The Patients of The Buffalo State Asylum

Ward 10 Hallway

No smoking sign in Ward 9.

Very few things get under my skin. One thing being the mistreatment and just plan whole “let’s forget they ever existed” mentality everyone has going on now a days. Granted, it’s hard to think of what happened in the walls of the old asylum, and how bad it was during the early days, but why throw all that under the bus when all they ever wanted was to be loved, hell, to be normal. Imaging going to a hospital to recover from an illness, only to be beaten to the point of having broken bones and bruises, or even better yet, being beaten so bad that you’re wheeled out in a gurney.



Families entrusted the state to take care of their loved ones. They wanted them to get better, they wanted them to come home and love them. Within the first 20 years of the Buffalo State Asylum, at least two families dropped off their loved ones, to have them come home bruised and worse than when they went in, or even worse, having to bury them due to the attendance cruelty. Here are few of the patient’s stories.



John Turney, who was a monomaniac, was one of the 1^st patients to meet the hands of the cruel hands of the attendants. The New York Times article dated February 7, 1881, stated that he was “choked with towels so severely” that they had to do CPR on him to restore consciousness. Even worse, while he was being “noisy” while being bathed, the attendant held his head under water until he almost drowned and decided to beat the poor guy until he had welts “as large as a hen’s egg” on his stomach. It was also noted that the two attendants that the Medical Superintendent, Dr. Andrews, brought with him from Utica, were the ones doing the harm.



Only their last names were given, Mr. Jones and Mr. McMichael. They seemed to not only like Turney. Abraham Vedder was another object of their cruelty. He was seen with a black eye, “skin peeled off his throat, and the pit of his stomach black and blue.” Another patient, a harmless railroad conductor only named as White, had a hard time keeping quite due to being nervous was beaten by McMichael. Vedder tried to reason with Jones at one point, but was threaten to be beaten if he told anyone.



On October 11, 1893, George E Felton died at the Buffalo State Hospital. The coroner reported that his death was caused by “the hands of brutal attendants.” The injuries? He had a fractured breastbone, a fracture of the ribs and internal hemorrhaging. Due to Felton’s death, it was reported to the New York Times on May 27, 1894, John J. Clifford was suspended by the Board of Managers. The family of Felton tried to sue the hospital due to his death. Unfortunately, after the Acting District Attorney, Daniel J Kenefick, investigated the case and brought it the grand jury, it was ruled as a “No Bill.”



Now, jump a few years to September 3, 1903. John Kalf, a 45 year old patient, became violent. He was put into a strait jacket and somehow managed to strangle himself to death. Although it’s very possible for this to happen one would question, “Why would the attendant leave without making sure the jacket was on correctly?” No investigation was found in this case.



I know there’s a lot more patients that lived there that need their stories told. I will find their stories.