smelled all over the kitchen. Several other witnesses testified along similar lines.Mrs. Scales of La Crosse, a former ♦mptoye, testified that the coffee was frequently mixed with rye, and the latter was kept in the'basement and the oats slept in it. One witness told about Walter Brown, the author of “Mititene, who died very, suddenly in the asylum two weeks ago, being handcuffed and his arms lacerated to the bone.’ Thomas Scales told of several instances of misusage of patients. One night five of the patients were frozen about different parts of the body on account of not- being properly clothed. Several instances were cited where attendants did not receive their pay; also of the attendant In. one of the wards, being forced to lr-«e forty or fifty patients to run the t;.* ylum laundry. In one case a patient named iPutnam died while the attendant was away doing his work.T:SBtliiiJlt;tiliti8titlanbt:iikaodVlitlcV arsiithatfl1Icreatci.dca
Newspaper Details
Elgin Echo
Elgin, Iowa, US
Thu, Jan 31, 1901
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
La C.
WI, USA 11 Nov 2022
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