A Little History In and Around Buffalo, NY

  as published in the Buffalo Evening News on Thursday, September 20, 1894. SHE IS CRAZY A Young Girl Found Wandering at Black Rock Identified as an Ex-Inmate of the Insane Asylum.  The police of the Delevan Avenue Station arrested Lizzie Zink of 395 Sherman Street at Black Rock late yesterday afternoon. The girl was found wondering on Forest Avenue.  She was wet to the skin and did not appear to know exactly where she was and could not tell her name. Alex Sloan identified her as an ex-inmate of the Buffalo State Hospital, from which she was discharged last spring. It appears that her reason has again left her. She will be sent back to the Insane Asylum. 

  AS PUBLISHED IN THE BUFFALO EVENING NEWS:  MONDAY, AUGUST 16, 1926 CONFINED 18 YEARS; NOW ASKS $200,000 North Tonawanda Man Alleges He Was Detained "Unlawfully, Maliciously, Wrongly." Suit to recover $200,000 for damages which he says he suffered by reason of 18 years confinement in the Buffalo State Hospital for the Insane, was begun Saturday by Owen J Doody of 564 Schenk St, North Tonawanda. Complaints in the action have been served.  The complaint alleges that the defendants "willfully, maliciously and wrongfully cause the plaintiff's detention in the Buffalo State hospital for many years, to the plaintiff's damages in the sum of $200,000." The defendants named in the action are not all living. Two of them, Michael Collins and George Fisher, have been dead for more than a year. The others are A F Premus, former city attorney, John F Ryan, a former police chief, William J Nellie, commissioner of charities, the international Railway and New York Central R...

  from Buffalo Evening News  HANGED HERSELF FROM TRANSOM OF HER DOOR.  Katie Klotz, Patient in Insane Asylum, Takes Her Life While the Attendant is Absent.  Katie Klotz, 32 years old, patient at the Buffalo State Hospital, committed suicided at 3:30 o'clock yesterday after noon by hanging herself on the transom of the door of her room. Her attendant had been away from her only 10 minutes and four physicians worked over her more than an hour to restore her, but without avail. The suicide was most deliberate.  All the circumstances indicated that the woman, who was unmarried and who had been living with her sister, Mrs. L. Morton at 68 East Huron Street until June 16 last, when she was admitted to the hospital, had placed the deed with the cunning often displayed by insane people. She suffered from acute melancholia and often tore her clothing from her body and scratched herself on the face and arms.  To avoid this the physicians place a muff on her hands whi...

as published in the Duluth Evening Herald.  IS MAN OF MYSTERY Middle-Aged Man Who Is of Interest to Physicians. Making Bread and Pastry In Buffalo Stat Hospital.  Buffalo, NY, Sat. 6. - In the bakery of the Buffalo State Hospital is a middle-aged man who is ever a subject of interest to the physicians. He is usually active and goes about his work of making bread and pastry as intelligently as any expert professional baker who is credited with being rational. At times there appears upon his face and in his eyes, as he is bending over the kneading-board, or carrying pans to or from the ovens, an expression of abstraction, a faraway look as if his mind were straying back into a hazy past in search of something almost or quite gone from memory. Three months have elapsed since this man was found lying unconscious on a carriageway in Delaware Park, the supposed victim of footpad. Through the finding of a baker's union due-book, not far from where he lay - a discovery mad...

As published in the Buffalo News: How Insane Patient Felton Received the Injuries of Which He Died.  ------- WHAT DR. ANDREWS SAYS. ------- Felton Attacked the Attendant, David Killan, and the Light Went Out---The Struggle in the Hallway---How Felton Died the Next Day. ----- The name of the State Hospital attendant who was in charge of patient George Felton during the latter's last day of life is David Killeen and his duties are mainly performed after dark, as he is what is known as a night nurse. Supt. Andrews, the head physician of the hospital, says Felton was a dangerous lunatic and came to the institution duly certificated as possessed of homicidal mania. "He was 48 years of age and a muscular man," the doctor, telling of the case to a reporter. "Since he has been in our asylum, he had had a number of fits of violence and had been kept in the ward where the violent cases are confined. "On Monday morning about 5 o'clock the attracted Atten...

As published in The New York Times: HEIR WAS PENNILESS AND STARVING Small Fortune Now Awaits Waiter Crosby Truman in Buffalo BUFFALO, NY, Aug 30. - An heir has been found for considerable money which has been held in trust here by order of the Surrogate. Otis Truman of Tracy Street committed suicide some time ago, leaving an estate valued at $35,000, which he bequeathed entirely to his mother. Shortly after Otis took his own life, his mother, who possessed a considerable amount of money in her own right, became insane, and had to confined in the Buffalo State Hospital. Strangers were appointed as a committee to take charge of the money and to execute the will. Otis had a brother who had not been heard of for years. That brother has now been found, penniless and starving. He is Walter Crosby Truman of Sunderland, England. He was so poor that he had to borrow money to pay the postage on his letter announcing that he was the missing her. He asked that enough money be forwarded ...

As published in the Daily Colonist:  Lunatic Burns Herself BUFFALO, Sept 27 - Mrs. Lydia Snyder, 26 years old, an inmate of the Buffalo State Hospital for the insane, died this afternoon from self-inflicted burns. Early today, while Miss Cooley, a nurse, was making out a report by the light of a lamp, Mrs. Snyder crept up and grabbing the lamp, poured the oil over her clothing and set fire to it. Miss Cooley and Miss Cott, another nurse, were badly burned about the face and hands in trying to smother the flames.

As published in the Buffalo Courier-Express: Negligence Charged $100,000 SOUGHT IN HOSPITAL DEATH A $100,000 negligence suit against New York State involving a woman who claims her son was beaten to death while a mental patient at Buffalo State Hospital was heard in the Buffalo District Court of Claims Monday. Judge Ronald E Coleman reserved decision in the case, after attorneys for Mrs. Magdalena Frischholz, 81, of 45 Weber Ave., presented testimony charging that Howard Heusinger, her son by an earlier marriage, was murdered by another inmate Aug 28, 1964. The claim against the state alleges negligence on the part of hospital authorities for allowing Heusinger to be placed near the other patient, and "permitting" him to be "assauted, beaten and murderer." Patient Escaped Hospital authorities reported Monday that the patient with Heusinger at the time of his death, escaped from the hospital Nov. 11, 1966. They said his records showed no cases of assaul...

As published in the New York Times: BAILEY CLUE ENDS IN DEATH Buffalo Woman, Who Confessed Murder, a Poison Victim.  Special to The New York Times FREEPORT, L.I., - Aug. 24 -  According to a verified report received here today, Mr.s Helen Hanley, sometimes known as Mrs. Mary Cohen, who said in Buffalo three weeks ago that she killed Mrs. Louise Bailey in the office of Dr. Edwin Carman here on June 30, died this morning in the Buffalo State Hospital. Death was due to bichloride of mercury poisoning. The woman took the poison about the time she made her confession of murder, but said nothing of it, and cause of her illness was not discovered until some time after she had been sent to the Sate Hospital for the Insane at Niagara Falls. She was Stella Hodge, who three years ago confessed to the murder of a citizen of Warren, Penn. John M Andrews was tried twice for that crime, and was acquitted. Newton said that the woman's story was not credited generally, but it proved v...

As published in The Buffalo Courier: George Felton of Bemus Point, aged 50 years, will be examined as to his mental condition as he is acting very strangely and assulted his wife August 28 . He was murdered on October 9th, 1893. Not even 2 months later. :-(

As published in The Chicago Daily Tribune: INHUMANITY TO LUNATICS More Stories of Abuse in the New York State Asylum. Buffalo, NY, April 30 - [Special] - Interest in the grand jury's investigation of alleged abuses of patients in the State Asylum for the Insane continues. Charles Brandt, a former inmate, who told among other things of cruelty to ex-Assemblyman Frank Sipp, was approached on the steet today by a man, who, with an oath and a bike epithet, said if he didn't shut his mouth about that asylum case they'd shut it for him. One of the most interesting stories told the grand jury is that of Mrs. Ella Cummings of Fredonia, NY, who had been an innate of the asylum. Mrs. Cummings alleged form of insanity was a belief in Spiritualism, which the doctors there consider to be a form of insanity. She says that cruelties were perpetrated at the asylum and cites the case of one patient who was jumped upon by a woman attendant and her hip broken so that she is now a cripple. ...

As published in The New York Times: OBITUARY NOTICE --George T. Quinby, ex-District Attorney of Erie County, does yesterday at the Buffalo State Hospital. Mr. Quinby was born in Menden village, Monroe County,  in 1849, and was admitted to the bar in 1875. He was appointed Assistant District Attorney of Erie County in 1881, and in 1888 was elected District Attorney. This office he held until attacked by his fatal illness, in the Spring of 1894. Mr. Quinby was one of Buffalo's most noted lawyers. Gifted with rare eloquence and persuasive powers, he seldom lost a case. He was very small of stature, but his ability and popularity win him the sobriquest of "The Little Giant."

As published in The New York Times: BUFFALO ASYLUM ABUSES. COMMISSIONER ORDRONAUX RECOMMENDS THE DISCHARGE OF THE ACCUSED ATTENDANTS. Buffalo, March 2. - The State Commissioner in Lunacy has rendered the following decision in regard to alleged abuses in the Buffalo State Insane Asylum: To the Managers of the Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane: Gentleman having been requested by your board to make inquiry into the truth of certain allegations of Frank P. Churchill, late an attendant at your asylum, charging that two fellow-attendants, named Robert H Jones and J F McMichael, had, to his personal knowledge, habitually maltreated patients confused to their care, the Commissioner submits herewith the findings and conclusions to which he has arrived after a careful consideration of the same. The organic act of the Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane lodges in its Board of Managers the original power of control over all the property and concerns of the institution not otherwise provided...

As published in the Courier Express: Architect Says Stairway Was Unsafe An architect, called as an expert witness in a $30,000 negligence claim against the state of New York, testified Monday that a stairway in Buffalo State Hospital was unsafe when a 73-year-old woman fell on it May 30, 1965. The claimant, Mrs. Anne Vanderbush, 1586 Amherst St., suffered a broken right wrist which doctors testified was permanently damaged, and injuries to her right ankle and shoulder. She and her husband, Edward, brought the suit in the Court of Claims, Buffalo. The architect, Trevor Rogers, testified that the absence of a handrail in the stairwell constituted an unsafe condition. Attorney Benjamin Galperin representing the couple, brought out that the hospital has since installed a handrail. Visiting Relatives Mrs. Vanderbush was visiting a relative in the hospital when the accident occured. Veneard Neri, assistant state attorney, brought out from witness that the stairway was lighted a...

As published in the Buffalo Evening News: INVESTIGATION ENDED State Hospital Patient Not Ill-Treated, Newcomb Finds There is no foundation in fact for charges that Mrs. Catherine A Hayes, a patient in the Buffalo State Hospital, was beaten by attendants and otherwise ill-treated, according to an opinion announced Wednesday by District Attorney Walter C Newcomb. The complaints were made by Henry C Hayes, 1349 Main Street, the woman's husband, and Mrs. Harriet Rossenbach, 1700 Hertel Avenue, an aunt. Mr. Newcomb interviewed Dr. John A Pritchard, superintendent of the hospital. Wednesday morning. The district attorney said he based his conclusion upon this conversation and a six-page typewritten report by Dr. I. Murray Rossman, physician in charge of the women's continued treatment service at the institution. "It appears from my investigation that the patient is subject to maniacal attacks during which she became extremely violent," Newcomb said. "The i...

As Published in the Buffalo Courier: JOHN P. QUINN THE EX-GAMBLER GOES INSANE Prisoner At The Penitentiary For Civil Offense, His Mind Clouds-Known the Country Over. John P Quinn, ex-gambler, and known throughout the length and breadth of the land as a showman and exposer of gambling methods, has been adjudge insane. He was found to be mentally unbalanced by Police Surgeon Fowler of the Erie County Penitentiary yesterday, and in the course of a few days will be sent to the Buffalo State Hospital. Quinn was sent to the Penitentiary on October 1st on an order of arrest in a civil action. Soon after his arrival he began to show symptoms of mental decline, and several days ago it was decided to subject him to an examination by Dr. Fowler. During the Pam-American Exposition Quinn conducted a show in Main Street above Chippewa, where the methods used by gamblers to trick the unwary were exposed.

As published in the Buffalo Courier: SERVICES, INTERMENT AND COFFIN, ALL FOR HALF A CENT A BODY Remarkably Low Price at Which Undertaker Eckhert Is Under Contract With the City to Bury the Pauper Dead-Investigation An Investigation if the morgue may be soon under way. The alleged traffic in dead bodies, which has been hinted at and implied in a dozen different ways ever since the arrest of Coroner Boller, will, it is said, call for a continued and through investigation. The fact that County Undertaker Eckhert has a contract to care for all the bodies at a rate of one-half cent per body, furnishing coffins and burying them also for t his insignificant sum, is believed to call for some more plausible reason than the statement that he does it because he descures a portion of the orders fro funerals of those bodies that are claimed. There is a decided movement among the members of the Board of Supervisors to prevent any traffic in cadavers. It is hoped ti abolish the abuses of the...

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 York Daily (York, PA): A BRADFORD SCANDAL. Liberation of a Sane Woman Who Had Been Confined in a Mad House. By Telegraph to the Daily. BUFFALO, NY - December 11. - Mrs. Collins, wife of a prominent Bradford man, who has been for some months confined in the Buffalo State Insane Asylum, has been released on a writ of habeas corpus, and it was stated by her counsel and friends that she has never been insane. There is a scandal in connection with the case. A short time before her arrest she was told her husband was unfaithful, and she openly accused two Bradford ladies of undue familiarity with him. She then came to Buffalo with a view to obtaining a divorce, and was soon afterward committed to the asylum. (Thank god times have changed. How fucked up is that?) Is is alleged that there was crookedness in the manner of her commitment. (It certainly looks that way)

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.