October 22, 1884 - A Terrible Story

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As published in the Wheeling Daily Intelligenrer , West Virginia:

A TERRIBLE STORY

Told by a Former Patient of the Buffalo State Asylum 

Buffalo, Oct 21 - George C Allen, a former patient in the Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane, has made a statement that during his six months' confinement there he was twice beaten and abused, once so severely that he prayed for death. Further than this, he made the following startling assertions regarding the treatment which three other patients received: "A gentleman named Shepard was a patient there in 1883, and was on the road to recovery when he received his death blow. He was a hearty eater, and craved more food than the asylum people would give. So he frequently asked other patients who were sick and didn't want all their food for what was left. An attendant caught him at this one day, and I heard a loud scrimmage. Rushing up, I saw the keeper grasp Shepard by the beard and jam him up against the door post, at the same time swearing at him and saying: "I'll kill you if I ever catch you here again.' This was followed by Shepard falling in a fit in sheer fright. He had an awful fit and died the next night.

"Another case was that of a Mr. Peterson, a well posted man from Horseheads, who used to sing and have all sorts of delusions. He was very noisy one night, and I heard people scuffling with him in his room, which was directly over mine. He exclaimed several times: 'Don't kill me.' The next morning he was found with a sheet twisted around his neck, his body lying on the bed, and one end of the sheet fastened to the lower part of the bedstead. They said he had committed suicide, but it would be impossible for a man to commit suicide in that position. The third case was that of an old man named Bronson, over eighty, who was stuck over the head by another attendant, and who never got up after it. My own case was not of course as serious, but I was twice 'pimped' by attendants for making noisy demonstrations when they took my allowance of opium away from me."

When asked concerning these statements the officers of the asylum admitted the deaths and circumstances, but denied any cruelty on the part of the officers of the asylum.

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