The Parade Ground Is Now a Ward: A Visitor Walks the Territory's Asylum
Where the 4th Infantry once drilled to fife and drum, a correspondent finds sagging fences, two overworked keepers to a men's ward, and a lone matron holding the women's department — all on an appropriation he calls 'a shame to our people.'
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.
—A day in the [Hospital].—The institution presents, with its weather-worn fences and dilapidated houses, a sad contrast to the trim and brilliant garb it wore when last I crossed its parade ground, in 1868, when the gallant 4th Infantry was stationed there, with Col. Casey as commander.
Then a fearful din of drum and horn, The walls woke with the fife and horn, And heavy clash of cymbal.
Now it looks dreary enough, I assure you. The institution has just passed into the hands of the Trustees of the Hospital, appointed under the Act of 1875, and has been taken charge of by Dr. Sparling, late of the U. S. Army, who seems to be making every effort to renovate and in some measure restore the ancient beauty of the place, although not much can be done with the limited appropriation made for that purpose. While there I visited the several wards and viewed the patients. There are two wards for the men, each presided over by two keepers, which to me seems inadequate, considering the violent mania occasionally exhibited by some of the unfortunates. The women's department is in charge of a very intelligent matron, who has (alone, for the most part) to manage and control its inmates, who—in pity be it spoken—are not always disposed to be peaceable. There is room in the women's building for two wards, and certainly there should be two, and the matron should have an assistant, in my humble judgment; but, alas for the rarity of Christian charity under the sun, the appropriation for that purpose will not be large enough.
It does seem to me that the economy which in any manner denies any alleviation or comfort to individuals devoid of reason is, say the least, a false economy, and a shame to our people. The Territorial Legislature, at the last session, made an earnest endeavor to form a system for its government, and we may hope that the work so fairly begun will be carried through.
“It does seem to me that the economy which in any manner denies any alleviation or comfort to individuals devoid of reason is, say the least, a false economy, and a shame to our people.”
Washington's state psychiatric hospitals — Western State, which grew out of this very post at Fort Steilacoom, and Eastern State — are still fighting over staffing ratios and legislative appropriations today. The 1876 correspondent's complaint is startlingly current: too few attendants, too few beds, and a budget written by people who would rather not think about the people inside.
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