charities

Southern Indiana Hospital for the Insane, Evansville

Indiana
Prisons
and
Hospitals
For
The
Insane

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School for the Feeble-Minded Youth, fort Wayne

CHARITIES AND CORRECTION

Nothing further was done by the State in the line of establishing penal or charitable institutions until 1859, when, on account of the growth of the Southern prison, or rather the increase of criminals convicted, and the complaints of the people of the North end of the State of the expense of conveying them to Jeffersonville, a law was passed for the establishment of a prison "north of the National Road." The Directors located it originally at Fort Wayne, but Gov. Willard would not approve this location. Its location at Michigan City was made on March 1, 1860, and, in pursuance of the original law, a detachment of convicts was sent from Jeflfersonville to aid in its construction. These arrived at Michigan City on April 5, and the work was begun. The institution was made a receiving prison by act of June 1, 1861, for all males sentenced to state prison from counties north of the National Road. It was continued on that basis until 1897, when a law was adopted for a new basis of division, using the Jeflfersonville institution as a Reformatory for yotmger men, while men sentenced to death, or to life imprisonment, together with men over thirty years of age convicted of felony, were required to be imprisoned at Michigan City. In 1909 a law was passed for the establishment of the Indiana Hospital for Insane Criminals, which was completed in 1911, in an inclosure adjoining the State Prison, and is under the same management. A defendant in a criminal case may be sent to this institution by the court, if adjudged to be insane; and insane criminals may be transferred to it from the Reformatory, or from the Hospitals for the Insane. If a criminal under sentence is cured of insanity at this hospital, he is returned to complete his sentence.

No other State institutions were established until after the Civil war, and there was a very comfortable feeling in the State that it was in the van of progress in charitable management, and so it was, though medical science had not arrived at its present development. The Insane Hospital was opened under R. J. Patterson, as Medical Superintendent. He had been Senior Assistant Physician at the Ohio Lunatic Asylum, and was a very good physician, as was also his successor, Dr. James S. Athon; but it will probably cause the alienist of today to smile, to note among the "causes of insanity" of the patients, "Blowing a fife all night," in 1848; and "Husband in California," and "Use of Thompsonian medicines," in 1852. The afflicted from "Husbands in California" increased to three in 1853, which ought to be a solemn warning to husbands contemplating trips to that state. ' There may be a suggestion of the influence of "schools of medicine" in the fact that the man deranged by use of Thompsonian medicines never recovered—his case was hopeless. But there was not the same complacency as to the penal system that there was as to the State charities. Governor Whitcomb established a record as a reformer by his discussion of penal affairs in his message of December 2, 1845, as follows: "The policy of confinement in county jails, as a punishment for crime, may, in most cases, well be questioned. It is not only a serious burden to the counties, but it is believed to be incompatible with reformation, which is the leading purpose of criminal punishment. The attainment of this object may be hoped for by the penitentiary system, when made to combine imprisonment with hard labor, and a suitable moral discipline* But this system, under our present laws only operates upon the higher classes of offenders, and has no bearing upon prisoners in the county jails. Yet there is far more hope of reclaiming the latter by this system than the former, who, generally speaking, are more practiced iu crime. As a remedy for this evil, the application of penitentiary 'discipline upon those guilty of minor offences, as well as upon juvenile and female offenders, by means of Houses of Correction, is respectfully recommended. They should be established with aft eye to the comfort and separate employment of the inmates, and to the exercise of a kindly, but firm and steady discipline. By this means vicious associations would be prevented, and habits of industry formed. For all who are the children, of misfortune, rather than of crime and of such are most of those who have committed only their first offence) such a retreat would be, not only in name, but in fact, houses of reifuge.

"A. principal obstacle to the permanent reformation of the penitential convict is, that having lost his.self-fespect, and despairing of ever regaining the good opinion of the community, he feels at his release that his character is gone and that he has nothing worth living for but'the mere support of his animal existences To obviate this difficulty as far as possible, I established a rule that, on a written report from the clerk of the prlsoh that a convict had faithfully complied with the rules of the prison, and by his exemplary conduct had given evidence of reformation, he should be restored to the rights of citizenship—to the same platform whence he had descended, by a pardon, bearing on its face the cause of its being granted. Four convicts have already availed themselves of this privilege siijce last February when the rule was first established, and I am informed by the clerk that more had entitled themselves to, and would gladly have availed themselves of this favor, but for the fact that they would thereby lose the small sum of money which, under an existing law, is paid to every convict at the end of the time for which he is sentenced, as a necessary means of support, until he can get into reputable employment. I recommend that the same law be made to apply to all cases where the prisoner is released by pardon, within a given time before the expiration of his sentence, and expressly on the ground of good conduct."

Indiana School For the Blind Indianapolis

The legislature did nothing on these lines—not even extending to pardoned prisoners the release payment of $3 provided by the act of February 17, 1838. In his message of December 7, 1846, Governor Whitcomb again urged "the policy of establishing houses of Refuge for the moral discipline of juvenile and female offenders, instead of the present barbarous, unhealthy and expensive mode of punishment by imprisonment in the county jails." In 1847, he again urged "the policy of establishing houses of Refuge, in districts embracing a sufficient number of counties for the purpose, for the' punishment and moral discipline of female and juvenile delinquents; where they will be beyond the contagion of confirmed vice and hoary crime." In 1850, Governor Wright went still farther, saying: "Each county should be prepared with buildings for the reception of juvenile offenders, so constructed and furnished as to provide for the regular occupation of all the inmates. It is idle to talk of reforming the young man, who, for his first offence, has been convicted for stealing property of the value of five dollars, and sentenced to two years' imprisonment in the State Prison, thus placing him by the side of the murderer. We must place the young and juvenile offender where his associations and intercourse are with those who will exercise an influence for good and not with the old and hardened in crime. Our county prisons should be converted into workshops into houses of industry wearing the appearance of decency and order. Active employment should be required of all its occupants; for idleness itself often proves to be the school of vice. In this way we may not only reform the prisoners, but we should compel them to contribute to their own support, and to pay, by the sweat of the brow, the penalty of the violated law, and cost of conviction, thus directly relieving the counties from a heavy burden which they now pay to sustain those imprisoned." In this message, Governor Wright also informed the legislature that he had purchased "two hundred volumes of Religious, Historical, Agricultural and Biographical works," for the use of the convicts at Jeffersonville, the selection having been made by Dorothea Dix, at his request. He expressed his pleasure that "a large portion of the convicts read with interest this excellent selection"; which constituted the first institutional library in Indiana.

    It was very natural that with this kind of admonition, the Constitutional Convention of 1851 provided: "The General Assembly shall provide Houses of Refuge for the correction and reformation of juvenile offenders." In his message of December 2, 1851, Governor Wright again called attention to "the policy of establishing Houses of Refuge and Work Shops in counties or districts, for the punishment and reformation of juvenile offenders. This duty is now positively enjoined upon you by the Constitution. But nothing was done; nor was there any action on his repeated recommendation to the same effect in 1853. In his message of January 4, 1855, he said: "The Constitution that you have sworn to support, declares that the General Assembly shall provide Houses of Refuge, for the correction and reformation of juvenile offenders ' Of two hundred and sixty-seven men in the State Prison, thirty-six are under twenty years of age; and more than one-half of the whole number are under twenty-five years of age. The youth of sixteen is found by the side of the old offender, and deprived of all associates other than those who are hardened in crime. All prisoners convicted of the first offence, and all youthful convicts, should be placed in situations where they would receive the kind advice of parents, guardians or friends. By adopting this policy, our prisons will soon become houses of reformation, as well as places of punishment." This appeal finally brought action; and by act of March 3, 1855, the Governor, Treasurer of State and Superintendent of Public Instruction, were authorized to purchase not less than 50, nor more than 100, acres of land for a State House of Refuge; and to prepare plans for a building to cost not more than $35,000; and further to prepare a system of management, in form of a law which would make the institution "not simply a place of correction, but a reform school, where the young convict, separated from vicious associates, may by careful physical, intellectual, and moral training, be reformed and restored to the community, with purposes and character fitting him for a good citizen, an honorable and honest man. But in 1857, Governor Wright reported that the commission could not obey their instructions under the "restrictions and limitations of the act," and so had done nothing; he also suggested three houses of refuge, and this suggestion met no response.

    The situation came to Governor Willard with the law of 1855 in force, and no action taken. In April, 1860, he, with the State officers named, purchased of Gen. James P. Drake 100 acres of land about four miles west of Indianapolis, for the proposed institution. Governor Willard died in October, 1860, and at the opening of the session of 1861, Governor Hammond reported the purchase, and said: "The importance of such an institution cannot be overestimated, and it has had the frequent recommendations of my predecessors. In view of the fact that the penitentiary to a young mind is a perfect school for vice; that mere boys are sentenced there in order to avoid an expense to the county for their maintenance in the county jail; and that by contact with old offenders, they come out at the end of their term as vicious as their instructors, I can hardly conceive a want more seriously felt than this.

    The establishment of a House of Refuge upon the ground selected and purchased for that purpose, is imperatively demanded demanded alike by good morals and sound policy and I recommend that prompt and adequate action be taken by you in the matter." But no action was taken; and in 1865, in his message of November 14, to the Special Session, Governor Morton called attention to the fact that since the purchase, "nothing further has been done to carry into execution the provisions of the Constitution on this subject." He said: "Institutions of this description have ceased to be an experiment, numbers of them having been established in other States of the Union, with the most beneficial results. I most earnestly recommend that immediate steps be taken for carrying into execution, with the least possible-delay, this requirement of the Constitution.M Again no action was taken; and in his message of January 11, 1867, Governor Morton brought up the subject once more, but with a new feature. He said: "We have no punishment now for the juvenile offender but the common jail and the penitentiary, neither of which exert a reformatory influence upon the youthful mind; and during my six years' experience as the Executive of the State, I have often been constrained to pardon the youthful criminal because I felt that to incarcerate him in the penitentiary would be to consign him to a life of degradation and crime. Humanity, justice, and the plainest principles of public policy, demand that the juvenile offender shall not be treated like the mature and hardened criminal, and placed in the society of felons; but that an effort shall be made while he is yet in tender years, to reclaim him from vice and train him to a life of usefulness and respectability. The 'House of Refuge' as it has long existed in many of the older States, is a vast improvement upon the jail and the penitentiary; but within the last few years great progress has been made in elevating the system, and results have been obtained in the reform and education of juvenile offenders that are truly wonderful. The introduction of the 'Reform School' is, in many respects, a great improvement upon the old House of Refuge, and has been attended with a success which it would be hard to believe, were it not attested by indubitable evidence. Barnabas C. Hobbs and Charles F. Coffin, distinguished members of the Society of Friends, have bestowed much attention and labor upon the subject, and have addressed to me valuable communications, which I herewith lay before you, together with reports and documents setting forth the character and operations of the Reform Schools of New York, Ohio and Illinois."

    This reinforcement of the forces of reform is of special historic interest. Prof. Harlow Lindley says: "While Friends have been very active in prison reform since the days of George Fox, who had occasion to recognize the need of prison reform, no organization of Friends has officially undertaken the work except in Indiana. The first committee was appointed in 1867, and it is no exaggeration to affirm that their action was largely responsible for the establishment of the Boys' Reform School in 1869, of the Woman's Prison in 1873 (three of whose four superintendents have been Friends), and of the Indiana Board of State Charities."29 No doubt Friends Hobbs and Coffin had influence in getting action, but not enough to control the name of the institution, which was established as a "House of Refuge."80 The Governor was directed to appoint three commissioners, who were to select and purchase a site, and erect a building, for which purposes $50,000 and the proceeds of the sale of the 100 acres purchased in 1860 were appropriated. The Commissioners appointed were Charles F. Coffin, A. C. Downey, and Joseph Orr; and they acted so promptly that on January 1, 1868, Governor Baker proclaimed the institution open for inmates. It started off with Francis B. Ainsworth and wife as superintendent and matron, and the need for it was shown by 112 boys being received the first year. It has had a notable .career, making perhaps its greatest advances under Thomas Jefferson Charlton, who was Superintendent from 1880 to 1901. He was a native of Indiana, born in Switzerland County, March 17,1847. He enlisted in the Union army at 17, and. at the close of the war entered Hanover, graduating in 1870. He read law and was admitted to practice, but disliked it, and began teaching at Patriot. He was later superintendent of schools at North Vernon and at Vincennes; and then went to Plainfield, where his service was terminated by resignation, on account of health. He died at Beechhurst sanitarium, at Louisville, February 23, 1904. The institution has long been noted for progressive ideas, perhaps its most known features being its fine band and its publication, started in 1901 as the Reform School Advocate, and now known as the Indiana Boys' Advocate. The name of the institution was changed to the Indiana Boys' School in 1903.

    Contemporaneous with the establishment of the House of Refuge was that of the Soldier's and Seamen's Home. On May 15, 1865, Governor Morton issued an address advocating the establishment of a home for disabled soldiers and sailors. Two public meetings were held at Indianapolis, and at the second, on May 24, an organization was effected. Indianapolis offered the use of its City Hospital, and the Home was opened there on August 27, 1865. In the spring of 1866, the board of directors purchased the "Knightstown Springs," and the Home was removed to that institution in April. Governor Morton called the subject to the attention of the legislature in his message of November 14, 1865, but nothing was done. Another appeal, in his message of January 11, 1867, was more successful, and by act of March 11, 1867, provision was made for a home for the soldiers and sailors, and also for their widows and orphans. The Knightstown institution was taken over by the State, and occupied for these purposes until December 25, 1871, when the men's building was destroyed by fire, and they were removed to the National Military Home at Dayton, Ohio. The orphans remained sole occupants until 1879, when a law was passed for the care of feebleminded children at the same place. This continued until 1887, when the School for Feeble Minded Youth was established at Port Wayne, and they were removed. The Home was twice after destroyed by fire, on September 8, 1877, and July 21, 1886, but was promptly rebuilt. No further provision was made by the State for the soldiers and sailors until 1895, when the legislature established the Indiana State Soldiers' Home at Lafayette. The feeble-minded children at Knightstown were removed in 1887 to temporary quarters at the Eastern Hospital for the Insane at Richmond, and remained there until the institution at Fort Wayne was opened July 8, 1890.

    At the session of 1869 a bomb was exploded that shook Indiana throughout its whole extent. In his message of January 8, 1869, Governor Baker said: "The subject of prisons and prison discipline is one of great importance, and is attracting increased attention throughout the country. It will not be many years before the State Vill require additional prison accommodations, and in anticipation of that event I desire to call attention to the propriety and necessity of providing a system of graded prisons. The man who is convicted of the first offense of which he has been guilty, especially if he be a young man, ought not to be confined with and put -under the influence and tuition of professional criminals whose entire lives have been hardened by crime. There should, when increased prison accommodations are required, l>e established an intermediate prison, between the House of Refuge and the present State Prisons, to which the more youthful and less hardened offenders should be sent, and where reformatory influences would be exerted over the prisoners to a much greater extent than is possible in our existing penitentiaries. Under such a system, and with power lodged somewhere to transfer incorrigible prisoners from the intermediate prison to the penitentiaries, and with authority also to transfer prisoners who, by their good conduct for a series of years giye evidence of reformation, from the penitentiary to the intermediate prison, we might hope more effectually to comply with that provision of the bill of rights which declares that the penal code shall be founded on the principles of reformation and not of vindictive justice. There is however, a present and pressing necessity for a separate prison for female convicts. There are now some nineteen or twenty women incarcerated in the Southern Prison, to the great detriment of sound morality as well as the good government of the institution. Moral, sanitary and disciplinary considerations concur in demanding that these women, as speedily as possible, should be removed to a prison to be provided exclusively for their sex, and to be under the government of women. Their labor is, under existing circumstances, of no value to the State, and the cells now occupied by them will soon be required for male convicts. Another want equally pressing is that of a reformatory institution for girls. It is impossible to receive girls in the House of Refuge at Plainfield without destroying its reformatory character, and converting it into a juvenile prison, I therefore urgently recommend that a separate prison for female convicts be established with the least practicable delay, and that there be connected with it on the same grounds and under the same direction and management, but in different buildings, a reformatory for girls. The number of female convicts, as compared with the other sex, is not large, so that an Institution of very moderate capacity would meet the necessities of the case, and the expense which would be occasioned by providing such an institution would be abundantly compensated by the good which would be accomplished as well as by the evil that would be avoided. I have no sympathy with those who think that crime when committed by a woman ought not to be punished; but only insist that the punishment should be adapted to the condition of the offender, and that the laws of common morality and decency ought not to be ignored in its infliction. The fact that it is so difficult to convict women of penitentiary offences, shows that the public sense of justice and propriety revolts at the idea of sending them to the State Prisons, and I know of only one other worse place to which a woman could be sent and that is to the County jail in any of the larger towns or cities of the State. I commend the subject to your careful consideration, with the expression of the hope that the result of your deliberations will show that the cause of these unfortunate women has not been presented in vain."

    Earnest as this language is, it hardly suggests what the Governor Vas holding in reserve. In the preceding winter he had summoned Charles P. Coffin and Rhoda M. Coffin, his wife, two of the Friends interested in prison work, and connected with the Committee which the Friends had appointed the year before; and asked them to make personal investigation of the two prisons and report to him. After recounting their arrival at Jeffersonville, with the Governor's official appointment and letters of introduction, and their gracious reception, Mrs. Coffin says: "We then separated, taking different portions of the prison, to talk with the prisoners. One of the prisoners said to me, ' I thank you, you are so welcome, we are all glad to hear you and your husband, you do us good, but do, for God's sake, do something for those poor women, their condition is terrible, it is perfectly awful,' and then, after being careful that he was not overheard, he told me that a number of the guards had keys to the women's prison and entered when they wished to gratify their lusts. If the women could be bought up they gave them trinkets or goods out of the government stores, if they did not yield they were reported as incorrigible and stripped and whipped in the presence of as many as wished to look on. In the court of the prison there was a large reservoir where the men prisoners were obliged to bathe once a week. On Sabbath afternoons the women prisoners were brought out and compelled to strip, and thus exposed, required to run from the opposite side the court and jump into the water the guards using, if necessary, their lashes to drive them out to the howling amusement of the guards and their friends who were permitted to be present; keeping it up as long as they pleased. There were children who had been born in the prison, their mothers having been there for several years. One baby we saw, but a few months old, the mother had been there for two years. This story was repeated by four men prisoners in different cells, who urged me to do something. When my husband and I met we compared views and each had the same story. We said nothing to anyone, except, in a private interview with the chaplain; he was loath to say anything for fear he would lose his position, but finally admitted that it was all true and much more."

    They made their report to the Governor, and after a long interview it was decided to keep the matter secret until an investigation could be made by the legislature. This was quietly arranged for by the Governor, with reputable members, and so got to work without flushing the offenders. The testimony more than confirmed Mrs. Coffin's statement, and the State stood aghast at the printed testimony. Zebulon R. Brockway was brought here from Detroit, and he and Charles P. Coffin were invited to address the legislature on the need of a separate prison for females. There was no difficulty in passing the bill for the Women's Prison and Girls' Reformatory, which had been drawn by Governor Baker himself, but it was not wholly under the management of women at the beginning. Men were too skeptical of the business ability of women for that. A commission of three men was provided to purchase grounds, erect buildings, and control the finances; but a Board of Visitors was created to manage the prison, composed of two women and one man; the first board being composed of Rhoda M. Coffin, Adaline Roache (wife of Judge A. C. Roache) and Lewis Jordan. The building was completed, and inmates received, on October 8, 1873. The Superintendent was Sarah J. Smith, a Friend, who had been Matron of the Home for the Friendless at Indianapolis, and who aided in securing the passage of the law. The law apparently contemplated this, for it provided that: "The Superintendent and all the subordinate officers of said institution shall be females; provided, however, that if a married woman shall be appointed Superintendent, or to any subordinate position, the husband of such appointee may, with the consent of the Board, reside in the institution, and may be assigned such duties or employment as the Board of Managers may prescribe." Under this, James Smith, the Superintendent's husband was made Steward of the Prison.

    This system continued until 1877, when the fight was made for ex-elusive control by women. In this the women were backed by ex-Governor Baker, Governor Thomas A. Hendricks, Senator Robert Bell, and numbers of men and women interested in reform work, and the bill was passed, with some misgivings even among those who voted for it as to the ability of women to manage such a business institution; which-was not surprising, as it was the first institution in the world to be put in charge of women. The first women's board was composed of Rhoda M. Coffin, Adaline Roache, and Eliza C. Hendricks; and the knowledge of male skepticism put them to their best efforts. They had their reward when Governor James D. Williams announced to them, on a visit to the institution, "This is the best managed institution in the State, the most economical, the best work done, and the reports are the best of any of the State institutions. I, this morning, signed an order that the reports of all the other State institutions should be made as yours are, and the books kept as yours are kept." The women have maintained a high reputation for management ever since. The institution has had one or two catastrophes, but so have the others, and it has always recovered quickly and in good shape. In 1903 the legislature provided for a separate institution for girls under 18 years of age, and in July, 1907, the girls were removed to the present Girls' School at Clermont. The quarters vacated by them were appropriated for females over 18, convicted of misdemeanors, as distinguished from felonies; their side of the prison being known as the Correctional side, and the other as the Penal side. The fame of this institution has gone abroad, and it has been the example for similar establishments elsewhere. Charles Dudley Warner says that when Matthew Arnold came to New York, the place in the West as to which he expressed greatest curiosity was Indianapolis, for which he had no reason but that "the name had always fascinated him; "but when Warner came to Indianapolis in 1886, he wrote: "The novel institution, however, that I saw at Indianapolis is a reformatory for women and girls, controlled entirely by women. The board of trustees are women, the superintendent, physician and keepers are women."32 He might have added that the only man allowed about the place is the engineer, and he comes near being "under surveillance."

    It is a long step from the penal conditions of women in Indiana from the beginnings of the State to the present. The original law for the State Prison made no distinction as to sex of convicts, but no women were sent there. With no apparent authority, they were sent to the jails. On May 27, 1826, a thrifty tax-payer called attention in the Vin-cennes Sun that the jailor charged $2.1814 per week for board of women in the jail, and credited the county only 75 cents; and asked, "Why not have separate apartments for women in the penitentiary, and set them at hard labor there?" By act of February 10, 1831, it was provided that in case of conviction of a female for a prison offense, '' it shall and may be lawful for such female, in lieu of such imprisonment in the State Prison, to be imprisoned in the jail of the proper county, at hard labour, under the direction of the jailer." The first woman recorded at the prison was Martha Zugg, who was imprisoned in 1840 for manslaughter. In 1846, she was followed by a widow named Rebecca M. Phillips, who was convicted of forgery, and always claimed that she was innocent. There were never more than two women in the prison until 1857, when the number increased to six, and Chaplain Runcie called for a matron. The first step .of improvement was in 1867, when it was provided by law that women convicts might to sentenced to imprisonment in a Home for Friendless Women, that had been established by "any city or private corporators." This was for the benefit of the Indianapolis and Richmond institutions of that name, and lasted only for the two years until the Women's Prison was established.

    After 1869, there was a lull in penal and charitable legislation until 1883, when the increasing numbers of the insane called for action. The leader in the work of securing legislation was Dr. Joseph Goodwin Rogers. He was born at Madison, November 23, 1841. His father, Joseph H. D. Rogers, was a relative of George Rogers Clark, and was one of the pioneer physicians of the State—a man of giant stature, and of high professional standing. The son was never strong, and from the age of 12 to 18 was confined to his bed by a disease of the spine, during which time he became a great reader, and this, coupled with an active mind, made him notable for his extensive and varied information and resourcefulness. He graduated in medicine at Bellevue in 1864, and served as an army surgeon to the close of the war; after which he spent two years in Europe, attending clinics and visiting hospitals. He then took up the practice of medicine, with some side lines. He made the first quantitative analysis of Orange County mineral waters, and gave the name to Pluto's Well. In 1874 he read a paper before a meeting of railroad men on Steam Boiler Incrustation, proposing its removal and prevention by the use of tannate of soda. He later invented a water purifier at Longcliff that obviated the use of tannate. In 1876 he was induced to take an appointment as assistant superintendent of the Central Hospital, and in 1879 was made superintendent. The institution was terribly overcrowded, and could not meet the demands of the State, although it had been much enlarged since its original construction. By a well-organized campaign he secured the law of 1883 for three additional Insane Hospitals. He was appointed Medical Engineer by the commission appointed to locate and construct them, and practically planned them and superintended their construction. They represented the three most advanced theories of building for such institutions, that at Logansport, known as "Longcliff," on the block or pavilion plan; that at Richmond, known as "Easthaven," on the cottage plan; and that at Evansville, known as "Woodmere," on.the radiate plan. The first opened for patients on July 1, 1888; the second on August 4, 1890, (after housing the feeble-minded from Enightstown from 1887); and the third on October 30, 1890. By 1905 the capacity of all these was outgrown and the Southeastern Hospital, at Madison, was added. It is on the cottage plan, and was opened on August 23, 1910. On September 30, 1915, there were in all 5,305 patients in these five hospitals, which is'slightly in excess of their * estimated capacity. At the same time there was 470 in county poor-houses, including 230 in the Marion County Asylum for the Incurable Insane, at Julietta, which was opened in June, 1900. There were also 46 in county jails, 95 at home or with friends, and 377 out on furloughs from the State Hospitals, making a total of 6,293 known insane in the State.

    In 1889 there came Indiana's greatest step of progress in charitable and correctional legislation, and here again one man was easily the central figure in the reform. This was Oscar C. McCulloch, a native of Ohio, born at Fremont, July 2, 1843. His father was a druggist, and he learned that profession from him. When grown he became a salesman for a Chicago wholesale drug house, but in 1867 entered Chicago Theological Seminary to fit himself for the ministry. His first pastorate was at Cheboygan, Michigan, and after seven years at that place, he was called to Plymouth Church, Indianapolis, in July, 1877. He believed in the religion of good works, and while he conducted his church on an up-to-date plan that shocked some of the old time religionists, he built it up, gained the respect and good will of everybody. On Thanksgiving evening, 1878, he attended the meeting of the Indianapolis Benevolent Society, an organization that had existed for forty-three years, and had been a source of pride and general interest in former years. He found six discouraged persons in attendance, who proposed to disband. He talked them into life, and they elected him President, in which position he was continued until his death, on December 10, 1891. Things began to move. On January 20, 1879, a record of visits and investigations was opened; in April an employment agency was started; in December the work was reorganized as The Charity Organization Society; in 1880 the Friendly Inn and woodyard was opened; in 1881 reform of abuses in the county poor-house was secured, and the Children's Aid Society, from which developed the free kindergartens, was organized; 1882 witnessed the first steps for the Flower Mission Training School for Nurses; in 1883 came the establishment of the County Workhouse; and in 1885 the establishment of the Dime Savings and Loan Association.

    In 1888 Mr. McCulloch prepared two bills of vital importance, and prepared to get them enacted, which was a more serious consideration. He had luckily fallen upon the psychological moment. As has been mentioned, the legislature of 1889 made a brilliant record for reform, and every step in that direction was a stimulant and an argument for other reforms. The organization of Friends, which has been mentioned, was with him, and was especially well represented by Timothy Nicholson, who had worked actively with their Committee since its formation in 1867. There were other active supporters, both in and out of the legislature, but practically his most valuable ally was Samuel E. Morss, editor of the Indianapolis Sentinel, for the legislature was Democratic, and some of the features of the measures trenched upon the ancient doctrines of personal liberty and local self-government. The first bill, for a board of Children's Guardians, involved taking a child away from its parents, if the court found that their custody was not for its welfare; and it is probable that it could not have been passed but for its local nature, being restricted to Center Township, Marion County, or practically to Indianapolis the country members could readily see the vice possibilities of a large city. Its beneficial effects were so obvious that it was extended to all of Marion County in 1891; to Allen, Vigo and Vanderburgh (Port Wayne, Terre Haute and Evansville) in 1893; and in 1901 to every county in the State. The essential feature of the second, and more important bill, was that it created a Board of State Charities that was practically a perpetual investigating committee a body that could sweep down on any charitable or correctional institution in the State, without notice and opportunity to cover up, could examine witnesses under oath, and compel the production of papers and persons. Every official of such institutions, whose conscience was not clear, saw the danger of such a system to him; and it was not difficult to put opposition to the bill on other grounds, and most of them had personal and political friends in the legislature. It was a fight, but a victorious one.

    The proposition was not novel in Indiana. It had been made in 1881, when the Deaf and Dumb Asylum was under legislative investigation, and there was complaint by all of the newspapers that something was wrong. It was a reform year, with prohibition and women's rights in the foreground, the News advocating the revival of the whipping-post, the Journal indorsing Representative Eenner's bill for State examiners of public accounts a prophecy of our present system and various other reform measures, not included in the constitutional amendments of that year. On February 24, the Sentinel discussing the system of penal and charitable institutions in force in Indiana, said: "In States where such institutions are very numerous it may perhaps be desirable that a body be established whose duty it shall be to carefully and justly investigate and correlate these results of immediate management, and lay before the people the condensed report of the same in such form as may be comprehensible to all interested, to the end that hidden harm may not befall the Commonwealth in their benevolent and penal relations. In short, a permanent Investigating Committee. Such bodies, in order to be efficient, should have no directory powers whatever. Suggestions from them would be eminently proper, but should be made with care and limited in effect, and they should be confined to generalities and abstract principles. In the nature of things they can not know the needs and conditions of each individual institution as well as the direct Board of Trustees, and therefore should be very careful to avoid disturbing operations and captious interference in details. And now the question of establishing a State Board of Charities for Indiana is being agitated. Two able statesmen, both Governors, have within a week recommended it to be done. Many good and true men and women devoted to the cause of benevolence think it should be done. If it must be done, let it be done well, but not too much done." The general tone of this article was against the proposal. It objected to "the plan of supervising the Supervisors, watching the watchers, of not trusting the Trustees," and said that so far as tried in Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Wisconsin and Illinois, it had been "expensive" and "not satisfactory." It proposed that the Governor be authorized to have investigations made whenever he thought proper, as a substitute. None of the papers advocated the measure. The Journal said that the labor of the blind and the deaf and dumb was being "farmed out," and that it should be stopped. The News advocated the abolition of the central board of control which then existed, and complete control of each institution by a separate board.8S And so the movement at that time vanished in thin air.

    With the establishment of the Board of State Charities, Indiana entered on a new epoch. In addition to the Governor ex officio, the first board consisted of John B. Elder, Timothy Nicholson, Oscar C. McCul-loch, Mrs. C. W. Fairbanks, Mrs. Margaret P. Peelle, and S. A. Fletcher. It was a strong board, with McCulloeh unquestionably the strongest, and a good second in Timothy Nicholson, who was continued a member by various governors until his voluntary retirement in 1908. Timothy Nicholson was born in Perquimans County, North Carolina, November 2, 1828, his parents and grandparents being prominent Friends of that State. He. was educated at Belvidere Academy and the Friends School at Providence, R. I.; served for six years as Principal of Belvidere; four years at the head of the preparatory department, and two years as General Superintendent of Hartford College; and then, in 1861, came to Richmond, Indiana, at which point he engaged with his brother John in the book and stationery business, and a book-bindery, later buying his brother's interest. This is the oldest bookstore in Indiana under one ownership and management. He was active in church work and all sorts of social and public beneficial movements. It is safe to say that no man in Indiana ever served on so many committees and boards for religious, charitable, Sunday school, library, school, and allied affairs as he has. And it is equally safe to say that no man ever did more conscientious work in these quasi-public positions than he.

    Of necessity, the success of a board of this character depends largely on its executive officer, who, on this board, is the secretary. It was fortunate at the start to secure the services of Alexander Johnson, an Englishman, born at Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, January 2, 1847. He was educated in private schools and at Owens College now Victoria University at Manchester. He came to America in 1869, and engaged in the clothing business until 1884, when he went into charitable work. He was General Secretary of the Associated Charities of Cincinnati in 1884-6, and of the Charity Organization Society of Chicago in 1886-9. He was Secretary of the Indiana Board until 1893, when he was made Superintendent of the Indiana School for Feeble Minded Youth, and continued there for ten years. Prom 1904 to 1913 he was General Secretary of the National Conference of Charities and Correction; 1913-5 Director of the Extension Department of the Training School at Vine-land, N. J., then Field Secretary of the National Commission on Provision for the Feeble Minded. The Indiana Board has had but three secretaries, and was as fortunate in the other two, both of whom are natives of Indiana, as in the first. Ernest Percy Bicknell, who succeeded Johnson, remained until 1898. He was born near Vincennes, February 23, 1862, and graduated at Indiana University in 1887, after which he engaged in newspaper work until 1893. He went from Indianapolis to Chicago as General Secretary of the Chicago Bureau of Charities, serving there until October 1, 1908, when he became National Director of the American Eed Cross—now Col. Bicknell, Commissioner for Belgium for American Red Cross. Amos W. Butler, the third secretary, was born at Brookville, October 1, 1860, and is also a graduate of Indiana University. A sketch of his life will be found elsewhere. He was well-known as a scientist before taking up this work, but in it he has shoVm a rare combination of wisdom, prudence and tact which demonstrates that, like Mr. Riley's sphinx, "He was just cut out for that." Under him has occurred the broad development of the work of the Board itself.

    From the first, the attitude of the Board to officials was sympathetic and helpful, until all right-minded officials realized that it was their friend, and not an enemy. Its work has been largely educational, demonstrating the advantage of better methods, and securing legislative relief for errors in system. It has so completely gained the confidence of the public that there is not a session of the legislature that does not adopt a dozen reform bills in which it is more or less interested; and rare indeed that one adopts anything bearing on charities and correction against its advice. Under its guidance Indiana has steadily advanced in scientific and rational administration of these functions of government—still far from perfection, but "striving to beat her music out." Among lines of advance especially noteworthy, are outdoor poor relief, care of dependent children, study of mental defectives, and the indeterminate sentence and parole systems. Among the later State advances are the Village for Epileptics, near Newcastle, established by act of March 6, 1905, and occupied two years later; the Hospital for Treatment of Tuberculosis, near Rockville, established by act of March 8, 1907, and opened April 1, 1911; and the Indiana State Farm, established in 1913, and opened April 12, 1915.

Indiana Tuberculosis Hospital, Rockville

This last is a peculiarly interesting institution in its theory of keeping prisoners without confinement or guards, and engaging them in open air employment. The prisoners are men subject to workhouse or jail imprisonment. On arriving at the institution—"a prison without walls or bars"—the prisoner is instructed in detail as to what is expected in his own conduct, and receives a full explanation of the theories that are being worked out. Most of them are then put on honor to perform the work assigned to them, without attempting to escape. These have no conditions of restraint, except the knowledge that there are at various points watchers—usually prisoners—whose duty it is to warn' the officers if a prisoner attempts to leave the farm. In a recent interview, Mr. Charles E. Talkington, the Superintendent of the Farm, said:
'' We do not say our plan is perfect, nor do we make any great claims about our ability to reform a man during the short time he is here. But we do say this is the best manner yet devised for handling them. We take a man from the gutter, and at least make it possible for him to improve. We give him health, and direction enough to get him into some employment at which he can earn his living. Although we refuse to put forth any claims about how much good we do for the man, we at least know that we do not injure him. And that is more than can be said for any jail or prison. We aren't running any school for crime here. We do know that. We also know that we can make this institution self-supporting and a means of revenue for the State. What more can you ask ? The wide-open policy of freedom, I believe, has been carried to the'extreme here. Although the great majority of men can be handled and trusted in absolute freedom, there are, in a population of 700 men, some who can never be given liberty. There is need for not more than 50 cells. Any farm colony ought to have them even if the cells are never used. Even so, we are getting along very nicely without them, and it shows to what great extent this policy can be carried successfully. We never had even punishment cells until a few days ago when four were completed. We aren't going to have to use them much, either. Confinement on bread and water is the only form of punishment permitted in this colony—no flogging, no dungeons, no ball and chain, no stripes. We have prisoners living down on the lower end of the farm working under a prisoner-foreman. We see them only when we are making the weekly round of inspection."

Perhaps the greatest reproach to Indiana is that there are still a few of her incurable insane confined in jails, although the worst possible treatment for them is confinement without occupation. It is a wonder that some admirer of Shakespeare has not claimed that he understood the needs of the deranged, and foresaw the remedy, when he made Macbeth say:

Derangement is usually, essentially, monomania of some kind, and if the mind of the patient can be diverted from this subject and fixed on something else, he is at least cheerful and contented if not advanced toward sanity. The results attained in this line at Michigan City, in the Hospital for Insane Criminals, are most extraordinary. In fact the interest of some of the patients in their work seems to indicate that their mania has simply shifted to new channels. Such a result may suggest a means of improvement of the race, for if, by some form of inoculation, we could all be made monomaniacs in the line of beneficial labor, the world would be materially bettered.

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