A Little History In and Around Buffalo, NY

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 swe...

As published in the Olean Democrat: Mrs. Helen Whittaker, an inmate of the Buffalo State asylum from Hornellsville, committed suicide in the institution on Saturday afternoon by throwing herself from the chapel window in the fourth story.

Published in the New York Times (my comments are in bold) Insane Patient Killed at Buffalo Buffalo, N.Y. , Oct 10 - George E Felton died at the Buffalo State Hospital yesterday. The Coroner reports that the man met death at the hands of brutal attendants. (The douchebags struck again) His injuries consisted of a fracture of the breasbone, (spelled like that in the article, I'm assuming it's his breastbone. Seriously, WTF though) a frtacture of the ribs (fracture is spelled wrong in the article. Cant make this shit up if I tried, lol) and internal hemorrhage. The hospital authorities say Felton was making a good deal of noise, and one of the attendants tried to force him into a room. Felton resisted and a struggle followed, in which they say Felton fell from a chair on his head. He was removed to the hospital, and died some hours later. Ok, remember that first article I posted? Ironically, after searching a little more, those two idiots haven't been named in the case....

As printed in the New York Times on 02/07/1881: (my notes are in bold) BRUTES IN AN INSANE ASYLUM A Story of Cruelty From the State Asylum of Buffalo  Buffalo, NY - Feb 6 A story of terrible cruelties practiced upon patients at the new State Insane Asylum here has been mad public today, for which Frank P Churchhill, of this city, formerly a keeper, is responsible. (The hospital open for patients in December of 1880, at the time of this article, the hospital has only been open a few months.) He claims to have resigned on account of these practices, and says they were carried on by two men named Jones and McMichael, whom Dr. Andrews, Medical Superintendent, brought with him from Utica. (Dr. Andrews transferred from the Utica psych hospital). He says that John Turney, a monomaniac, was choked with towels so severly that they had to blow in his mouth to restore consciousness. (How fucked up is that?) Being noisy one day while bathing, McMichael held his head unde...