Inside Oregon State Hospital:: A History of Tragedy and Triumph
336
Inside Oregon State Hospital:: A History of Tragedy and Triumph
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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781626190405 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Arcadia Publishing SC |
| Publication date: | 05/21/2013 |
| Series: | Landmarks |
| Pages: | 336 |
| Sales rank: | 1,113,335 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d) |
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Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
THE CASE OF CHARITY LAMB
Charity Lamb was thirty-three years old in 1854, married, and the mother of six children: a daughter and five sons. She had given birth to her fourth son in a wagon while on the Oregon Trail in 1852 and now, with her fifth son in her arms, lived in a rustic, dirt-floored cabin. The family's donation land claim was twenty miles east of Portland, just a few miles south of the Multnomah County line, between the Clackamas County towns of Damascus and Barton. She was described as a small woman, work-worn, emaciated, and poor, even by frontier standards. Her clothing was thin, scanty, torn, and dirty. No one who knew her would ever guess she was about to become historically significant or that readers would care about her 158 years later. She had one important character trait — a stubborn determination to protect her children. She had given birth to six children and in a heroic effort had managed to keep all six children alive and healthy. Faced with the threat of losing them and possibly her life, she fought back.
On Saturday, May 13, 1854, she walked up behind her husband, her abuser and the man threatening to take her children away from her, while he ate dinner. With her arms held high she brought the ax down on his head. Nathaniel Lamb had a hard head, and although the ax bounced once, it did the job well enough. He died seven days later. Charity was convicted of second-degree murder in September 1854. Her lawyers argued that she was temporarily insane when she killed Nathaniel Lamb; however, the all- male jury rejected the idea mostly because that would have meant an acquittal and she would have gone free. Visions of abused wives wielding axes on unsuspecting husbands made them shudder. She was the eighth person incarcerated in Oregon's prison system.
Her children were fostered with various families. Her property and belongings were auctioned off to the highest bidders, and she remained at the mercy of the men around her. Witnesses described seeing her wash Warden Joseph Sloan's family laundry at the prison in Portland. While convicted prisoners seemed to "elope" or escape at will from the facility, Charity remained. Where could she have gone if she had escaped?
On December 2, 1862, by order of Oregon Governor A.C. Gibbs, she was transferred to the Oregon State Insane and Idiotic Asylum, recently established in East Portland by Dr. James Hawthorne and Dr. A.M. Loryea. Was she insane? Even if the jury wouldn't acknowledge it, by the standards of Oregon society she probably was. After all, a woman who tried to kill the father of her children, no matter what the provocation, must be crazy.
The Oregon legislature had signed a bill in September 1862 authorizing the governor to pay $20,000 to Dr. Hawthorne to care for Oregon's insane patients. Governor Gibbs was a smart man and immediately recognized this as a way to remove Charity, Oregon's only female prisoner, from public scrutiny. Now he could say with all honesty that Oregon no longer had any female prisoners. What Charity Lamb found in Oregon's first and only insane asylum was different from anything she'd experienced before in her life.
As early as August 1860, Oregonians were discussing who was responsible for the state's mentally ill. These were the community's weakest members — those least able to care for themselves. Oregon's prominent citizens recognized that the state needed to take responsibility for their care. "We are in a fever of movement. It is demanded of us by humanity, civilization, and Christianity ... Who is safe from this terrible visitation?"
Operated by Drs. Hawthorne and Loryea, the Oregon State Insane and Idiotic Asylum (also known as the Hawthorne Asylum) celebrated its inauguration on September 21, 1861, in a temporary facility on Taylor Street between First and Second Avenues in Portland. Within a year the patients were moved to a permanent location across the Willamette River in East Portland. (It wasn't until July 1891 that the cities of East Portland and Albina were consolidated with Portland proper.) The asylum occupied seventy-five acres between what are now Ninth and Twelfth Avenues and Hawthorne Avenue and Belmont Street. The asylum property included a dairy, a produce garden, and a wood lot. The street was originally called Asylum Street but quickly acquired its permanent name, Hawthorne Avenue, which eventually spread to the Hawthorne Bridge and the Hawthorne District. The new frame two-story structure located just east of Southeast Twelfth Avenue and Hawthorne Avenue was located on twelve cleared acres, had an excellent water supply, and was surrounded by a high board fence. "Large halls run through the whole length of the building in both stories, and there are three large wards for the accommodation of the first class patients who are harmless; also a set of single rooms for the more unruly and vicious inclined." There was a chapel, a reading room, and a billiard room. Prominent Portland citizens Ladd, Corbett, Stephens, and Stark (now immortalized in Portland's streets and districts) donated money and necessary items to be used at the asylum.
A bell tower topped the Greek revival building, and the bell tolled the daylight hours. As of 2008, "the bell, all that remains of the asylum, is housed at Oregon Health & Science University."
On January 7, 1863, the Oregon Sentinel of Jacksonville, Oregon, was the first newspaper in Oregon to publish the name of a person committed to the asylum. Besides noting that "he is raving constantly and is a dangerous person," the writer complained strongly about the cost ($300) of transporting the man all the way to Portland.
By 1863 an additional wing had to be added to the new asylum. Charity was one of the five women and twenty-nine men living at the asylum with diagnoses of melancholia, mania, monomania, dementia, and idiocy. From month to month the number of patients varied. A report from the asylum dated April 6, 1863, noted that there were twenty-eight state patients (one was Charity) and one private patient and that "perfect silence and well arranged discipline seems to reign throughout."
On July 25, 1863, C.H. Hall wrote about his visit to the asylum and noted Dr. Loryea lived in the asylum with his family and "studies the happiness of its inmates, and extends to them every kindness within his power. He walks and plays with them, amuses them with various games, and endeavors to keep them from brooding over their cares."
This was a new life for Charity. No longer the only woman locked in a facility designed for men, she now had the freedom to talk to other women, participate in outdoor activities, and evade the heavy labor imposed at the penitentiary. This also made it possible for her children to visit her. Visitor records no longer exist, if such records were ever made; however, the children supported her and testified at the trial about how badly their father had abused Charity, so hopefully they remained sympathetic to her condition.
By 1864 the inspecting physicians counted forty-five patients on site. One patient had been discharged as cured, one had escaped, and three more had been admitted. In 1865 a county hospital was built behind the asylum and a forty- by one-hundred-foot north wing was added to the main building. There were two additional wings and a third floor with eleven wards, including one hundred for thirty-three men and thirty-six women built in 1866. The staff included forty-nine attendants. The patients used two fenced garden promenades, one of three acres and the other of six acres. Dr. Hawthorne was listed as the resident physician, and John Kenworthy was superintendent and manager.
Dr. Hawthorne spent a year visiting asylums in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and other states. He studied the best psychiatry had to offer at that time, and when he returned to Oregon he based his treatments on the concept of "moral management," often referred to as "moral therapy." It was founded on the philosophy that it was necessary to treat the patients with kindness, consistent expectations, and exposure to a natural rural setting. Moral management believed it was important to entertain the mind with books, music, and conversation as well as exercise the body with productive work and healthful pursuits. Patients were encouraged to enjoy swings, ball playing, and other games. The asylum's wards were clean, well ventilated, and kept in excellent repair. Healthy food, air, and water helped patients physically while pleasant activities and kind treatment helped them mentally. Physical activities included walking, gardening, sewing, and outdoor games. Reading, writing, and conversation were prescribed mental activities. All was done in a regular and consistent manner so patients knew exactly what was expected of them. Laxatives in the form of Epsom salts, calomel, and cochineal seemed to relax manic patients. Physical restraints were used only as a last resort.
At some time in Charity's past she had attended school and could read and write. This was unusual for a woman of her economic and social standing. Moral therapy provided her with the opportunity to use her education, read books, and enjoy a part of life denied to her as a poor homesteader.
The men wore thick woolen jackets and pants, flannel shirts and drawers, black wool hats, heavy shoes, and woolen stockings. Cotton was substituted in the summer. Women wore calico dresses, flannel and cotton underclothing, comfortable shoes, and stockings. The patients produced all their own clothing and bed linens. The patients were fed a nutritious but simple diet.
This was in direct opposition to earlier concepts of cruelty, punishment, and imprisonment practiced by European facilities. By October 1866, a legislative team (J.C. Cartwright, R.H. Crawford, James Sterns, John Whiteaker, James G. Ngles, and F.G. Lockhart) assigned to inspect the asylum reported 160 patients and attendants living there.
In September 1867, the visiting physician, Dr. J.S. Giltner, reported there were seventy-nine male and thirty-three female patients at the asylum — nine fewer than a year earlier. Eleven had been discharged as cured, five had died, and three had escaped. One patient died from exhaustion of acute mania, three from softening of the brain, and one from epilepsy. Charity remained as part of the incurable class. Noting that the majority of the patients were from the working class, Dr. Giltner drew the conclusion that "continuous physical labor, without an adequate amount of mental labor or recreation, is one of the most frequent causes having a tendency to bring on insanity." He suggested that people do less work and more recreation to prevent insanity. He described the asylum's moral treatment as hygienic and accompanied by kindness and moderate restraint similar to other institutions. He did not offer suggestions on how poor homesteaders living in isolated parts of Oregon were supposed to manage his prescription.
A year later, Dr. Giltner noted in his next report that as of August 31, 1868, there were ninety-one patients: forty-nine incurable, thirty-one curable, and eleven doubtful. Causes of insanity were listed as self-abuse, intemperance, domestic trouble, financial problems, and religious excitement. Heredity was also listed as an underlying cause. No mention is made of how Charity was classified. As a convicted felon, Dr. Hawthorne and Dr. Loryea made no mention that she was treated any differently than other patients.
Dr. Giltner described the hospital as follows:
In the summer of 1866, several acres of ground shaded by a beautiful fir grove, were enclosed with a high board fence, and well provided with swings and various other fixtures for gymnastic exercise, for the benefit and amusement of the inmates; also, games of ball, draughts, and quoits were introduced, all of which is calculated to divert their attention and produce a soothing effect on the mind.
The following named articles constitute the diet: Meats: Beef, pork, mutton, and salmon, both fresh and salted. Vegetables — Potatoes, cabbage, turnips, onions, tomatoes, parsnips, lettuce, beets, beans, peas, etc. Drink — Coffee and tea. Fruit — of various kinds in season; and dried when out of season. Bread of the best quality is supplied in abundance. Sugar and molasses are furnished at all the meals.
The dining rooms, kitchen and bake house are well supplied with all the necessary fixtures, and the most improved utensils are provided, all of which are kept neatly and in proper order.
The dispensary connected with the place is always supplied with a good stock of standard drugs and is always kept in excellent condition.
Sewing and knitting and ironing are the employment of the females. They manufacture the greater part of the clothing worn by the males, and all that is worn by themselves; affording them light employment, and relieving the monotony of their confinement. A limited number of the convalescent males are employed at different kinds of out-door work on the farm and in the gardens. It would be a great advantage if more were so employed, as it would hasten their restoration; but the limited number of attendants will not admit of it. The clothing worn by the males is of Oregon manufacture, of good quality; and that of the females is calicoes and all are constantly kept neat and clean.
The supply of water comes from an excellent spring, which is thrown into a large reservoir. The reservoir is on a high tower, built expressly for this purpose, with hose attached of sufficient length to discharge water on any part of the building.
On October 16, 1868, the Oregonian reported the first rumbling of discontent with the asylum. An anonymous writer, "Justice," maintained that patients slept on "straw beds, under gray blankets and have not sheets, neither are they furnished butter or delicacies." He accused Dr. Loryea of setting up a whiskey shop and cigar stand in Salem to persuade legislators to vote seven dollars a week per patient for a new contract until Hawthorne arrived in Salem and sent him away. Soothing ruffled feathers, Dr. Hawthorne negotiated successfully for a new two- year contract.
The only punishment allowed in the asylum was isolation in solitary confinement and the use of straitjackets to prevent patients from injuring themselves. Charity was never violent (other than using the ax on her husband in her own defense), and it's doubtful she ever experienced restraints. In 1868 a patient killed two other patients, triggering an investigation. However, the asylum was subsequently absolved of all responsibility.
Various visitors wrote positive reports about their observations at the asylum, and officials appointed by the legislature praised the treatment and care of the patients. As of September 1870, there were 111 patients at the asylum. In the previous two years, 14 men and 3 women had died — 6 from pulmonary consumption, 3 from brain disease, 1 from epilepsy, 3 from puerile debility, 1 from acute mania, 2 from chronic mania, and 2 from strokes. The report also noted that Dorothea Dix (1802–1887), a famous advocate for humanely operated insane asylums, had visited the asylum twice and recommended Dr. Hawthorne continue to care for the insane, as she believed the state wasn't prepared to care for them as well as the Hawthorne Asylum could. Dix supported the belief of moral therapy developed in France and England. Through her work and political influence, she steered mental healthcare in the United States toward a more compassionate and humane philosophy.
The 1870 Oregon Federal Census for East Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon, showed 11 attendants (9 men and 2 women) and 2 children living at the asylum. They cared for 128 identified inmates: 33 women ages fifteen to sixty-eight and 95 men ages six to sixty. The average age was thirty-eight. Charity was listed as being forty-eight years old. She had now been institutionalized for sixteen years.
Abigail Scott Duniway visited the asylum in 1871 and published her findings in The New Northwest. She described the patients as fond of their gentlemanly physician, Dr. Hawthorne. One elderly gentleman told her, "We have a very comfortable home here, madam; I had no idea that the accommodations were so good." Another elderly woman concentrated on working colorful rags into floor mats. Duniway marveled at an elderly African American woman, Polly Holmes, age sixty-eight, a mother of twenty-three children and "a hideous monster of mein [sic] sufficient to convert Darwin himself to a life long adherence to his own theories. Twenty-three children! To nurse through measles, whooping cough, mumps, scarlet fever, rash, teething, weaning, jaundice and dysentery! No wonder she's insane." Duniway noted that at that time there was no female physician attending patients in the asylum. She did not mention meeting Charity; however, in such a small facility it would be highly unusual if she didn't.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Inside Oregon State Hospital"
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Copyright © 2013 Diane L. Goeres-Gardner.
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Table of Contents
Foreword John Terry 9
Acknowledgements 13
Introduction 15
Superintendents 19
Oregon State Hospital Timeline 21
1 The Case of Charity Lamb 27
2 The Case of Malinda Applegate 39
3 The Calbreath Years 71
4 Three Decades of Superintendent Steiner 95
5 The Case of James R. Robblet 129
6 The Triumph of Dr. Bethenia Owens-Adair 149
7 The Tragedy of George Nosen 172
8 The Case of Reverend David C. Snider 181
9 The Case for Lobotomy 199
10 In and Out of the Cuckoo's Nest 208
11 The Case of "Tunnel Therapy" 229
12 A Hospital Not a Prison 238
13 Financial and Forensic Failures 264
14 Finding the Cremains and Earning a Pulitzer 292
15 A New Beginning 303
Epilogue 319
Appendix I Official Statistics for OSH, 1884-1956 321
Appendix II Population Statistics at OSH, 1900-1959 323
Index 325
About the Author 335