Two Lives Declared Insane in a Walla Walla Courtroom
Mary Calloway feared everyone meant to harm her; Alexander Clancey believed hundreds of soldiers were hunting him. Both were committed in superior court.
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.
Mrs. Mary Calloway, aged 25 years, a resident of Krupp, Washington, was adjudged insane this morning in the superior court. She imagines that everyone is trying to injure her and has a habit of wandering away from home. At times she becomes very violent and several times has attempted to injure the members of her family.
Alexander Clancey, who says that there are hundreds of soldiers after him with guns and that they have attempted to kill him, was also adjudged insane. He is a single man, 31 years of age.
“He says that there are hundreds of soldiers after him with guns and that they have attempted to kill him.”
In 1903, a judge could commit someone to an asylum on medical and family testimony, with few procedural protections. The brief item preserves two distressed lives at the moment the state took custody of them—a reminder that involuntary commitment still balances safety, stigma, and civil liberty.
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