Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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STATE HOSPITAL IS INVESTIGATED TIRST PUBLIC SESSION OF COM MITTEE HELD. Many Changes Regarded as Necessary Another Meeting is to be Held Thursday. The State, 28th. The legislative committee appoint ed to investigate affairs at the State Hospital for the Insane held its first public session yesterday. The meet ing did not last very long, most of the time being taken up with a formal ,statement by Dr. J. W. Babcock, the superhten7ent of the institution, who on bellali of the board of regents, set fort> exactly why this investigation was asked for and gave some interest ing facts on improvements absolutely necessary, in the opinion of the board, but not yet provided for by the gen eral assembly. Dr. Babcock and some of the members of the board of trus tees stressed the necessity for the ful lest examination by the committee in order that the puiblic might know what is needed. There was a full attendance of the legiilative committee, consisting of Senator Christensen, the chairman; Sey,-.ors Hardin and Bates and Rep rensentatives Dick, secretary; W. C. Harrison, Sawyer and Carey. All of t:he members of the board of regents were present. The meeting was held in the main building of the State Hospital for the Insane and was called to order at 10 o'clock. Senator Christensen then stated the object of the session, and Dr. Babcock outlined the various rec ommendations of the board, which are given below. Dr. W. W. Ray, for the board of directors, explained that the board had for several years asked for some of the improvements mentioned in the report of Dr. Babcock. These improvements had never been given. He thought the committee would now see the necessity for these changes. Another Meeting Today. After a short executive session the committee announced that the meet ing would be ladjourned until 10 o'clock today. In the meantime a special sub-committee will fu]rnish t&e board of regentsand Dr. Babcock with copies of charges that have been pre ierred against the management of the institution. The subcommittee eon sists of Messrs. Carey and Bates. As stated by Chairman Christensen, the investigation is along two lines-one being the plans for necessary change~s outlined by the board of regents and 'Dr. Babcock and the other on the charges against the inst'tution. Statement of Board. The statement made by'the board through D)r. Babcock yesterday out lined the following changes that are considered absolutely necessary: "1. That it has become the policy of the State to maintain in Columbia a large central colony for the insane *of both races. "2. That 'State care' is a better system than was afforded by the old method of eounty support. "3. That the separate or cottage *plan of buildings or wa'rds is better suited in our climate to the needs of the insans than are large epnglomer ate buildings. Several Classes. "4. That the separation from t.he insane (properly speaking) of such classes as the inebriates, idiots, epi ileptics, etc., who are now assneiated with them would prove advantageous .to all. "5. That the improvement of the county alms houses by having hospi 'tal wards, etc., would -relieve this in stitution from receiving so many help less dotards. "6. The establishment of a farm colony for epileptics, a school for the feeble-minded and a hospital for in ebriates should form part of the fu ture policy of the State. "7. 'That the erection of separate * wards for the violent insane is de sirable. "8. That the establishment *f a farm colony for the chronic insane is an important problem for future consideration. Tuberculosis. "9. The means for separating the tuberculosis from the non-tuberculosis is at the present time a ~question of vital importance. "10. There have recently been ob served in this asylum and otber Southern institutions cases of pella gra, a disease common in IB .y, but~ new to our co.-u'c:. The board of regents with the ce spration of the State' board of health have interest ed the United States public health and marine hospital service in this condition and it is expected that a sulrgeon from that department will soon arrive in Columbia to investi eate. There are now 21 negro women and three white men suffering from -nellagra. Institution is Overtaxed. 1. With a population of 50 per. cent. more than we have adequate ac commodations for all departments of the institution wre excessively over crowded and especially that for white men and the two colored departments and the housing of insane of negro men and women in the cellars as we are forced to do, is, to say the least, inhuman. "12. The excessive population ov ertaxes the kitchen and dining room service as well as the wards and dor mitories; for some time these condi tions have been unsatisfactory to our administration and efforts will be made to devise plans for their remedy. "13. To carry out any of these plans whicih we are enumerating will require larger appropriations than we have been receiving. It must be borne in mind that our annual per capita last year was $109, about 30 cents a day, which is less than a sher iff is usually allowed for dieting pris oners. Last year the per capita at Morganton, N. C., was $155 and at Raleigh was $165. Were we allowed the difference we could come much nearer the idea with which we would like to administer our charge. Inadequate Appropriations. ''14. Again, inadequacy of appro priation handicaps us in making ade quate payment for services rendered by many officials and employes of the institutiofi. "1.5. For the same reason ou!r med ical staff is too small to properly han dle the number of patients. The su perintendent has for several years been compelled to perform the duties f assistant physician in one of the departments, whereas he should be able to devote himself to administra tive duties. "16. The mechanical department is defective but especially in the heat ing plant. boilers, etc. ''17. An institution of this size, growing as it does year by year, should have an ice plant for the prop er handling of meats, provisions, etc. "18. Year by year our fire pro tection has been improved and b ompleting a small circuit on Barn well street, between Lumber and Richland streets. would meet the need f the institution. "19. The hospital get; its water supply from the city and has abolish d all wells, contributing to the gener l healtih of the population. Value of the Plant. "20. Through the ability of Mr. Punch a small sandhill. farm has been o developed that .it supplies the needs ot only of the large population but also maintains the dairy, herd, beef' cattle, stock, efe. "21. 'In the process of years a to tal of 360 acres has been got together nd, in our' opinion, should be 'held by the State for the future needs of its dependent classes and what is not needed for building sites today will be required for such in one or two gen erations. "22. The several buildings now in use for hospitals, wards, dormitories nd for laundry and farming purpos es represent a valuation of $600,000. "23. The entire plant of the State for insane is estimated at $1,000,000. It should be held and used for many years to come for hospital purposes, that is for the acute cases of the in sane proper. The other classes of de feties, the chronic insane, epilep tics, idiots, inebriates, etc., require se parate institutions elsewhere. "24. Since there are two compe tent lawyers on the commission it is suggestedl that it would be fitting to revise the statute laws relating to the insane.' Charges Against Asylum. Columbia. April 28.-After being in executive session most of the morn ing the, sylumn investigation commis sion this afternoon gave out for pub licat ion the charges drafted by its subommittee from the complaints fil ed with the .commission. There are no names signed t.. the charges and nothing to show who fathers them, but by resolution t'he board of regents will be <riven the names of all witnes ses subpoenaed to testify. The com rission adjourned to meet again May There are five typewritten specifi cations of charges to be investigated. Summarized tihe gravest allegations are: That inebriates, dope-fiends, dot ards sane persons, and even mere; neurotis are admitted freely in vio lation to law. authority being given by law only for the admission of in sane persons. That patients who have recovered are held for long per iods against their will. That the re gents make only cursory inspections and are subservient to Dr. Babcock ad others of his staff. That whis key and delicacies for such patients are converted by attendants to own use. That patients in- isolated wards suffer from lack of food. water and attention. That in hat'hing one water i used for many patients, some of whom are diseased. There are no charges against the inancia management. LETTEE FROM CLEMSON BY WILLIAM WELCH Former Member of Faculty Thinks Trouble Lies in Failure to Select Good President for Institution. To theEditor of the State: The article by Capt. Minus in The State of the 19th inst. and your edi torial of the 20th s1how that the trou ble at Clemson college has continued for more than 13 years and the dif ferent presidents of the college have been blamed for it. I was a member of the faculty at Clemson when it opened and am still deeply interest ed in its success. I believe I can explain the cause of tha -trouble there hut could not claim to know how best to remedy it. It is a well known fact that when any one attempts to do something which; he can not do he will appear very funny to those who can do it; and when an able man expresses an opinion about something 'he does not understand ha'will appear ridiculous to those who do understand if; but his opinion will be respected by those who know less about the subject than 'he do-es. As long as such opinions are merely expressed/ they do but lit tle 'harm but when they are acted up on they become most disastrous. One of the most familiar and important instances of this kind was at the be ginning of the Civil war when the generals on both sdes were selected. President Davis was a military man. He graduated from West Poitl. had been in the army and had been secre tarv of war. He selected Lee and Jackson and the other very a.le com manders of the Confederate army. Preident Lincoln was a most honest and sincere man of great ability as a lawyer and politician, but he knew al most nothing about military seience, and tthe only way he had of telling a good general from an incompetent one was to guess at him, place him in com mand and when he was thoroughly defeated he could know that he was incompetent. He made four bad. Zuesses in succession-McClellan, Hooker, Pope and Burnside. Grant developed himself and he got rid of Warren and pushed Sherman -and Sheridan to the.front. President Lin coln did not even know enough about military matters to know whose ad advice to take and -he listened to Hal eck. The board of trustees at Clemson college are all honest, sincere and able men but they hav'e made four ad guesses for president of the col ege, and t'hey do not seem to know nough about a,eollege to know that the presidents af the great colleges f the country would gladly advise them in the choice of a suitable pres dent and members of the faculty. Tahe rustees of Tuskegee institute, Ala ama, wrote to the president of ampton institute, Virginia, and ask d 'him to recommend some one for president of Tuskegee and he recom mended Booker T. Washington. He did not guess who to recommend. He knew and Tuskegee's .president is' most successful. Tuskegee seems to ave had a competent board of trus tees. The South Carolina legislature might do well to find out how the. Tuskegee board of trustees were se leted. If they do not fancy the col or of that most successful man they ould do no harm by investigating the board who selected. President D. B. Johnson of Winthrop. The real cause of the trouble at Clemson col lege is the method of selecting the board of trustees or it is in permitting them to select a president and mem bers of the faculty. The legislature seems to have been able to select: most excellent judges inder normal onditions and it could not do worse than the board of trustees of Clemson ollege in the choice of a president there. The president of a college need not be a man of grekat learning. He should be a man of fine sense who is well informed about the management f t'he best college of 'the country. The faculty should all be graduates f the best institutions of the country and should be selected by the presi ents of -those institutions. A profes sor need not be a man of great ablit t but he should be a man of great learn ing in his own subject and -should bec a rood teaeher. These facts are -o ovious~ as to seem simple ont iv boad of trustees of Clemson coe..re have a-ted as though they never 'e urred to them. Williams Welch. Offee Chief Signal Offier. Washington, D. C., April 24, 19O9. MISTRIAL IN ASHLEY CASE. Jury is Dismissed After Deliberating For Forty Hours. Greenville. April 26.--"We are ading now just where we did about an 'hour after we went to the jury room." was the message which the jrv in the trial of Joshua Ashley for peonage brought to Judge Brawley. of the United States court, this morning .he rt ceonen at -10 o'clock. Sie Sainrday ifierniin at 5 o clock the juiry had deliberated over the tes tim()ny offered and, at times, the ar gurments in jury room was exciting. For forty hours the twelve men de liberated, and when the last ballot was taken the jury stood four for ac quittal and eight for conviction. All Saturday night. all through Sunday and Sunday night the members of the ju.ry were confined in their room at the Mansion House. On Sunday night they became very restless, and the men were asking to be released. Judge Brawley told them that if they found a verdict at any time on Sat urday night. he would receive a seal ed verdict from them on Sunday, and dismiss them, but w'hen it was learn ed that there were no prospects of a verdict on Sunday, the judge left them to th;mselves, and when the court convened this morning called for their verdict. They reported that they were unable to agree, and were promptly dismissed. The jury look ed worn out, and the men seemed glad to be free. The strain of the trial had told on them. The failure of the jury to find a verdict came as no surprise to mem bers of tre local bar after the jmny had stayed out for so long. It was looked for, and the large crowd in the court house this morning when court convened. seemed to be satis fied with the work of the jury. Very few opinions were exprssed on the streets that Ashley should have come clear. The general consensus of op inion was that the government Lad made a strong case against him Ashley stood around the eonrt house for a short while after the ver dict was rendered, but would not talk much concernin!g the case. He was looking for a mistrial after Satirday night. The case has been one of the ha -d est fought that has ever come beforc the local bar. and the court room has been well filled at e9eh session of court. The taking of testimony last ed three days, and for one entire morning Ashley himself was on the stand testifying under the examina tion of the lawyers, at some length concerning his business and how the trouble had arisen. Pointers for Housewives. To prevent your hands getting red, rough and wrinkled from washing the :ishes and clothes, the floors or wood work, sprinkle a little Lavadura in the water. Not only does it benefit the hands, the wate'r has double-athe leansing power and deans everything far quicker and better. Put some Lavadura in the tub and the woolen and flannel clothes will ot shrink, but come out of the wash fesh, sweet and soft-just like new. t also prevents colors fading-rath er brightens them.. A bath is far more enjoyably re freshing and beneficial in water whieh has been softened with Lava ura. It removes all odors caused by erspiration and ''sweetens'' the skin raking it soft and smooth instead of irritated and smarting as so often follows when a bath is taken in ordi ary hard water. In tihe dairy, Lavadura is unequal ed for washing milk bottles, can, pans, et., removing all odors and hygieni clly cleansing all utensils. WHISKEY Habits cured at my Sanatorium- in a few weeks. You can return to your home in 30 days well, free and happy. I have made these habits a specialty for 25 years adcued thans. FREE Address DR. B. N. WOOLLEY, 102 N. Pryor Street. Atlanta. Ga. NEWBXRRY U1HION STATION. Arrival and Departure of Passenger Trains--Effective 12.01 A. M. Sunday, June 7th, 1908. Southern Railway: No. 15 for Greenville .. . .8.57a.m. No. 18. for Columbia .. . .1.40 p.m. No. .11 for Greenville .. ....20 p.m. No. 16 for Columbia .... .8.47 p.m. C., N. & L. R "No. 22 for Columbia .. . .8.47 a.m \'o. 52 for Greenville .. 12.56 p.m No. as for Columnia .. . .3.20 p.m No. 21 for Lauren~s . . . .7.25 p.m * Does not run on Sunday TFhis timne ta'io 2'w.; the finna. at which trains may be expected to de art from this station, but their de-. parture is not guaranteed and the .ime shown is subject to change with ut notice. G. L. Rchinson. Station Master. 'NOTICE TO SCHOOL BOYS. All school boys who have agreed to plant 1-2 acre in corn or cotton will* call at my office on Saturday, April 24th, and get the seed. J. S. WHEELER, Co. Supt. Education. -0- '09-2t. *IFI1 a 0 I Good * YOU WL 8 'PHON E *3....... Ci[EAP RATES TO AUGUSTA, GA. or the Musical Festival, April 26-27. For the above occasion the South n Railway will sell round trip Ex rsion tickets on April 25th and th good returning April 29th, at ry low rates. The Augusta Musieal Festival will ecomposed of many notable attrac ons such, as Mine. Emma Eames, rima Donna Assoluta, Walter Dam oseh and the New York Symphony rehstra of fifty people, renowned oloists, Mm?. Rider-Kelsey, Mr. eed Miller, Miss Neva Vander Veer, Mr. Gustav Holmnquist and a chorus ftwo hundred voices. For information -apply to ticket ents, or W. E. McGee, T. P.A., Augusta, Ga. J. L. Meek, A. G. P. A., Atlanta, Ga. BLUE RIDGE SCHEDULES. - Eastbound. No. z8, leaves Anderson at 6.30 a. i., for connection at Belton witn outhern for Greenville. No. 12, from Walhalla, leaves An derson at 10.15 a. in.. for connection t Belton with Southern Railway for oupbia and Greenville. No. 20, leaves Anderson at 2.20 p.i., for connections at Belton with outhern Railway for Greenville. No. 8, daily except Sunday, froyr Thalla arrives Anderson 6.24 p. i., with connections at Seneca with outhern Railway from points south. No. 10, from Walh'alla, leaves An lerson at 4.57 p. in. for connections t Belton with Southern Railway for Greenville and Columbia. Westbound. No. 17, arrives at Anderson at 7.50 m.i., from Belton with connections rom Greenville. Nc. 9, arrives at Anderson at -!2.24 .m., from Belton with connections rom Greenville and Columbia. Goes o Walalla.. No. 19, arrives at Anderson at 3.40 .,. from Belton with conneetons from Greenville. No. 11, arrives at Anderson at 629 p. in., from Belton with con ections from Greenville and Colum ba. Goes to Walhalla. No. 7, daily except Sunday, leaves Anderson at 9.20 a. in., for Walhalla, vith connections at Seneca for local pints so'uth. Nos. 17, 18, 19, and 20 are mixed bains between Anderson and Beiton. Nos. 7 and 8 are local freight tains, carrying passengers, between Anderson and Walhalla and between r aana na A.ndersons~ T'S 0 9 to Eat U WANT2 2 BESTj FIND IT AT IROOERY I. NO. 212+ The NEW SUINNo.2 IP RICE $40.00 SThis Writing Machine is Good Enoughfor Anybody. INVESTIGATE IT 6. 1L ROBINSON, Agent, FREE TRIP t&'eke PACIFIC CJOAST AkE YOU oNE wASW?dcrox of tle manytle anda who want t. OREGON explore tis BWon-' derland???? ~SUNSBT MAGAZINB O has instituted a Dew *1 department, whose special work it-s to put witluin th.g reach1 o# every one an opportunity to ee the FAR WEST., Write for Sample Copy..::.::.::.::.::.: 'F.r full particulars address Sunset Travel Club 16 Iflood Soliding, San Francisco, Ca. ANIUAL MEETING STOOKHOLD EERS. The annual meeting of the' stock holders of The Newberry Cotton Mills will be held in the rooms o The Chamber of Commerce at New berry, S. C., Wednesday, May 5th, 1909, at eleven e'lock.l\ o e ,S c