MEMORIAL,. 
 
M  E  M 0 BI A L.
         To  the Legislature of  Massachusetts.


     GENTLEMEN,
   I respectfully ask to present this Memorial, believing
that the cause, which actuates to and sanctions  so unusual a
movement, presents  no equivocal claim to public consideration
and sympathy.   Surrendering to calm and  deep convictions of
duty my habitual views of  what is womanly and becoming, I
proceed briefly to explain what has conducted me before you
unsolicited and unsustained, trusting, while  I do so,  that  the
memorialist will  be speedily forgotten in the  memorial.
   About two years since leisure afforded opportunity, and duty
prompted me to  visit several prisons and  alms-houses in the vi-
cinity of this  metropolis.  I found, near Boston, in the Jails and
Asylums for the poor, a numerous class brought into unsuitable
connexion  with criminals and the general mass of Paupers.  I
refer to Idiots and Insane  persons, dwelling in circumstances
not only adverse to their own physical and moral  improvement,
but productive of extreme  disadvantages to all  other persons
brought into association with them.   I applied myself diligently
to trace the causes of these evils, and sought  to supply remedies.
As one obstacle  was surmounted,  fresh difficulties appeared.
Every new investigation has given depth to  the conviction that
it is only by  decided, prompt, and vigorous legislation  the evils
to which  I refer, and which I shall proceed  more fully to illus-
trate, can be remedied.  I shall be obliged to speak with great
plainness, and to reveal many things revolting to the taste, and
from which my woman's nature shrinks with peculiar sensitive-
ness.   But truth is  the highest consideration.  / tell what I
have seen—painful and shocking as the details often are—that
from them you may feel more deeply the imperative obligation
which  lies upon you to prevent the possibility of a repetition or
continuance of such outrages  upon humanity.    If  I  inflict
pain upon you, and move  you to horror, it is to acquaint you 
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 with sufferings  which you  have the power to alleviate,  and
 make you hasten to the relief of the victims  of legalized  bar-
 barity.
   I come to  present the strong claims of suffering humanity.
 I  come  to  place  before the  Legislature of Massachusetts the
 condition of the  miserable,  the desolate, the outcast.   1 come
 as the advocate  of helpless, forgotten, insane  and  idiotic  men
 and women ;  of  beings, sunk to a condition  from which the
 most unconcerned would start with real horror ;  of beings
 wretched in our  Prisons, and more wretched in  our Aims-
 Houses.   And 1  cannot suppose it  needful to employ earnest
 persuasion, or stubborn argument, in order to arrest and fix at-
 tention  upon a subject, only the more strongly pressing in its
 claims,  because  it is revolting and  disgusting in  its details.
   I must confine myself  to  few  examples,  but  am ready
 to furnish other and more complete details, if required.  If my
 pictures are displeasing, coarse, and  severe, my  subjects, it must
 be recollected, offer  no tranquil, refined, or  composing  features.
 The condition of human  beings,   reduced to the extremest
 states of degradation and misery, cannot be exhibited in soften-
 ed language, or adorn a polished page.
   I proceed, Gentlemen, briefly to  call your  attention to  the
 present state of Insane Persons confined within this Common-
 wealth,  in  cages, closets,  cellars,   stalls,  pens !   Chained,
 naked,  beaten with  rods, and lashed,  into obedience !
   As 1 state cold, severe facts, 1 feel obliged to refer to persons,
 and definitely to indicate  localities.    But it is upon my subject,
 not upon  localities or individuals, I desire to fix attention ;   and
 1 would speak as kindly as possible of all Wardens, Keepers,  and
 other responsible officers, believing that most of these have erred
 not  through hardness of heart and  wilful cruelty, so much as
 want of skill and knowledge, and want of consideration.   Fa-
 miliarity  with  suffering, it is  said, blunts the  sensibilities,  and
 where neglect once finds a footing other injuries are multiplied.
 This is  not all, for it  may justly and strongly be added that,
 from  the deficiency of  adequate moans to  meet the wants of
 these cases, it has been an absolute impossibility to do justice in
 this matter.   Prisons are not constructed in view of being con-
 verted into County Hospitals, and Aims-Houses  are not  founded
 as receptacles for the  Insane.  And yet, in the face of justice
 and  common  sense,  Wardens are by law compelled to receive,
 and  the  Masters  of  Aims-Houses not  to refuse,  Insane  and
 Idiotic subjects in all stages of mental disease and privation.
   It is  the  Commonwealth,  not  its integral  parts,  that is ac-
countable for most of the abuses which have lately, and do  still 
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 exist.   I repeat  it, it is defective legislation which perpetuates
 and multiplies these abuses.

   In illustration of my subject,  I offer  the  following extracts
 from my Note-Book and Journal:—

   Springfield.   In the jail, one lunatic woman, furiously mad,
 a state pauper, improperly situated, both in  regard  to the pris-
 oners,  the keepers, and herself.   It is  a case of extreme self-
 forgetfulness and oblivion  to all the decencies of life; to de-
 scribe which, would be to repeat only the grossest scenes.  She
 is much worse since leaving Worcester.   In the  almshouse of
 the same town is  a woman apparently only  needing judicious
 care, and some well-chosen employment, to make it unnecessary
 to confine  her in  solitude, in a dreary unfurnished room.  Her
 appeals for  employment and companionship are most touching,
 but the  mistress replied, l she had no time to attend to her.'
   Northampton.   In the  jail, quite lately,  was a young  man
 violently mad, who had not,  as 1 was informed at the prison,
 come under medical care, and not been returned from any hos-
 pital.   In  the  almshouse,  the cases of insanity  are now un-
 marked by  abuse, and afford  evidence of judicious care  by the
 keepers.
   Williamsburg.   The almshouse  has several  insane, not
 under  suitable treatment.  No apparent intentional abuse.
   Rutla?id.  Appearance and report of the insane in the alms-
 house not satisfactory.
   (Sterling.  A terrible  case ; manageable  in a hospital  ;  at
 present as well controlled perhaps as circumstances in a  case so
 extreme allow.   An almshouse,  but wholly  wrong in relation
 to the poor  crazy woman,  to the paupers generally, and to her
 keepers.
   Burlington.   A woman, declared to be very insane ;  decent
 room and bed ; but not allowed to rise oftener, the mistress said,
 ' than every other day : it is too  much trouble.'
   Concord.  A woman from the hospital  in a cage  in  the
 almshouse.   In the  jail  several,   decently cared for in general,
 but not  properly placed  in a prison.   Violent, noisy, unman-
 ageable most of  the time.
   Lincoln.   A woman in a cage.
   Medford.  One idiotic subject chained, and  one in  a close
 stall for 17 years.
   Pepperell.   One often doubly chained, hand and foot ;  a-
nother violent ; several peaceable now.
   Brookfteld.  One man caged,  comfortable.
   Granville.   One often closely confined ; now losing the use
of his limbs from want of exercise. 
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   Charlemont.  One man caged.
   Savoy.  One man caged.
   Lenox.  Two in the jail;   against  whose unfit condition
there, the jailor  protests.
   Dedham.  The insane disadvantageously placed in the jail.
In the almshouse, two  females in stalls, situated  in the  main
building ; lie in wooden bunks filled with straw ;  always shut
up.  One of these subjects is supposed curable.  The overseers
of the poor have declined giving her a trial at the hospital, as I
was  informed, on account of expense.
   Franklin.  One man chained ; decent.
   Taunton.  One woman caged.
   Plymouth.  One man stall-caged, from Worcester hospital.
   Scituate.  One man and one woman stall-caged.
   Bridgewater.  Three idiots ; never removed from one room.
   Barnstable.   Four females  in pens and stalls ;  two chained
certainly,  1 think all.   Jail, one idiot.
   Weljleet. Three insane ; one man and one woman chained,
the latter in a bad condition.
   Brewster.  One woman violently mad, solitary :  could not
see her,  the master and  mistress being absent, and  the paupers
in charge having strict orders to admit no one.
   Rochester.  Seven  insane  ; at present none caged.
   Milford.  Two insane, not now caged.
   Cohasset.  One idiot, one insane ; most miserable condition.
   Plympton.   One insane, three idiots ; condition wretched.
   Besides the above, I have seen  many who, part of the year,
are chained or  caged.   The  use  of cages all but universal;
hardly a town but can refer to some not distant period of using
them: chains are less  common: negligences frequent: wilful
abuse less  frequent than sufferings proceeding from ignorance,
or want of consideration.  I encountered during  the last  three
months  many poor creatures wandering reckless and unprotec-
ted through  the country.  Innumerable accounts have  been
sent  me  of persons who had roved away unwatched and un-
searched after ;  and I have heard that responsible persons, con-
trolling  the almshouses, have  not  thought themselves culpable
in sending away from their shelter, to cast upon the chances of
remote relief, insane men and women.  These, left on the  high-
ways, unfriended and incompetent to control  or direct their own
movements, sometimes have found  refuge in the hospital, and
others have not been traced.   But I cannot particularize ;  in
traversing the state I have found  hundreds of insane  persons
in every variety of circumstanee and condition ;  many whose
situation could not and need not be improved ;  a  less number,
but that very large, whose lives are the saddest pictures of hu- 
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man suffering and degradation.   I  give a  few illustrations;
but description fades before reality.
  Danvers.  November ; visited the almshouse ; a  large buil-
ding, much out of repair;  understand a new one is in  contem-
plation.  Here are rom fifty-six to sixty inmates ;  one idiotic;
three insane;  one of the latter in close confinement at all times.
  Long before reaching  the  house,  wild  shouts, snatches of
rude songs, imprecations, and obscene language, fell upon the
ear, proceeding from  the occupant  of a low  building, rather
remote from the principal building to which my  course was
directed.    Found  the  mistress, and was  conducted to the
place,  which  was  called  ' the home' of  the forlorn  maniac,
a young woman, exhibiting  a condition of neglect and misery
blotting out the faintest idea of comfort, and outraging every
sentiment  of  decency.  She had been, 1 learnt, " a respectable
person; industrious  and worthy ;  disappointments and  trials
shook   her  mind, and finally laid  prostrate reason and  self-
control ; she  became a maniac for  life !    She  had been at
Worcester Hospital for  a considerable time, and  had been re-
turned as incurable."  The  mistress told me  she  understood
that, while there, she was " comfortable and decent."  Alas !
what  a change was here exhibited !  She had passed from one
degree of violence and degradation to another, in swift progress;
there  she  stood,  clinging to, or beating upon, the bars of her
caged  apartment, the contracted size  of  which  afforded  space
only for increasing accumulations of filth, afoul spectacle;  there
she stood with naked arms and dishevelled hair ; the unwashed
frame invested with  fragments of unclean garments, the  air so
extremely offensive, though ventilation was afforded on all sides
save one, that it  was not possible to remain beyond  a few
moments  without  retreating  for recovery to the outward air.
Irritation of body, produced by utter filth and exposure, inci-
 ted her to the horrid process of tearing off her skin by inches;
 her face,  neck, and  person,  were  thus disfigured  to   hide-
 ousness;  she held up  a fragment  just rent off;  to my ex-
 clamation of horror,  the  mistress replied, " oh, we can't help
 it;  half the  skin is off  sometimes;  we can  do nothing with
 her; and it makes no difference what she eats, for she  consumes
 her own filth as readily as the food which is brought her."
   It is now January ;  a fortnight since, two visitors reported that
 most  wretched outcast as " wallowing in dirty straw, in a place
 yet more dirty,  and without  clothing,  without fire.  Worse
 cared  for than  the brutes, and wholly lost  to consciousness of
 decency !" Is the whole story told ?  What was seen,  is ;  what
  is reported is not.   These gross exposures are not for the pained
  sight  of one alone; all, all, coarse,  brutal men, wondering, 
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 neglected children, old and young,  each  and all, witness this
 lowest, foulest state of miserable humanity.   And who protects
 her,  that worse  than Paria outcast, from  other wrongs and
 blacker outrages ?  I do not know that such have been.  I do
 know that they are to be dreaded, and that they are not guard-
 ed against.
   Some may say these  things  cannot  be remedied ;  these
 furious maniacs are not to be raised from these base conditions.
 I know they are;  could give many examples;  let one suffice.
 A  young woman,  a pauper, in a distant town,  Sandisfield,
 was  for years a  raging  maniac.  A cage, chains,  and the
 whip, were  the  agents for controlling her, united with harsh
 tones and profane language.  Annually, with others (the town's
 poor) she was put up at auction,  and bid off at the lowest price
 which was declared for her.   One year, not long past, an old
 man  came forward in the  number of applicants  for the poor
 wretch ;  he  was taunted and ridiculed ;  " what would he and
 his old wife  do with  such  a mere beast?"  "My wife says
 yes," replied he,  " and I shall take her."   She was given to
 his charge ;  he  conveyed her home ;  she was washed, neatly
 dressed, and placed in a decent bed-room, furnished  for comfort
 and opening into the kitchen. How altered her condition !  As
 yet the chains were not off.   The first week she was somewhat
 restless, at  times  violent, but the quiet kind ways of the old
 people wrought a change ; she received her food decently ;  for-
 sook  acts  of violence, and no  longer uttered blasphemous or
 indecent language; after a  week, the chain was lengthened,
 and she was received as a companion into  the kitchen.   Soon
 she engaged in trivial  employments.   " After a fortnight," said
 the old man, " I knocked off the chains and made her a free
 woman."  She is at times excited, but not violently; they are
 careful of her diet; they keep her very clean; she calls them
 " father " and " mother."  Go there now and you will find her
 " clothed," and though not perfectly in  her  " right mind," so
 far  restored as to be a safe and comfortable inmate.
  Newburyport.  Visited the  almshouse in June last; eighty
 inmates ;  seven insane, one idiotic.   Commodious and  neat
 house ;  several of the partially  insane  apparently  very com-
 fortable ;  two very improperly situated, namely, an insane man,
 not considered incurable, in an out-building, whose room open-
 ed upon what was called  ' the dead room,' affording in lieu of
 companionship with  the living,  a contemplation  of corpses !
 The other subject was a  woman in a cellar.  I desired to see
 her ;  much reluctance was shown.  I pressed the requestt; the
Master of the House stated that she was in the cellar ; that she
was dangerous to be approached ; that' she had lately attack- 
9
 ed bis wife ;' and was often naked.  I persisted ; * if you will
 not  go with me, give me the keys and I will go alone.'  Thus
 importuned,  the  outer  doors  were opened.   I descended the
 stairs from within ; a strange, unnatural noise seemed to proceed
 from beneath our feet; at the moment I did not much regard it.
 My  conductor proceeded to remove a padlock, while my eye ex-
 plored the wide space in quest of the poor woman.  All for a
 moment was still.   But judge my horror and  amazement, when
 a door to a closet beneath the staircase was opened, revealing
 in the imperfect light a female apparently wasted to a skeleton,
 partially wrapped  in blankets, furnished for  the narrow bed
 on which she  was  sitting ; her countenance furrowed, not by
 age, but suffering,  was the image of distress ; in that contracted
 space,  unlighted, unventilated, she poured forth the wailings of
 despair:  mournfully she extended her arms and appealed to me,
 " why am I consigned to hell ? dark—dark—I used to pray, I
 used to  read the  Bible—I have done no crime in my heart;  I
 had friends, why have all forsaken me !—my  God ! my God !
 why hast thou forsaken me !"  Those groans, those wailings
 come up daily, mingling,  with how many others,  a perpetual
 and sad  memorial.   When the good Lord shall require an ac-
 count  of our stewardship, what shall all and each answer!
   Perhaps it will  be inquired how long, how  many days or
 hours  was she imprisoned in  these confined limits? For years !
 In another part of the cellar were other  small  closets, only bet-
 ter, because higher through the entire length, into one of which
 she by turns was transferred,  so as to afford opportunity for fresh
 whitewashing, &c.
   Saugus.   December 24 ;  thermometer below zero ;  drove
to the poorhouse;  was conducted to the master's family-room
 by  himself; walls  garnished  with  handcuffs  and  chains, not
 less  than five pair of the  former;  did not inquire how  or on
 whom applied  ; thirteen pauper inmates; one insane man; one
 woman insane ; one idiotic man ;  asked to see them ;  the two
 men were shortly led in ;  appeared pretty decent and comfort-
able.   Requested to see the other  insane subject; was denied
 decidedly ;  urged  the  request, and  finally secured  a  reluctant
assent.   Was led through an outer passage into a lower  room,
occupied by  the  paupers;  crowded; not neat; ascended  a
rather  low flight of stairs upon an open entry, through the floor
of which was  introduced a ^tove pipe,  carried along a few feet,
about  six inches above the floor,  through  which it  was re-
conveyed below.   From this entry opens  a  room of  moderate
size, having a sashed-window ; floor,  1  think,  painted; apart-
ment entirely unfurnished; no chair,table, nor bed ; neither,
what is seldom missing, a bundle of straw or lock of hay ;  cold, 
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 very cold ;  the first movement of my conductor was to throw
 open  a  window, a  measure imperatively necessary for  those
 who entered.   On the floor sat a  woman, her limbs immov-
 ably contracted, so  that the knees were brought upward to the
 chin ;  the  face was concealed ;  the head rested on the folded
 arms;  for  clothing she appeared to have been furnished with
 fragments of many discharged garments ;  these were folded
 about her, yet they little benefitted her, if one might judge by
 the constant shuddering which almost convulsed her poor crip-
 pled frame.   Woful was  this scene;  language  is feeble  to
 record  the  misery she was  suffering and had suffered !   In
 reply to my inquiry if she could  not change her position, I was
 answered by the master in the negative, and told that the con-
 traction of  limbs was occasioned by  " neglect and exposure  in
 former years,"  but since she had been crazy, and before she
 fell under the charge, as I inferred, of her present guardians.
 Poor wretch !  she, like many others, was an example of what
 humanity becomes when the temple of reason  falls in ruins,
 leaving the mortal  part to injury and neglect, and showing how
 much can be endured of privation, exposure, and disease, with-
 out extinguishing the lamp of life.
   Passing out,  the man  pointed to a  something, revealed  to
 more than one sense, which he called " her bed ; and  we throw
 some  blankets  over her at night."   Possibly  this  is done;
 others, like myself, might be  pardoned  a doubt, if they could
 have seen all 1  saw, and  heard abroad  all I heard.  The bed,
 so called, was about three  feet long, and  from a half to  three-
 quarters of a yard  wide ;  of old ticking or tow cloth was the
 case;  the contents  might  have been a full handful of hay or
 straw.    My attendant's exclamations on  my leaving the house
 were emphatic,  and can hardly be repeated.
   The above  case recalls  another of equal neglect or abuse.
 Asking my way to the almshouse in Berkeley, which had been
 repeatedly spoken of as greatly neglected, I was answered as to
 the direction, and  informed that there were "plenty  of insane
 people and idiots there."  "Well taken care of?"  "Oh, well
 enough for such sort of creatures ? "   " Any violently  insane ? "
 " Yes ;  my sister's son is there, a real tiger.  I  kept  him here.
 at my house awhile, but it was too much" trouble to go on ; so I
 carried him there."   " Is he comfortably provided for ? "  " Well
 enough."  " Has he decent clothes ? "   " Good enough ; wouldn't
 wear them if he had more."  " Food ? "   " Good enough; good
 enough  for him."   " One more question, has he the comfort
 of a fire ? "   " Fire !  fire, indeed ! what does a crazy man need
of fire?  red-hot iron wants fire  as much  as he !"  And  such
are sincerely the ideas of not a few persons  in regard to the 
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actual wants of the  insane.  Less regarded  than the lowest
brutes ! no wonder they sink even lower.
  Ipswich.   Have  visited  the  prison  three  several  times ;
visited the almshouse once.   In the latter are several cases
of insanity ; three especially distressing, situated in a miserable
out-building,  detached from  the  family-house, and confined in
stalls or pens ; three individuals, one of which is apparently very
insensible to  the deplorable  circumstances which surround him,
and perhaps  not likely  to  comprehend  privations or  benefits.
Not so the person directly opposite to him, who looks up wildly,
anxiously by turns, through those  strong bars.  Cheerless sight!
strange companionship for the mind flitting and coming by turns
to some perception of persons and things.   He too is one of the
relumed incurables.  His history is a sad one ; I have not had all
the  particulars,  but  it shows distinctly, what the most prosper-
ous and affluent may come to be.  I understand his connexions
are excellent and respectable; his natural abilities in youth were
superior;  he  removed from Essex county to Albany, and was es-
tablished  there ae the editor of a popular newspaper, in course
of time he was chosen a senator for that, section of the stale, and
of course was a Judge in the Court of Errors.
   Vicissitudes followed, and insanity closed the scene.  He was
conveyed to  Worcester;  after a  considerable period,  either to
give  place to some new  patient, or because the County objected
to the continued expense, he being declared incurable, was re-
moved to Salem jail; thence to Ipswich jail ;  associated with
the  prisoners there,  partaking  the same food, and clad in  like
apparel.   After  a time  the town complained of the expense of
keeping  him in jail;  it was cheaper in the  almshouse ;  to the
almshouse he was conveyed, and there  perhaps must abide.
How sad a fate ! I found him in a quiet state ;  though at times
was told  that he is greatly  excited ; what wonder, with such a
companion before him ;  such cruel scenes within !  I perceived
in him some  little confusion as I paused before the stall, against
the bars of which  he was leaning;  he was not so lost to propri-
ety but that a little disorder  of the bed-clothes, &c. embarrassed
him. I passed on, but he asked, in a moment, earnestly, " Is the
lady  gone—gone quite away ?"  I returned ;  he gazed a mo-
ment without answering my inquiry if he wished to see me ?
"And have you too lost all your dear friends?"  Perhaps my
mourning apparel excited his inquiry.  ' Not all.'  " Have you
any dear father and mother to love you ?" and then he sighed and
then laughed and traversed  the limited stall.   Immediately ad-
jacent to this stall was one occupied by a simple girl, who was
" put there to be out of harm's way."   A  cruel lot! for this pri-
vation of a sound  mind.  A madman on the one hand,  not so 
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much separated  as to secure decency, another almost opposite,
and no screen ! I do not know how it is argued, that mad persons
and idiots may be dealt with as if no spark of recollection  ever
lights up  the mind;  the observation and experience of those,
who have had charge of Hospitals, show opposite conclusions.
  Violence and severity do but exasperate the Insane : the only
availing influence is kindness and firmness.  It is amazing what
these will produce.  How many examples  might illustrate this
position : I refer  to one recently exhibited in Barre.  The town
Paupers are disposed of annually  to some  family  who,  for a
stipulated  sum agree to take charge of them.   One  of them, a
young woman, was  shown to me well clothed, neat, quiet, and
employed at needle-work. Is it possible that this is the same be-
ing who,  hut last year,  was  a raving madwoman, exhibiting
every degree of  violence in action  and speech ; a very tigress
wrought to fury  ; caged, chained, beaten, loaded with injuries,
and exhibiting the passions which an iron rule might be expec-
ted  to  stimulate  and sustain.  It is the same person ; another
family hold her in charge who better understand human nature
and  human influences ; she is no longer chained, caged, and
beaten ; but if excited, a pair of mittens drawn over the hands
secures from  mischief.   Where will she be next year, after the
annual sale ?
  It is not the insane subject alone  who illustrates  the power
of  the all prevailing  law  of kindness.      A  poor  idiotic
young man, a year  or  two since,  used  to follow me at times
through the prison as I  was distributing books and  papers : at
first he appeared  totally stupid, but cheerful expressions, a smile,
a trifling gift, seemed gradually to light up the void temple of
the  intellect, and by slow degrees some faint images  of thought
passed before the  mental vision.  He would ask for books, though
he could not read.   1 indulged his fancy and he would appear
to experience delight in  examining them ; and  kept them  with
a singular  care.   If  I read the Bible, he was reverently, won-
deringly attentive ; if I talked, he listened with a half-conscious
aspect.  One morning I passed more hurriedly than  usual, and
did  not speak particularly to him.  " Me, me, me a book."  I
returned ;  "good morning, Jemmy ;  so you will have a book to-
day ?  well, keep  it carefully."  Suddenly turning aside he took
the  bread  brought for his breakfast, and passing it with a hur-
ried earnestness  through the  bars of his iron door—" Here's
bread,  a'nt you  hungry ? "   Never may I forget the tone and
grateful affectionate aspect of that poor idiot.   How7 much might
we  do to  bring back or restore the mind, if we but  knew how
to touch the instrument  with a skilful hand !
  My first visit to  Ipswich  prison was in March, 1842.   The 
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day  was  cold and stormy.   The Turnkey very obligingly
conducted  me  through  the various  departments.   Pausing
before the iron  door of a room in the jail, he said, " we have
here a crazy man, whose case seems hard,  for he  has sense
enough to know he is in a prison, and associated with prisoners.
He was a physician in this county, and  was educated at Cam-
bridge, I believe ;  it was there, or at one of the New-England
colleges.  Should  you like to see him ? "   1 objected  that it
might be unwelcome to the sufferer; but urged, went in.   The
apartment was very much out of order, neglected, and unclean ;
there was no fire ; it  had been  forgotten  amidst  the press of
other duties.  A man, a prisoner  waiting trial, was sitting near
a bed where the Insane man lay,  rolled in dirty blankets.   The
Turnkey told him my name, and he broke forth into a most
touching appeal, that I would procure his liberation  by prompt
application to the highest State authorities.  I soon retired, but
communicated his condition to an  official person before leaving
the town, in the hope he  might be rendered  more comfortable.
Shortly  1 received from this Insane person, through my esteem-
ed friend, Dr. Bell, several letters, from  which I  venture to
make a few extracts.   They are written from Ipswich where is
the general County receptacle for insane persons.    I may re-
 mark that he has at different times been under skilful treat-
 ment, both  at Charlestown and Worcester ;  but being, long
 since, pronounced incurable, and  his property being expended,
 he became chargeable to the town or county, and was removed,
 first to  Salem jail, thence to that  at Ipswich by the desire of the
 High Sheriff, who requested the  Commissioners to remove him
 to Ipswich as a more retired spot, where he would be less likely
 to cause disturbance."  In his paroxysms of violence, his shouts
 and  turbulence  disturb a  whole  neighborhood.    These still
 occur.    I give the extracts literally :—" Respected lady : since
 your heavenly visit my time has  passed in perfect quietude, and
 for the last week I have been entirely alone; the room has been
 cleansed and  whitewashed, and is now quite decent.   1 have
 read your books and papers with pleasure  and profit, and retain
 them subject to your order.   You say, in your note,  others shall
 be sent  if desired, and if any particular subject has interest it
 shall be procured.  Your kindness is felt and  highly appreciat-
 ed," &c.  In another letter he writes, " You express confidence
 that I  have self-control, and self-respect.  I have, and, were I
 free and in good circumstances, could command as  much as
 any man."  In a third he says,  " Your  kind note, with more
 books  and  papers was received  on the 8th, and I immediately
 addressed to you  a letter superscribed to  Dr. Bell;  but  having
 discovered the letters on your seal, I suppose them the initials of
 your name, and now  address you directly," &c. &c 
14
   The  original  letters may  be  seen.   I  have produced these
extracts, and stated facts of personal  history, in Oider that a
judgment  may be formed  from  few of many examples, as to
the justness of incarcerating lunatics in all and every stage of
insanity, for an indefinite period, or for life, in  dreary prisons,
and in  connection with every class of criminals who may be
lodged  successively under  the same  roof, and  in  the same
apartments.  I have shown, from two examples, to  what con-
dition men may  be brought, not through crime, but misfortune,
and that misfortune embracing the heaviest  calamity to which
human  nature is exposed.   In the touching language of script-
ure may these captives cry out—" Have pity upon me !  have
pity  upon me!  for the hand of the Lord hath smitten me."
" My  kinsfolk have failed,  and  my own familiar friend hath
forgotten me."
   The  last visit to the Ipswich  prison  was the third week in
December.  Twenty-two Insane  persons  and  Idiots: general
condition gradually improved within the last year.   All suffer
for want of  air and exercise.  The Turnkey, while disposed to
discharge  kindly the  duties of  his office,  is so crowded with
business, as to be positively unable to give any but the most
general  attention  to the Insane department.    Some of the
subjects are invariably confined  in small  dreary cells, insuffi-
ciently warmed and ventilated.   Here one  sees them traversing
the narrow dens with ceaseless rapidity, or  dashing from side to
side  like  caged  tigers, perfectly furious, through the invariable
condition of unalleviated confinement.   The case of one simple
boy is peculiarly hard.  December 6,  1841, he was  committed
to the house of correction,  East Cambridge, from Charlestown,
as an Insane or Idiotic boy.   He  was unoffending, and com-
petent to perform a variety  of light labors  under direction, and
was often allowed  a  good deal  of freedom in the  open air.
September 6, 1842, he was directed to pull some weeds, (which
indulgence his harmless disposition permitted) without the prison
walls, merely, I believe, for  the sake of giving him a little em-
ployment.   He escaped, it was thought, rather through sudden
waywardness  than any distinct purpose.  From  that time
nothing was heard of him till  in  the latter part of  December,
while at Ipswich, in the common room, occupied by a portion
of the lunatics  not furiously mad, 1 heard some  one say,  " 1
know her, I know her," and with a joyous  laugh John hastened
towards me.  " I'm so glad to see  you ! so glad to see you !  I
can't stay here long ;  1 want to go out," &c.   It seems he had
wandered to Salem, and was committed as an Insane or Idiot
boy.  I cannot but assert  that most of the  Idiotic subjects  in
the  prisons in  Massachusetts are unjustly committed, being 
15
wholly incapaple of doing  harm, and none manifesting  any
disposition  either to injure  others or  to exercise mischievous
propensities.   I ask an investigation into  this subject for the
sake of many whose association with prisoners and criminals,
and also with persons  in  almost every stage of insanity, is as
useless and  unnecessary, as  it  is cruel  and ill-judged.   If it
were proper, I might place in your hands a volume, rather than
give a page, illustrating these premises.
   Sudbury.   First week in September last I directed  my  way
to the poor-farm there.   Approaching, as I supposed, that place,
all uncertainty vanished, as  to  which, of several dwellings in
view, the course should be directed.   The terrible screams and
imprecations, impure language  and amazing blasphemies,  of a
maniac, now, as often heretofore, indicated the  place sought
after.  I  know not how to proceed ! the  English language
affords no combinations fit  for  describing the condition of the
hapjpfjr wretch there confined. In a stall, built under a woodshed
on the road,  was a naked man, defiled with filth,  furiously
tossing through the bars and about the cage, portions of straw
(the only furnishing of his  prison) already  trampled  to chaff.
The mass of filth within, diffused wide abroad the most noisome
stench.   I  have never  witnessed paroxysms of  madness so
appalling ; it seemed as if the ancient doctrine of the possession
of demons was  here illustrated.  I hastened to the house over-
whelmed  with  horror.  The mistress informed  me  that ten
days since he  had been brought from Worcester Hospital, where
(he town  did  not choose  any longer to  meet the expenses of
maintaining  him ;   that  he had  been  " dreadful noisy  and
dangerous to go near," ever since; it was  hard work to  give
him food at any rate, for what was not immediately dashed  at
those who  carried it, was cast  down upon  the festering mass
within.  " He's a dreadful care ; worse than all the people and
work on the farm beside."  Have you any other insane persons ?
" Yes;  this man's sister has been crazy here for several years ;
she does nothing but take  on about  him ;  and may-be she'll
grow as bad  as he."   I went into  the adjoining room to see
this unhappy creature; in a low chair, wearing an air of deepest
despondence, sat a  female no longer young;  her hair fell un-
combed upon her shoulders;  her whole air revealed  woe, un-
mitigated woe !  She regarded me coldly and uneasily ; I spoke
a  few words of sympathy and  kindness ;  she fixed  her  gaze
for a few moments  steadily upon me, then  grasping my hand,
and bursting  into a passionate  flood of tears, repeatedly kissed
it, exclaiming in a voice broken  by sobs,  " O, my poor brother,
my poor brother; hark, hear him ! hear him ! " then  relapsing
into apathetic calmness, she neither spoke nor moved, but the 
16
tears again flowed fast, as I went away.  I avoided passing the
maniac's cage ;  but there, with strange curiosity and eager ex-
clamations, were gathered, at a safe distance, the children of
the establishment, little  boys  and girls, receiving their  early
lessons  in  hardness of heart  and  vice;  but the demoralizing
influences were not confined to children.
   The  same day revealed two scenes of extreme exposure and
unjustifiable  neglect, such as I could not  have supposed the
whole New-England States could furnish.
   Wayland.  Visited the almshouse.  There, as in Sudbury,
caged in a wood-shed, and also fully exposed upon the public
road, was seen a man at that time less violent, but equally de-
based by exposure and irritation.  He  then wore a  portion  of
clothing, though the mistress remarked that he was " more likely
to be naked than not;" and added that he was  " less noisy than
usual."   I spoke  to  him,  but  received no answer ; a  wild,
strange  gaze, and impatient movement of the hand, motioned
us away ; he refused to speak, rejected  food, and wrapped over
his head a torn  coverlet;  want of accommodations for the im-
perative calls of  nature had converted the  cage into  a place  of
utter offence.   "My husband cleans him  out once a week  or
so ; but it's a hard matter to master him sometimes.   He does
better since the last time he was broken in."  I learnt that the
confinement and cold  together, had so affected his limbs that he
was often powerless to rise ;  " you  see him," said  my conduct-
ress, " in his best state."  His  best state !  what then was the
worst ?
   Westford.  Not many miles distant from Wayland is a sad
spectacle ; was told by the family who kept the poorhouse, that
they had twenty-six paupers ; one  idiot;  one simple ; and one
insane, an incurable case  from Worcester hospital.   I requested
to see her, but was answered that she " wasn't fit to be seen •
she was naked, and made so much trouble  they did  not  know
how to get  along."  1  hesitated but a moment; I must see her,
I said.   I cannot adopt descriptions of the condition of the in-
sane secondarily ;  what I assert for fact, I must see for myself.
On this I  was  conducted above stairs  into  an apartment  of
decent  size, pleasant aspect from abroad, and tolerably comfort-
able in its general appearance ; but the inmates !—grant I may
never look upon  another such scene !  A young woman whose
person  was  partially covered with portions of a  blanket, sat
upon the floor;  her hair  dishevelled ; her naked arms crossed
languidly over the breast; a distracted,  unsteady eye, and low,
murmuring voice, betraying both mental and physical disquiet!
About  the waist was a  chain, the  extremity of which  was
fastened into the wall of the house.  As  I entered she raised 
17
her eyes, blushed, moved  uneasily, endeavoring at  the  same
time to draw about her the insufficient fragments of the blanket.
I knelt beside her and asked if  she did not wish to be dressed ?
" Yes ; I want some  clothes."   " But you'll tear 'em all up, you
know you will," interposed  her attendant.   " No, I won't, I
won't tear them  off; " and  she tried to  rise, but the  waist-
encircling chain threw her back, and she did not renew the
effort, but  bursting  into a wild shrill laugh, pointed to it, ex-
claiming, "see there, see there, nice clothes!"   Hot tears might
not dissolve that iron bondage, imposed, to all appearance, most
needlessly.  As I left the room the poor creature said, " I want
my gown ! "  The  response from the  attendant  might have
roused to indignation one not dispossesed of reason,  and  own-
ing self-control.
   Groton.  A few rods removed from (he poorhouse is a wood-
en building upon the road-side,  constructed of heavy board and
plank;  it contains one room,  unfurnished,  except so far as a
bundle of straw constitutes furnishing.   There is no window,
save an opening half the  size of a sash, and closed by a board
shutter ;  in one corner is some brick-work surrounding an iron
stove, which in cold weather serves for warming the room.   The
occupant of this dreary abode is a young man, who has been
declared  incurably insane.   He can  move a measured distance
in  his prison ;  that  is, so far as a strong,  heavy chain, depend-
ing from an iron  collar which invests his neck, permits.   In
fine weather, and  it was pleasant when  I was  there in June
last, the  door is thrown open, at once giving admission to light
and air,  and  affording some little variety  to the solitary  in
watching the passers-by.   But  that portion of the year which
allows of open doors is not the chiefest part; and it may  be
conceived,  without drafting much on  the  imagination, what is
the condition of one who, for days, and weeks, and months, sits
in darkness and alone, without employment, without  object.  It
may be supposed that paroxysms of frenzy are often  exhibited,
and that the  tranquil state  is rare in comparison  with that
which incites to violence.  This I was told is  the fact.
  I may here remark that  severe measures, in enforcing  rule,
have in  many places been openly revealed.   I have not seen
chastisement administered by stripes, and  in  but  few instances
have I seen the rods and whips, but I have seen  blows  inflict-
ed,  both  passionately and repeatedly.
  I  have been asked if I have investigated  the  causes of in-
sanity ?   I have  not; but  1  have been told that  this most
calamitous overthrow of reason, often is the result of a  life of sin ;
it is  sometimes, but  rarely, added, they  must take the  conse-
quences ; they deserve  no better care !  Shall man be more just 
18
 than God ;  he who causes his sun, and  refreshing rains, and
 life-giving influence, to fall alike on the good and the evil ?   Is
 not the total wreck of reason, a state of distraction, and the loss
 of all that makes life cherished a  retribution, sufficiently heavy,
 without adding to consequences  so  appalling, every indignity
 that  can bring still lower the wretched sufferer 1   Have pity
 upon those who, while they were supposed to  lie hid in secret
 sins, " have been scattered under a dark veil of forgetfulness ;
 over whom  is spread a heavy night, and who unto themselves
 are more grievous than the darkness."
   Fitchburg.  In  November  visited the  almshouse :  inquired
 the number of insane? was answered, several;  but two in close
 confinement; one idiotic subject.   Saw an insane woman in a
 dreary  neglected apartment, unemployed  and alone.   Idleness
 and solitude weaken,  it is said,  the  sane mind, much  more
 must it hasten the downfall of that which is already trembling
 at the  foundations.  From this  apartment I was conducted to
 an out-building, a portion of which was inclosed, so as to unite
 shelter, confinement, and solitude.  The first space was a sort
 ofentry,in which was a window;  beyond,a close partition with
 doors indicated where was the insane man  I had  wished to see.
 He had been returned from the hospital as  incurable ;  I asked
 if he was violent or dangerous ? ' No.'  Is he clothed ?  ' Yes.'
 Why keep  him  shut in  this close confinement?   'O my  hus-
 band is afraid he'll run away, then the  overseers won't like it;
 he'll get to  Worcester, and then the town will have money to
 pay."   He must come out, I wish to see  him.  The opened door
 disclosed a squalid place, dark, and furnished with straw.  The
 crazy man  raised himself slowly from the floor upon which he
 was couched, and  with unsteady steps came towards me.  His
 look was feeble and sad, but calm and  gentle.
   " Give me those books, oh give me those books !" and  with
 trembling eagerness he reached for some books I had carried in
 my  hand : " do give them to me, I want them," said he  with
 kindling earnestness.  You could  not  use them, friend ; you
 cannot see there;  " O give them to me, do;" and he raised his
 hand and bent a little forward, lowering his voice ; " Til pick
 a  little hole in  the plank and let in some of  God^s light."
  The  master came round.  " Why cannot you take this  man
abroad  to work on the farm, he is harmless ; air and  exercise
will  help to recover  him."   The answer  was in substance the
same as that first  given ;  but he added, " I've been talking
with our overseers,  and  I've proposed getting from the black-
smith an iron collar  and chain, then I can have him out by the
house."   An iron collar and chain !  " Yes, I had a cousin up in
Vermont, crazy as  a wild-cat, and I got a collar made  for  him, 
19
and he liked it.v  Liked it! how did he manifest his pleasure ?
"Why he left off trying to run away.  I kept the alms-house
at Groton :  there was a man  there from the Hospital:  I built
an  out-house for him, and the  blacksmith  made him an iron
collar and  chain, so we had him fast,  and the  overseers ap-
proved it, and—" I here interrupted him.  1 have seen that poor
creature at Groton in his doubly iron bondage, and you must al-
low me to say that as I understand you remain but one year in
the same place, and you may find insane subjects in all, 1 am
confident, if overseers permit such a multiplication  of  collars
and chains, the public will not long sanction such barbarities;
but if you had at Groton any argument for this measure in the
violent state of  the unfortunate subject,  how  can  you justify
such  treatment  of a person quiet and not dangerous as is this
poor man ?  I beg you to forbear the chains, and treat him as
you yourself would like to be treated in like fallen circumstances.
  Bolton.   Late in  December, 1842; thermometer 4° above
zero ; visited  the almshouse ;  neat and comfortable establish-
ment ; two insane women,  one in the house associated with the
family,  the other " out of doors."   The day  following was
expected a  young man from Worcester Hospital, incurably in-
sane ; fears were expressed of finding him " dreadful hard  to
manage."   I asked to see the subject who was " out of doors ; "
and following the mistress of the house through the deep snow,
shuddering  and  benumbed by the piercing cold, several  hun-
dred  yards, we came in rear of the barn to a small building,
which might have afforded a degree of comfortable shelter, but
it did not.   About two thirds of the interior was filled  with
wood and peat; the other third was divided into two parts, one
about six feet  square contained a cylinder stove, in which was
no  fire,  the  rusty pipe  seeming  to threaten, in its decay, either
suffocation by smoke, which  by and by we nearly realized, or
conflagration of the  building, together with destruction of its
poor crazy inmate.  My companion  uttered an exclamation at
finding no fire, and busied herself to light one, while I explored,
as  the deficient light permitted, the cage which occupied the
undescribed portion of the building.   " Oh,  I'm so cold,  so
cold," was  uttered  in plaintive tones  by a woman  within the
cage ; " oh, so cold, so cold ! "   And well might  she be cold \
the stout, hardy, driver of the sleigh had declared 'twas too hard
for  a man to stand the wind and snow that day, yet here was
a woman caged and imprisoned  without  fire or clothes, not
naked indeed, for one thin  cotton garment  partly covered her,
and part of  a  blanket was  gathered about the shoulders;  there
she stood, shivering in that dreary place, the grey locks falling
in  disorder  about the face gave a wild expression to the pallid 
20
features ;  untended and comfortless, she might call aloud, none
could hear; she  might die, and there be none to close the eye.
But death would have  been a blessing here.   " Well, you shall
have  a fire, Axey ; I've  been  so busy getting  ready for  the
funeral! "  One of the paupers lay dead.  " Oh, I want some
clothes," rejoined the lunatic ;  "  I'm so cold."  " Well, Axey, you
shall have some as soon as the children come from school;  I've
had so much to do."   " I want to go  out, do  let me out! "
" Yes,  as  soon as  I  get time," answered  the  respondent.
" Why do you keep her here?" I asked, "she appears harm-
less and quiet."  " Well, I mean to take  her  up to the house
pretty  soon ; the  people that used to have care here, kept her
shut up all the year; but it is cold here, and we take her to the
house in hard  weather; the only danger is her running away ;
I've been meaning  to, this good while."  The  poor creature
listened eagerly, " oh,  I won't  run  away, do take me out!"
" Well, I  will in  a few  days."  Now the smoke from  the
kindling fire became so dense  that a new anxiety struck  the
captive ; " oh, I shall  smother,  I'm afraid ;  don't  fill that up,
I'm afraid."   Pretty soon  I moved to go away ; " stop, did you
walk ? "   " No."  " Did you  ride ? "  " Yes."  " Do take  me
with you, do,  I'm so  cold.   Do you know  my sisters ? they
live in this town ; I want to see  them so much ; do let me go ! "
and shivering  with eagerness to get out, as with the biting cold,
she rapidly tried the bars of the  cage.
   The mistress seemed a  kind  person ; her tones and manner
to the lunatic were kind ; but how difficult to unite all the cares
of her household, and neglect  none! Here was not wilful abuse,
but great, very great, suffering  through undesigned negligence.
We need  an Asylum for  this class, the  incurable, where con-
flicting duties  shall  not admit  of such examples of privations
and misery.
   One is  continually amazed at the tenacity of life in these
persons.   In conditions that  wring the  heart to behold, it is
hard to comprehend that  days  rather than  years should  not
conclude the measure of their griefs and miseries.   Picture  her
condition!  place  yourselves in  that  dreary cage, remote from
the inhabited dwelling, alone by day and by night, without fire,
without clothes, except when remembered ;  without object or
employment; weeks and months passing on in drear succession,
not a  blank, but with keen life to suffering ;  with kindred,  but
deserted by them ;  and you shall not lose the memory of  that
time when they loved  you, and you in turn loved them,  but
now no act or  voice of  kindness makes  sunshine in the heart.
Has fancy realized this to you ?   It may be the state of some of
those  you  cherish ! Who  shall  be sure his  own hearth-stone 
21
shall not be  desolate ? nay, who shall say his own  mountain
stands strong, his lamp of reason shall  not  go out in  darkness !
To how many has  this become a heart-rending reality !   If for
selfish ends only, should not effectual Legislation here  inter-
pose?
   Shelburne.  November last;  I found no poorhouse, and but
few paupers ;  these were distributed in private families.   I had
heard, before visiting this place,of the bad condition of a lunatic
pauper.  The case seemed to be pretty well known throughout
the county.   Receiving a direction by which I might find him,
I reached a house of most respectable appearance ; every thing
without and within indicating abundance and prosperity.   Con-
cluding I must  have mistaken  my way, I prudently inquired
where the insane person  might be found ?  was readily answer-
ed, " here."   I  desired to see  him ;  and after some difficulties
raised and set aside, I was conducted into  the yard,  where was
a small building of  rough boards imperfectly joined ;  through
these crevices was admitted what portion of heaven's light and air
was allowed by man to his  fellow-man.  This shanty or shell,
inclosing a cage, might have been  eight or ten feet square, I
think it did  not exceed; a narrow passage within allowed to
 pass in front of the cage.  It was  very cold ;  the air within was
burthened with the most noisome vapors,  and Desolation with
 Misery seemed here to have  settled their abode.  All was still,
 save now  and then  a low groan.   The person who conducted
 me tried, with a stick, to rouse  the inmate ;  I intreated her to
 desist; the  twilight of  the  place making  it  difficult to discern
 any thing within the cage;  there at last I  saw a human being,
 partially extended, cast  upon his  back  amidst a mass of filth,
 the sole furnishing, whether for comfort or necessity which  the
 place afforded ;  there he lay,  ghastly, with  upturned, glazed
 eyes,  and fixed gaze, heavy  breathings,  interrupted only by
 faint groans,  which seemed symptomatic of an approaching  ter-
 mination of his  sufferings.  Not  so, thought the mistress; " he
 has all sorts of ways ; he'll soon rouse up and be noisy enough ;
 he'll scream and beat about  the place like any wild beast, half
 the time."   " And cannot you make him more  comfortable ?
 can he not have some clean, dry place, and a fire ? "   " As for
 clean, it will do no good ;  he's  cleaned out now and then ;  but
 what's the use for such a creature ?  his own brother tried him
 once, but  got sick  enough of the bargain."   " But a fire, there
 is space even here, for a small box stove ? "   " If he had a fire
 he'd only pull off his clothes, so it's no use."  " But you  say
 your  husband  takes  care of him, and he  is shut  in here in
 almost total  darkness,  so that  seems a less evil than that he
 should lie there to  perish in that  horrible  condition."   I made 
22
 no impression ;  it was plain that to keep him securely confined
 from escape was the chief object.  " How do you give him his
 food ?   I  see  no  means  for introducing any thing  here ?"
 " O," pointing to the  floor,  " one  of  the bars is cut  shorter
 there, we push it through there."   " There? impossible !  you
 cannot do that; you would not treat your lowest dumb  animals
 with that disregard to decency I"   " As for what he eats, or
 where he  eats, it makes  no difference to him, he'd as  soon
 swallow one thing as another."
   Newton.   It was a cold morning in October last, that 1 vis-
 ited the almshouse.  The building itself is  ill adapted  for the
 purposes to which  it is  appropriated ; the town, I understand
 have in consideration  a  more advantageous location, and pro-
 pose to erect more commodious dwellings.  The mistress of the
 house informed me that they had several insane inmates, some
 of them very bad.  In reply to my request to see them,  she ob-
 jected "that they were not  fit—that they were not cleaned—
 that they were very crazy," &c.  Urging my request more de-
 cidedly,  she  said they should be got  ready, if I would wait.
 Still  no order was given which would  hasten my object.   I re-
 newed the subject, when,with  manifest unwillingness, she called
 to a colored man, a cripple, who  with several others of the  poor
 were employed in the yard, to go  and get a woman  up—nam-
 ing  her.  I waited some  time at the kitchen door to see what
 all  this was to produce.  The man slowly proceeded to  the re-
 mote part of the wood-shed where, part being divided from the
 open  space, were two  small  rooms,  in the  outer of which he
 slept  and lived, as I understood; there was his  furniture ;  and
 there his charge ! Opening into this room only, was the  second,
 which was  occupied by a woman not  old, and  furiously mad :
 it contained a wooden bunk filled  with filthy straw, the room it-
 self a counterpart to the lodging place ;  inexpressibly disgusting
 and  loathsome  was all: but the  inmate herself  was even more
 horribly  repelling ; she rushed out, as  far as the chains  would
 allow, almost in a state of nudity, exposed to a dozen persons,
 and  vociferating at the top of her voice ;  pouring forth such a
 flood  of  indecent language as  might  corrupt even Newgate.
 I entreated the man, who still was there, to go out and close the
 door.  He refused ; that was his place !  Sick, horror-struck, and
 almost incapable of retreating,  I gained the outward air, and  has-
 tened to  see the other subject, to remove from a  scene so  out-
raging all decency  and humanity.    In  the  apartment  over
that  last described was a  crazy  man, I was told.  I ascended
 the  stairs  in the wood-shed, and  passing through a small room
stood at the entrance of the one occupied ; occupied with what?
The furniture was a wooden box  or bunk  containing straw, and 
23
something I was told was  a man, I could not tell, as likely it
might have been a wild animal, half buried in the offensive
mass that made his bed; his countenance  concealed by long
tangled  hair and unshorn  beard.   He  lay  sleeping.   Filth,
neglect and misery  reigned there.   I begged he might not be
roused.   If sleep could  visit  a  wretch so forlorn, how mer-
ciless  to  break the slumber !   Protruding  from   the foot of
the  box was------, nay, it could  not be the  feet ; yet from
these stumps, these maimed members were  swinging chains,
fastened to the side of the building.  I descended ;  the master
of the house  briefly  stated  the history of these two victims of
wretchedness.  The  old  man  had been crazy above twenty
years.  As, till within a  late period, the town had owned no
farm for the poor, this man with others had been annually put
up at auction.  I hope there is nothing offensive in the idea of
these annual sales of  old men  and  women,  the sick, the
infirm, and the helpless,  the  middle-aged and children ; why
should we not sell people as well as otherwise blot out human
rights, it is only being consistent, surely not worse than chain-
ing  and caging naked Lunatics upon public roads, or burying
them in closets and cellars ?  But,as I was saying, the crazy man
was annually sold to some new master, and a few winters since,
being kept in  an out-house, the people within  being  warmed
and clothed, 'did not reckon how cold it was,' and so his feet froze.
Were chains now the more necessary ?  he cannot run.   But he
might crawl forth,  and in  his transports of frenzy "do  some
damage."
   That  young woman ;  her lot  is most appalling! who shall
dare  describe it! who shall have courage or hardness to write
her  history ?  That young woman was the child of respectable,
hard-working parents.  The girl became insane ; the father, a
farmer with small means, from a narrow income had placed her
at the State Hospital.   There, said my informer, she remained
as long as he could  by any means pay her expenses.   Then,
then only, he resigned  her to the care of the town, to those who
are,  in the eye of  the law, the guardians  of the poor and
needy; she was placed with the other town-paupers, and given
in charge to a man.   I assert boldly, as truly, that I have given
but a faint representation of what she was, and what was her
condition as I saw her last autumn.  Written language is weak
to declare it.
   Could we in fancy place ourselves in the situation of some of
these poor  wretches, bereft of reason, deserted of friends, hope-
less ;  troubles without, and more dreary troubles within,  over-
whelming the wreck of the mind as ' a wide breaking in of the
waters,'—how should  we,  as the terrible illusion was cast off, 
24
not  only  offer the thank-offering of prayer, that so mighty a
destruction had not overwhelmed our mental nature, but as an
offering more  acceptable devote ourselves to alleviate that state
from which we are so mercifully spared.
  It may  not appear much more credible than  the fact  above
slated,  that a  few  months since, a young woman in a state of
complete insanity, was confined entirely naked in a pen or stall
in a barn ;  there, unfurnished with clothes, without  bed, and
without fire, she was left—but not alone  ; profligate men and
idle boys had access to the den, whenever curiosity or vulgarity
prompted.   She  is  now  removed  into  the  house with other
paupers ;  and for  this humanizing benefit she was indebted to
the remonstrances, in the first instance, of an insane man I
  Another town now owns a poorhouse,  which I  visited, and
am glad to testify  to the present comfortable state of the in-
mates ;  but there the only provision the house affords for an in-
sane person, should one,  as is not improbable, be conveyed there,
is a closet in the cellar, formed  by  the arch upon which the
chimney  rests;  this has  a  close door,   not only securing the
prisoner, but excluding what of light and pure  air might else
find admission.
   Abuses assuredly  cannot always  or altogether be guarded
against;  but if in the  civil  and social relations all shall have
" done  what they could," no ampler justification  will  be  de-
manded at the Great Tribunal.
   Of the dangers and  mischiefs sometimes following the loca-
tion of  insane persons in our almhouses, I will record but one
more example.   In Worcester, has for  several years resided a
young woman, a lunatic pauper of decent life and respectable
family.   I  have seen her as  she usually appeared, listless and
silent, almost or quite sunk into a state of dementia, sitting one
amidst  the  family,  ' but not of them.'   A few weeks since,
revisiting  that almshouse, judge my horror and amazement to
see  her negligently  bearing in her arms a young infant, of
which I was told she was the unconscious parent!  Who was
the  father,  none could  or would declare.  Disqualified  for the
performance of maternal cares and duties, regarding the helpless
little creature with a perplexed, or  indifferent  gaze, she sat a
silent,  but O how eloquent, a pleader for the protection of others
of her  neglected and outraged sex !   Details of that black story
would not strengthen the cause ; needs it  a weightier plea, than
the sight of that forlorn creature and her wailing  infant ? Poor
little child,  more  than orphan from birth, in  this unfriendly
world !  a demented Mother—a Father, on whom the sun might
blush or refuse to shine !
   Men of  Massachusetts, I  beg,  I implore, I  demand, pity 
25
and protection,  for  these  of my suffering,  outraged sex !—■
Fathers, Husbands, Brothers,  I  would supplicate  you for this
boon—but what do I say?  I  dishonor  you, divest you at
once of Christianity and humanity—does  this  appeal  imply
distrust.   If it comes burthened with a doubt of your right-
eousness in this Legislation, then blot it out; while  I declare
confidence in  your honor, not less than your humanity.   Here
you will put away the cold, calculating spirit of selfishness and
self-seeking ; lay off the armor of local strife  and political oppo-
sition ;  here  and  now, for once, forgetful  of the  earthly and
perishable, come up to these halls and consecrate them with one
heart and one mind to works of righteousness and  just judg-
ment.   Become the benefactors of your race, the just guardians
of the solemn rights you hold in  trust.   Raise up the  fallen ;
succor the  desolate ;  restore  the  outcast;  defend  the helpless ;
and for your eternal and great reward, receive the benediction....
" Well done,  good and faithful  servants,  become rulers over
many things ! "
   But,  gentlemen, I do not come to quicken your sensibilities
into short-lived action,  to pour forth passionate exclamation, nor
yet to move your  indignation against those,  whose misfortune,
not fault, it surely is to  hold in  charge these poor demented
creatures,  and  whose  whole of  domestic  economy,  or  prison
discipline, is  absolutely overthrown by such  proximity of con-
flicting  circumstances, and  opposite  conditions of mind  and
character.  Allow me  to  illustrate  this position by  a few ex-
amples ; it were easy to produce  hundreds.
   The  master of one of  the  best regulated almshouses, viz.
that of Plymouth, where every  arrangement shows that the
comfort of  the  sick, the  aged, and the infirm, is suitably cared
for, and  the amendment of the  unworthy is studied and ad-
vanced, said, as  we  stood  opposite  a  latticed stall, where  was
confined a  madman, that the hours of the day were few, when
the whole household was  not  distracted from employment by
screams, and turbulent stampings, and every form of violence,
which the voice or muscular force could produce.   This  unfor-
tunate being was one of the " returned incurables," since whose
last  admission to the almshouse,  they were no longer secure of
peace for the aged, or decency for the young ;  it was morally
impossible  to do justice to the sane and insane in such improper
vicinity to  each other.  The  conviction is continually deepened
that Hospitals are the only places where insane persons can be
at once  humanely and  properly controlled.   Poorhouses, con-
verted  into madhouses, cease to  effect  the  purposes  for  which
they were established, and instead of  being asylums for the
aged, the homeless, and the friendless, and places  of refuge for 
26
orphaned or neglected childhood, are transformed into perpetual
bedlams.
  This crying evil  and abuse of institutions, is not confined to
our almshouses.   The warden  of a populous prison near this
metropolis, populous, not with  criminals only, but with  the in-
sane  in almost every stage of insanity, and the idiotic in de-
scending states from silly and  simple, to helpless and speechless,
has declared that, since their admission under the Rev. Stat, of
1835, page 382, "the prison has often more resembled the
infernal regions than any place on earth ! " and, what with the
excitement  inevitably  produced by  the crowded  state of the
prisons, and multiplying causes,  not subject  to  much modifica-
tion, there has been neither  peace nor order  one hour of the
twenty-four ; if ten were quiet,  the residue  were  probably rav-
ing.  Almost without interval  might, and must, these be heard,
blaspheming and  furious, and to  the last  degree  impure and
indecent;  uttering  language, from  which  the base and the
profligate have turned  shuddering aside, and  the  abandoned
have shrunk abashed.   1 myself, with many beside, can  bear
sad witness to these things.
   Such cases of transcendent madness have  not been few in
this  prison.  Admission for   a  portion  of  them, not  already
having been discharged as  incurable from  the State Hospital,
has been sought with  importunity, and pressed with obstinate
perseverance, often  without success or advantage;  and it has
not been, till application has  followed  application, and  petition
succeeded petition, that the Judge of Probate, absolutely weari-
ed by the 'continual coming,'  has sometimes granted warrants
for removal.   It cannot be overlooked that in  this delay or re-
fusal was more of just  deliberation than hardness, for it is well
known that, in the  present crowded state of  the Hospital,  every
new patient displaces one who has for a longer  or  shorter  time
received the benefit of that noble institution.
   A few  months since, through exceeding  effort, an inmate of
this prison, whose contaminating influence for  two  years had
been  the dread and curse of  all  persons who came  within her
sphere, whether  incidentally, or  compelled by imprisonment,
orby  daily duty, was  removed to Worcester.  She had  set at
defiance all efforts  for  controlling the contaminating violence of
her excited passions ; every variety of blasphemous expression ;
every form of polluting phraseology, was poured  forth in tor-
rents, sweeping away every decent thought,  and giving reality
to that blackness of darkness, which it is said  might convert a
heaven into a hell  ; there, day  after day, month after  month,
were the warden and his own immediate household ; the subor-
dinate officials, and casual visitors ;  young  women detained as 
27
witnesses ;  men, women, and children, waiting trial  or  under
sentence ;  debtors and  criminals ;  the neighborhood, and  al-
most the whole town ; subjected to this monstrous offence—and
no help I  the law permitted her there, and there she  remained
till July last, when, after  an application to the  Judge, so de-
termined, that  all refusal was  refused, a warrant was granted
for  her transfer  to the  State Hospital.  I  saw her  there two
Weeks since ;  what a change !  decent, orderly, neatly dressed ;
capable of  light  employment; partaking with others  her  daily
meals.  Decorously, and without  any manifestation of passion,
moving about, not a rational woman  by any means, but  no
longer a nuisance, rending off her garments  and tainting the
moral atmosphere with  every pollution ; she exhibited  how
much could be done for the most  unsettled and apparently the
most  hopeless  cases, by being placed in a situation adapted  to
the wants and  necessities of  her condition.  Transformed from
a very Tisiphone, she is now a controllable woman.  But this
most  wonderful change  may not be  lasting ;  she is liable  to
be returned to  the prison, as have been others, and then, no
question, but in a short time like scenes will distract and torment
all in a vicinity so much to be dreaded.
  Already has been transferred  from Worcester to Concord a
furious man, last July  conveyed  to  the  Hospital from  Cam-
bridge, whose  violence  is  second  only to that of the subject
above described.   While our Revised Statutes permit the  in-
carceration of madmen and madwomen, epilectics and idiots  in
prisons, all responsible officers should,  in ordinary justice,  be ex-
onerated from  obligation to maintain  prison discipline.   And
the fact is conclusive,  if the injustice to prison officers is great,
it is  equally great towards prisoners  ; an additional penalty to
a legal sentence pronounced in a Court of Justice, which might,
we should think, in all the prisons we have visited, serve as a
sound plea for false imprisonment.   If reform is intended to  be
united with punishment,  there  never  was a  greater  absurdity
than  to look for moral  restoration  under such  circumstances ;
and if that is left out of view, wTe  know no rendering of the law
which sanctions such a  cruel and  oppressive aggravation  of the
circumstances of imprisonment, as to expose these prisoners day
and night to the  indescribable horrors of such association.
  The greatest evils, in  regard to the insane and idiots in the
prisons of this  Commonwealth, are found at Ipswich and Cam-
bridge,  and distinguish  these places  only, as I believe, because
the numbers are  larger,  being more than twenty in each.  Ips-
wich  has the advantage over Cambridge in having fewer furious
subjects, and in the construction of  the buildings,  though these
are  so bad  as  to have  afforded  cause for presentment by the 
28
Grand Jury some time since.   It is said that the new County
House,in progress of building,will meet the exigencies of the case.
If it  is meant that the wing in the  new prison, to be appropri-
ated to the insane, will provide accommodation for all the insane
and  idiotic paupers in the county, 1 can only say that it could
receive  no more  than can  be  gathered in the  three towns of
Salem, Newburyport, and Ipswich, supposing these are to  be
removed ;  there  being in Ipswich  twenty-two  in the prison,
and  eight  in  the almshouse ;  in Salem almshouse, seventeen
uniformly crazy, and  two part of the  time deranged ;  and  in
that of Newburyport eleven, including idiots.  Here at once are
sixty.  The returns of  1842 exhibit an aggregate of one hun-
dred thirty-five.   Provision is made in the new prison for fifty-
seven of this class, leaving seventy-eight unprovided for, except
in the almshouses.   From such a fate, so far as  Dan vers, Sau-
gus, East  Bradford, and some other towns in the  county, reveal
conditions of insane subjects, we pray they  may be exempt.
   I have  the verbal and written  testimony of many officers  of
this Commonwealth, who are respectable alike for  their  integrity
and the fidelity with which they discharge their official duties,
and whose opinions, based on  experience,  are entitled  to  con-
sideration,  that the occupation  of prisons  for the  detention  of
lunatics and of idiots is, under  all  circumstances, an evil,  sub-
versive alike of good order, strict discipline,  and good morals.  I
transcribe  a few  passages which will place this  mischief in its
true   light.     The  Sheriff of  Plymouth  county writes  as
follows :—" 1  am decidedly of the opinion that the county jail
is a very improper place for lunatics and idiots.  The  last sum-
mer  its bad  effects  were fully realized here, not  only by the
prisoners in jail, but the disturbance extended to the inhabitants
dwelling  in the neighborhood.   A foreigner was sentenced by
a Justice of the Peace, to thirty days' confinement in the house
of correction.   He was to all appearance a  lunatic, or madman.
He destroyed  every  article  in  his  room, even  to his  wearing
apparel, his  noise and disturbance was incessant  for hours, day
and night.    I consider  prisons places  for  the safe keeping of
prisoners, and  all these  are equally entitled to humane treat-
ment  from their keepers, without  regard to the cause of  com-
mitment.   We have in jails no conveniences to make  the  situ-
ation  of lunatics  and idiots much  more decent than wrould  be
necessary for the brute creation, and impossible to prevent the
disturbance of the inmates under the same  roof."
  In  relation  to  the confinement of the insane  in prisons the
Sheriff of Hampshire county writes as follows :—
  " 1  concur fully in the sentiments entertained by you in rela-
tion to this unwise,not to say inhuman, provision of our law (see 
29
Rev. Stat. 382) authorizing the commitment of lunatics  to our
Jails and Houses of Correction.  Our Jails preclude occupation,
and  our Houses  of Correction cannot admit of that variety of
pursuit, and its requisite supervision, so indispensable to these un-
fortunates.
 " Indeed this feature of our law seems to me a relic of that an-
cient barbarism which regarded misfortune as a crime, and those
bereft  of reason as also bereft of  all sensibility ; as having for-
feited not only all title to compassion but  to humanity, and con-
signed them without a tear of sympathy, or twinge of remorse,
or even a suspicion of injustice to  the companionship of the vi-
cious, the custody of the coarse and ignorant, and the horrors of
the hopelsss dungeon.   I cannot persuade myself that any thing
more than a motion by any member of our Legislature is nec-
essary to effect an immediate repeal of this odious provision."
   The Sheriff of Berkshire says, conclusively, that "Jails and
Houses of Correction cannot be so managed as to render them
suitable places of confinement for  that unfortunate class of per-
sons, who  are  the subjects  of your  inquiries, and who, never
having violated the law,  should not be ranked  with  felons, or
confined within the same walls with them.  Jailors and Over-
seers of Houses of Correction, whenever well  qualified for the
management of criminals, do not usually possess  those peculiar
qualifications required in those to whom should be entrusted the
care of lunatics."
   A letter from the surgeon and physician of the Prison Hospit-
al at Cambridge, whose observation and experience has laid the
foundation of his opinions, and hence has a title to speak with
authority, affords the following views.  "On this subject it seems
to me, there can be but one opinion.   No one can be  more im-
pressed than I am with the great injustice done to the insane by
confining them in Jails and  Houses of Correction.  It must be
revolting to the better feelings of every one to see the innocent
and unfortunate insane  occupying apartments with, or consigned
to those occupied by the criminal.  Some of the insane are con-
scious of the  circumstances  in which they are placed, and feel
the degradation.  They exclaim sometimes in their ravings, and
sometimes  in  their lucid  intervals, " What have  / done that I
must be shut up in Jail?" and "why do you  not let me out?"
This state of things unquestionably retards the recovery of the
few  who do recover their reason under such circumstances, and
may render those permanently insane, who, under other circum-
stances might have been restored to their  right mind.  There is
also in our Jails very little opportunity for the classification of the
insane.  The quiet and orderly must in many cases occupy the 
30
same rooms with the restless and noisy, another great hindrance
to recovery.
   "  Injustice is  also done to the convicts ; it is certainly very
wrong that they should be doomed day after day, and night af-
ter night,  to listen to the ravings of madmen and madwomen.
This is a kind of punishment, that is not recognised by our stat-
utes ; and is what the criminal ought not to be called upon to un-
dergo.  The confinement  of the criminal and of the insane in
the same building is subversive of that  good order and discipline
which should be observed in every well-regulated prison.  I do
most sincerely hope that more permanent provision  will be made
for the Pauper Insane  by  the State, either to restore Worcester
Insane  Asylum to what it was originally designed  to be, or else
make some just appropriation  for the benefit of this very unfor-
tunate class of our 'fellow beings'."
   From the  efficient  Sheriff of Middlesex county,  I  have
a  letter upon this subject,  from which I make such extracts as
my limits permit:—" 1 do not consider it right, just, or humane,
to hold for safe keeping, in  the county jails and houses of correc-
tion, persons classing as lunatics or idiots.   Our prisons are not
constructed with  a view to  the  proper  accommodation  of this
class  of persons ;  their interior arrangements  are such as to
render it very difficult, if not impossible, to extend  to such per-
sons that care and constant oversight which their  peculiarly
unfortunate condition  absolutely demands;  and  besides, the
occupation of prisons for lunatics is unquestionably subversive of
discipline, comfort, and good order.   Prisoners are  thereby sub-
jected to unjust aggravation of necessary confinement, by being
exposed to an almost constant disquiet from the restless or rav-
ing lunatic.  You inquire whether " it  may not justly be said,
that the qualifications for wardenship, or for the  offices of over-
seer, do not usually embrace qualifications for the management
of lunatics, whether  regarded  as curable or  incurably lost to
reason ?" and also,whether  "the government of jails and houses
of correction for the detention  or  punishment of offenders and
criminals, can suitably be united with the  government and  dis-
cipline fitted for  the  most  unfortunate and friendless  of the
human  race, viz : pauper  lunatics and idiots, a  class not con-
demned by the laws, and  I must add  not mercifully protected
by them ?"   The first  of the preceding questions I  answer in
the affirmative;  the last negatively"
   A communication from the warden of the Cambridge prison
affords the following opinions, results of his experience :—" As
to the expediency or  propriety of holding for safe keeping, in
the jails or houses of correction, insane persons or idiots,  I must
say that  I  consider it  both inexpedient and decidedly wrong 
31
that the insane, or idiots, or any other persons,  should  be con-
fined  in  prisons, except those who have  been convicted for
crimes, or who are so strongly suspected  that  it is  necessary
they should be holden for  safe keeping until they can be tried
for  the offences for  which they stand  charged.   Any  person
having the least experience in prison-keeping, must, 1 think, be
fully  sensible  of the demoralizing and pernicious influences
insane persons must have on the order and  discipline  of a
prison, nor can it be  doubted  that  the punishment of all  sane
persons is  very much  enhanced and aggravated by their ex-
posure to the ravings of the insane.  Neither can  the  keepers
or other  officers of prisons  be selected with a view to their fit-
ness to take care of  the insane, consequently they are in want
of those  qualifications which  make them suitable for the man-
agement of such persons, be they curable or incurable."
      From  the  Sheriff of  Dukes county I  have testimony,
corresponding to that elsewhere received, and  from which  I am
obliged to make extracts, when the entire letters would  be valu-
able :—" I  beg leave to  say that 1 am decidedly of opinion that
such confinement, even  if it were in some cases  " expedient,"
is not in accordance with the principles of sound enlightened
philanthropy.   Humanity shudders at the thought that those
whom God in his providence  has bereft of  the  light of reason,
should be  confined within  the narrow bounds of a prison, de-
prived of the enjoyment  of the pure air of heaven ;  of necessary
exercise ;  of the comforts to which they have been used,  com-
forts which their peculiar circumstances render so necessary;
and made  companions of felons, and the worthless outcasts of
society.
  " With proper care and attention, lunatics may not only be
made comfortable, but  in  many  instances restored again to
society with sound minds.  But this care and attention cannot
be  expected from those who  have charge of  prisons, worthy
men though many of them be;  it requires a union of qualifica-
tions  rarely found in one  individual, to manage successfully
those from whom, that  which  chiefly distinguishes man  from
the brute creation, is taken  away.
  " I conclude with  expressing the hope that the wisdom of our
Legislature may devise  a remedy for the  evils now attending
the unfortunate pauper lunatic and idiot."
  The warden  of one of the best conducted prisons in this or
any other country, I refer to that at South Boston, writes:—"I
affirm, most  decisively,  that jails and houses of correction are
not fit places for the safe keeping of lunatics and idiots, and, as
far  as my experience goes, the officers are not qualified to lake
charge of lunatics." 
32
  The master of the Plymouth almshouse  writes, in a letter
containing many clear  views,—" I  hope to hear people are
awake on this subject, and trust they will not rest till they have
compelled the public to provide  suitable places for that unfortu-
nate class of demented persons.  They should never be received
in almshouses."
  It is not few but many, it is not a part but  the whole, who
bear unqualified testimony to this evil.   A  voice strong and
deep comes up  from every almshouse and prison in Massachu-
setts where the insane are or have been, protesting against such
evils as have  been illustrated in  the preceding pages.
  Gentlemen, I commit to you this sacred cause.   Your action
upon this subject will affect  the  present and  future condition of
hundreds and of thousands.
  In  this legislation, as in all  things, may  you exercise that
" wisdom  which is the breath  of the power of God."
                      Respectfully submitted,
                                            D. L. DIX.
   85 Mt.Vernon St. Boston.
         January,  1843.
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