The Woman Seeking Sanctuary in the County Jail
A desperate resident turns to the law for care, highlighting the tragic lack of social support for mental health in early 20th-century Tacoma.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Yesterday a woman about 35 years of age walked into the county jail office and told Jailer Peter Stensa that she wanted to go to the insane asylum. The jailer informed her that he could not commit her but he would take her before Judge Snell and to him she could tell her story. She said that she had been confined in an asylum in British Columbia but was discharged as cured. Since that time she says she has had employment but could not hold her position because people said she was crazy. When asked what she could do, she replied: 'I can not make bread or cake, but I can sew, wash and scrub.' The woman was out of money and the Judge, after much persuasion, succeeded in getting her to take a small amount and sent her away. He explained that he had no authority to send her to an asylum.
“I can not make bread or cake, but I can sew, wash and scrub.”
This story captures the pre-social-safety-net era where 'the asylum' was often the only option for those falling through the cracks of society. Today, Tacoma still grapples with how to provide care for citizens with mental health struggles, though the site of this interaction—the county jail—remains an unfortunately common, though still inadequate, destination for those in crisis.
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