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Modern Persecution, or Insane Asylums Unveiled

From: Modern Persecution
Creator: Elizabeth P. W. Packard (author)
Date: 1873
Source: Available at selected libraries
Figures From This Artifact: Figure 1  Figure 2  Figure 3  Figure 4  Figure 5  Figure 6  Figure 7  Figure 8  Figure 9  Figure 10  Figure 11  Figure 12  Figure 13  Figure 14  Figure 15  Figure 16

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2251  

I have seen her strike them prostrate to the floor with great violence, then beat and kick them.

2252  

At other times I have seen Elizabeth Bonner after throwing them down, their faces to the floor, pull them back and forth by the hair, and beat the noses and faces repeatedly upon the floor.

2253  

I have seen her kneel upon their bodies and strike and pound them, till by struggling and crying, they became too weak to make resistance, then drag them to their rooms and lock them up for many hours, leaving them alone.

2254  

I have seen her do all this too, without any proof that they had been guilty of what she had accused them. And even when others had accused them, she was always more ready to believe the accuser than anything the accused could say in self-defence.

2255  

In this way, this Jury, Judge, and Executive of her own laws, went on using the powers her position as head attendant gave her under the direction and command of Dr. Andrew McFarland! "our accomplished Superintendent!"

2256  

It was not rarely and occasionally, but hourly and continu-ally, that these brutalities occurred.

2257  

There was not a single day, of the twenty days I staid there, that I did not witness scenes of this character. Sometimes it appeared that I must turn away; that I could not endure to see human beings thus abused. But the next thought was one of self-accusation for being thus tender to my own feelings.

2258  

"If these sufferers can bear to feel it, I can and will bear to see it, for if I do not see these things, I cannot testify that I did. So I will even look on."

2259  

But this resolution I confess did sometimes break down, for I was often so much shocked that I had to turn away my eyes, and many times I stuffed both my ears as full as possible, with locks of cotton to deaden the noise of demoniac shrieking of these victims when under torture.

2260  

One day I became so indignant that I summoned courage, and told Miss Bonner that if she did not stop abusing the patients in this way, I should tell Dr. McFarland of it.

2261  

"Dr. McFarland knows all about it, I don't do anything here, but what he knows it all, and he tells me to manage the patients here by my own judgment, and I intend to do as he tells me. So you can mind your own business."

2262  

But I told her then that I should talk matters over with Dr. Tenny when I could get a chance to see him, and intimated that I should give him some edifying information of how mat-ters went on. Also that in due time Mrs. Packard should be informed of these affairs.

2263  

"You shan't tell Mrs. Packard, she's a lady, and. you're a nuisance; you ain't fit to speak to her."

2264  

"But she loves me, if I am a nuisance; she gave me this chain," pointing to a beautifully-wrought white chain which I then wore upon my neck. "She gave me this to wear as a pledge of her attachment to me, and I shall wear it every day, for her sake."

2265  

Lizzy "looked daggers," at this discovery, and had it not been for the great popularity of Mrs. Packard there, I think she would have robbed me of this beautiful ornament, as I have seen her rob others of gold ornaments.

2266  

At that moment, I was wearing garments which Mrs. Packard had lent me in the Eighth ward, as my own under garments had been stolen from me, and divided among some of the employees in the asylum.

2267  

As soon as "Liz" knew I was wearing borrowed garments of Mrs. Packard, she compelled me to take them off and give them to her, to be returned to Mrs. Packard, saying that it was against the rules for one patient to borrow of another.

2268  

"I wish it was against the rules to let the servants steal the clothing from the patients."

2269  

But this I said in my own heart, not vocally.

2270  

The loss of these garments, added to the robbery of my shawl, caused me to shiver continually. In a few days, the fever and ague was so established that I became nearly prostrate.

2271  

When again I saw Dr. Tenny, I told him how I constantly shivered for the loss of my clothing. He ordered Lizzy to restore my shawl immediately, which she did; my stolen garments were not returned.

2272  

After this, Lizzy appeared to hate me with a bitterness that was truly appalling. She tried in many ways, to provoke me to ill temper, as I supposed, in order to frame some complaint against me, or to have some excuse for abusing me. But I determined she should have not even the semblance of justifi-cation for the wanton insults with which she first met, and almost uniformly ever afterwards treated me, especially while in the lowest prison ward.

2273  

I resolutely governed my temper, persevered in obeying instantly her slightest commands, and always addressed her with tones of mildness and conciliation.

2274  

She never, in the Fifth ward, used any violence with me, but assured me of her readiness to do so, in case I dared to disobey.

2275  

As she saw to her sorrow, that there was some danger of Dr. Tenny's protecting me, she was obliged to refrain from actually striking me, but calmed off occasionally some small portion of her ever-boiling fury, by shaking her fists, and annoying me with all the little petty persecutions possible.

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