INMONROE-L Archives

From: "Randi Richardson" <>
Subject: [INMONROE] A Visit to the Poor House
Date: Thu, 8 Jan 2004 09:20:14 -0500

Bloomington (IN) Saturday Courier, Jan 6, 1894, clipping file (envelopes) in the A's, Genealogy Library, Monroe County Historical Society, Bloomington, Indiana.

IN THE PAUPER'S HOME
A Visit to the County Asylum
And the Sickening Sights to be Witnessed There

A Courier reporter took a stroll last Sunday between church hours and landed in the poor house.

That interesting structure is located just west of town, and the route to it from the city is "over the hills." Further west the county is providing better and more commodious quarters for her poor wards.

The present quarters are now occupied by about 20 unfortunates. Here may be found the slobbering idiot, the raving maniac, the paralytic, the cripple, and the representatives of second childhood. The inmates, as a general thing, have a room to themselves, but in some rooms there are as many as four beds which makes the sanitary condition bad. A foul odor permeates the building arising from the cell of an insane inmate as well as from some of the rooms whose occupants cannot leave to answer the calls of nature. An effort is made to keep the place clean, but one half the inmates are helpless or have not got sense enough to know what cleanliness is. Among the noted characters in the place is

"CRAZY MOLL."
She is a colored woman and has been an inmate since childhood. It is said that she became "crazy" on account of a criminal assault committed upon her by a negro named Murphy. That was ten or twelve years ago, and the old negro beast was sent to the penitentiary for the crime. After serving his sentence of two years he returned and died in the poor house. "Moll" is now violently insane and is confined in a cell, or strong room, all the time. From about 4 o'clock in the morning until 10 at night she may be seen, nearly all the time, down on her hands and knee beating the floor with her head. This (is) kept up continually until she sinks from pure exhaustion and rests a few hours; but between the above hours the thumping is kept up and can be heard nearly all over the house.

The only ventilation to the room is through the grated door, and the stench from the place is sickening. It is a sight repulsive to look upon to see this human being wallowing in her filth, resembling a wild animal, but not having the decency of one. When the weather is warm, a rope is tied around the poor wretch's waist, and she is taken out in the fresh air and tied to a tree. Last Sunday a piece of cake was handed her by a lady visitor, and she ate it just like a monkey would.

JOHN MARTIN
Another noted inmate is John Martin. He will be remembered as a cripple who lived with his mother on South College Avenue until five or six years ago when his mother died and, having no friends or relatives to provide for him, he was compelled to go to the poor house to spend the balance of his days. There he sits in the same old chair he used so long at home, a terrible wreck in body but not in mind, as he is bright in intellect, loves to read, and is well posted about the bible. His limbs and body are distorted into all sorts of shapes. His fingers are turned over until they nearly touch the back of his hands, and his lower limps are also badly crippled. Johnny is now about 50 years of age.

LOST HER MIND
Another sad case is an elderly lady who lost her mind from the effects of childbirth. It is said that she will sit for hours nursing a rag baby, thinking it is the little one, the innocent cause of wrecking her life and reason. Her companion all the time is a little dwarf, an idiot boy, who sits about on the floor wherever he is placed, just as if he were made of wood. He is human, but still a mere thing, an automaton that only moves when manipulated by his keeper.

In looking about among the other inmates, we find an aged, paralyzed negro named Snowden patiently waiting for the time for his carcass to be carted away to the Potter's field a few yards beyond. There are two men who are idiots and scarcely able to walk. They go staggering about the place, wandering aimlessly in any direction. Then there are two very old men who drag themselves about on crutches. They, too, are waiting for the time when their feeble bodies shall rest in pine boxes and the dead wagon shall give them their last ride on this earth. In some of the rooms may be seen old women neatly attired in caps and gowns and surrounded by some trinkets or furniture that were brought with them to their last home, and the relics of better and happier days when, surrounded by husbands and children, they little dreamt that old age would point out to them the path that leads "Over the Hills to the poor house."

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• [INMONROE] A Visit to the Poor House by "Randi Richardson" <>