HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Herald, 1908-01-31, Page 2A HOUSE
OF HORROR
1 unfortunates who are the inmates."
"What, if anything, have you done to
improve matters V'
"1 have added to the nurses and at-
tendants, got an extra physician, int-
* proved and enlarged the laundry, in
augurated a new system of reports
SICKENING SCENES IN INSTITU- whereby the responsibility for accidents alas a Chicago Career—Lovemaking for
1 ION FOR FEEBLE-MINDED. to the .inmates 0001(1 be quickly anal
Revenue Reduced to Science Accord
easily fixed, .and put in new cement d
Long List of Accidents—Committee walks sifil new fire eeieapes. 1 made it rug to Seery of His Exploits.
Hears of 157 Injuries—Girl Scald• . my aim to eliminate neglect and cause
ed to Death in a Bath Tub. all the employees to do their full duty. New York Jan. 27. --George A. Witz-
t'hildreu are better clothed, better fed, huff the world's chem ion bigamist,
Lincoln. III., Jan. 27. As a result spend more time out of doors, and have , p
1 desire t0 in -
the new policy of "turning on the more and better :wheeling.,, Who. is credited with having 600 wives, adopted by the state board of May 3. 1907; Dear Sir: is 'believedto. be under arrest at Bris-
b tcharities in its aalco:n}striatlon of elate form you regarding. an accident we had tail, r, aglatnd:a Repartee from that police
titutions there was an uncovering here 1 eta I.rday afternoon. It seems while . of that city say•fleet their prisoner
of horrors in this town. The occasion' one of the nurses was at abetter a Miss
Wu the first session of the leldslative 13ertha Griffin apparently permitted an- gives the. name 01 Arthur Barnes, but his
committee inquiring into the conditions other patient to bathe a Minnie Seritz, description• and career fit those of Witz
at the lelinois Home for Feeble blinded also a patient, resulting in a severe scald- hof.],
Children. A11 the horrors, however, were ing of the lower extremities of Minnie Iiynes'oi eentz}off was arrested on a
shown to have been due to accidents, Steritz. No report was made of it until charge .Of , matrimonial frauds. lie is
some avoidable, ethers unavoit i,ble. The r the other nurse returned from dinner and wanted- i;n ninny cities in the United
presence of unprotected radiators in discovered the accident. The nurse was States, scores of women bung complain -
rooms occupied by epileptic children discharged. The burn is a severe one, ants.
caused many of the accidents- and ap-
By the throwing oEvery attention ie being paid to the The prisoner has the same hypnotic
Reared to be i oble.pen of the records child." (Minnie Steritz died May 10.) • eyes, the same German parentage, and
it was revealed that one death xihiolt i Arm Lost in Machinery,
ocenrred at the home last summer was
the result of plain carelessness. It was
an appalling oocurreiwe—nothing less
than the scalding of an inmate, Minnie
Steritz, in a bathtub of water so hot I hand in a perfectly empty ex
that it caused her death within a week. wlaicla was revolving at about Ill
Inquiry at the time by Dr. 1I. G.1 lotions per minute. This eviden
Helot, the superintendant, led. to the
HAS5010 j S. of the drill 'and the clutch of the cruel
H forceps at, he worked over their teeth.
Managed to Escape Arrest.
Witzhoff ,always eseaped 'arrest in
spite of the efforts that were made to
capture him, and within two years• after
hie experience with Mrs. Parkhill the ro-
mantic dentist turned up again in New
York as one of the managers of the larg-
est and most audacious marriage syndi
Bates that ever was attempted. Twenty-
seven young men were employed to woo
and win girls and women in the various
cities of the east, and of these Dr. Witz-
hoff and Barry Kaufman, who now is
serving a five year sentence in Sing Sing
penitentiary, were the star lovers.
The marriages were arranged through
a "eehatehen,' or marriage broker, and
as soon after the ceremony was perform-
ed as poselble the husband would get
possession of the wife's money and jew-
elry and then desert her. The plunder
was all returned to the syndicate office
in New York and divided equally among
the promoters of the scheme. The syn-
dicate finally was discovered by detec-
tives working out of the District Atter•
ney's office, and they with the aid of
several Government secret service men,
arrested some of the men and drove the
others out of the city. On a charge of
fraudulently using the mails Kaufman
was sent to the penitentiary, and the
matrimonial agencies in New York found
hard sledding for several months after
the exposure.
*4*
MADE SPECTACULAR LEAP.
Matrimonial Exploits Remarkable. Frank J. Constantine, Formerly of To-
\entizitoff is declatred by eihose who rento, Dying in Joliet Hospital.
are familiar with his exploits to be tbe
most rein a•>,ikable bigamist that ever liv- atoron o, Jan. ago ACeor iJg Const s -
to a des -
ed. His knowledge of women is with -I p w
out a flaw, :end, eompared with his slip
pery tu:thu•k the lovemaking of the
unlamented Johann Hoch was ar cumber-
some andawl:ward effort. Hoch spent
the best year, of lits life in the aeeu-
nniiatiou of fifty wives, while his distin-
guished contemporary seems to have
been able to increase his list of better
halves at the rate of two or three a
week at the rate of two or three a
with the (:'hkago biganijist, the love-
making onWitzhoff was directed toward
the savings aecounts of the women he
married, and once their money was
transferrredfromtheir keeping into his
own the much married dentist sought
greener pasture•..
Witzhoff a:une to America from
Switzerland over ten years ago. For
a while he maintained a dental office in
Detroit, and met his first difficulty
when the .American Dental Association
found that he was practicing without a
license. +;fis action was pointed out to
the exe tive board of the association,
and h s fined $300 and warned not
the offense. After paying his
roinising to secure a license
t• Detrol it is now
nehuxion.
,a arty offered
quieter- id •more substan tel returns
thee s to •be •derived from the use of
his drill and forceps.
WITZHOFF, WORLD'S CHAMPION'
BIGAMIST, HELD IN ENGLAND.
`Aug. 23, 1907.--I desire to infa
that about 3.20 pee. on Aug, 28
Kaak, an inmate, while assisting
in the laundry, playfully put lei.
discovery that another inmate had
been permitted by an attendant, to
bathe the Steritz child, For granting
this permission she was held guilty of shoulder. There was no one near him at
carelessness and poor judgment. She was the Limo of the accident, and it was
ditsctharged at once. clearly carelessly. 11e is one of the
brightest children in the institution, and
we are sorry, indeed, that this accident
should occur. He was taken to the St.
Clara's Hospital in town and was attend-
ed by Dr. Erving, Dr: Hook, of the hos-
pital, staff, being present.
"Dec. 24, 1907.—Frank Giroux was
badly burned during au epidemic seizure,
by falling on the radiator, and lying
there. A place the size of a man's fist was
burned, including the left side of the
neck, and under the chin. This burn in-
volved the 'true skin, and nearly the
whole substance of the cartilage of the
ear. The fingers on both hands were
badly blistered?'
"Dec. 25, 1907. ---Kate Foreman fell
downstairs during an epileptic spasm,
cutting a deep and jagged gash over the
left eyo. Twelve stitches were taken."
Under the Old Regime.
intriented by a few articles of
causing a tremendous twist of tib
arin, producing an amputation almost
complete of the right arm close to the
. the same krewledge of chemistry as
its ni trinioniae advertise-
..c',.-.�. nPAa1 aT4
The reports contained the detailed ac,
counts of 157 accidents at the asylum,
during the administration of Dr. Hardt,
valro sul.eed %l Dr. Taylor, Gov. Yates'
appointee, Feb. 28, 1907. In reply to a
question by Representative Manicy as
to whether there was any knowledge of
the number of accidents taring the long
administration of Supt. Taylor, Dr.
Hardt said that "nobody seemed to
know," as no reports of any sort were
left behind by Dr. Taylor.
Catalogue of Horrors.
Following is a classification of the
more serious accidents among the 400
epileptic inmates, moat of therm having
occurred since last February:
Burning; from radiators, etc., "roast-
ings," as they are called 27
Adis that resulted in wounds or
serious abrasions . .. .... 34
Scratches from falls, ete 67
Serious accidents from machinery, ne-
eessitating in one ewe amputation
ofan arm ... ... ... 5
Other injuries from machinery acci-
dents ... ... 11
Miscellaneous injuries to limbs, etc.,
from accidents in play or mischief 22
In the report from Secretaey Graves
was incorporated a Ietter in which Dr.
gardt contrasted the state of things as
e found them with the improved condi-
tions which, he asserts, he has labored
during the last eleven months to bring
about,
He told of finding "spooning rooms,"
where young men from this town and
the surrounding country were wont to
spend the evenings in the company of
the women attendants and teachers,
while at the same time babies were
chained and "padlocked" in cribs and iii
two instances it was found that children
had been "tettered with dog chains to
the floor."
t The committee had Dr. Hardt before
it for two hours. He gave frank,
etraiglitforward r.:iswers to all their
questions, appearing to be anxious to
give the invest':: itors all the information
in his possess:' .n. Ile was a sworn wit-
ness.
• He said lac graduated from Rush Med-
ical College in 1900, after working nights
to pay his way through college, that he
had been six years in Jacksonville Asy-
lum as assistant physician, and that he
also had been assistant physician to the
Elgin Asylum and at Kankakee.
Radiators Are Being Covered.
"There were lots of roasting accidents
from radiators before your time. What
have you done to get the radiators cov-
ered?"
ov-eredY" be was asked.
• "Everything possible is being done to
rush the work of covering the radiators.
The trustees have ordered that all be
eovered, and no time is lost in going
about it. Personally I favor covering
every radiator in the five buildings—not
only those in the epileptic building, but
in the others as well. "
Dr, Hardt was questioned closely by
Chairman Hill and Representatives Hope
and Manny in regard to his own duties.
He said that he "made it a point" to
grvo his personal attention every day to
the special needs or shortcomings of one
building at least, in addition to his work
as general superintendent of the five
big buildings in the institution.
He explained that he held the three
assistants and physicians—Dr. J. Cald-
well, Dr. Harriet Hook and Dr. Carl
Heehaw—to strict account for the medi-
cal work, and that only in cases of ur-
geney or extreme gravity was he able to
give the time to make a personal diagno-
sis or prognosis of the accidents to any
'of the inmates. This work, he pointed
out, was not in the customary line of
duty of a superintendent of an asylum.
Some Specimen Accidents.
Hollowing are specimen reports of Dr.
Hardt to Seeretary Graves of the State
Charitable Board, which Mr. Graves in-
corporated in his report to the commit.
tee:
"What condition was the Lincoln insti.
tution is when you became superintend-
ent?"
"It would be bard to answer that, but
I would refer you to a letter about the
chained and padlocked babies. However,
it struck me at once that it would re-
• quire a great deal of uphill effort to
bring the institution up to the standard
of similar institutions in neighboring
States. There was a general lack of
tame and discipline and a complete lack
Following are extracts from Dr.
Hardt's letter in which he informed Sec-
retary Graves of the aftermath of his
discoveries relative to the Taylor regime:
• "When I first went to the asylum I
made the rounds of the institutio .
operating room at the •'
used for a Conserv:atony
the adjoining medicine r
in it, and was called the `sponing room.'
"In passing through the dormitories I
discovered six Utica cribs in use, one of
which, at the girls' cottage, there was
a small, delicate -looking child locked in
the crib. Besides being locked in the
crib she was fastened by an inch and a
hlf wide strap joined by a podlack. When
the temporary night watch was asked to
unlock the crib slie stated that she did
not have the key nor could she find the
key, nor did she remember ever seeing
a key.
"'I don't know the length of time this
delicate little child had spent in this
hone of torture. I liberated the child
by cutting the strap with a pocket
knife, ane had the hasp of the padlock
broken with a hammer.
"At this writing there is no crib in
use. At the time when the cribs were
ordered disposed of the attendants in
charge oornplained bitterly, stating that
they would be unable to take care of
the children without the cribs, but I
am pleased to say that the children are
healthier and less resistive out of the
cribs. Specimens of cribs and padlocks
preserved.
Chained to the' Floor.
"On the third day," while passing
through one of the class -rooms, I found
two children chained with dog chains
to the floor, giving them a limited rad-
ius to :Hove about. These chains are.
preserved as specimens. In another
classroom a mule whip was found. This
is also kept as a specimen.
"The employees remained out late at
night, some until 2 or 3 o'clock in the
morning. A number of the males were
alcoholics and were soon discharged
from the service. Even some df the
children secured whiskey and beeame in-
toxicated. Two boys were furnished
bail to get then out of the ctiy jail. The
children seemed to have no respect for
authority."
Dr. Hardt said such awful conditions
as the foregoing bad been abolished dur-
ing his year of administration and disci-
pline had been introduced.
It was discoveerd by the committee
that Katie Bass, an epileptic, fell last
Sunday on a radiator and that she sus-
tained, burns similar to those of the
Goroux boy, though not so serious.
First Expose in New York.
lis first exposure came after his mar-
riage to Mrs. Philip Parkhilll, of New
York City. Mrs. Parkhill, a tall, hand-
some woman, stet the dentist shortly
after she was divorced from her first
husband, and at the end of a few days'
courtship they were married. Mrs,
Parkhill had a son, Herbert, and it was
while the boy's teeth were being treated
in a dental parlor on West Forty-second
streeet, where Witzhoff was employed,
that she first was attracted by the
striking appearance and apparent re-
finement of the bigamist.
Soon after he had won her acquaint-
ance Dr. Witzhoff told Mrs. Parkhill
that he was a dentist of ability and ex-
perience, and that he was working in
the Forty-second street office only be-
muse he bad no money to establish a
place of his own. Believing him sincere,
Mrs. Parkhill allowed him to snake love
to her, and within less than two weeks
after they had first met the pair were
married.
Witzhoffthen went to Mrs. Parkhill's
father, wha lived in Sayville, L. I., in an
effort to borrow *3,000 with which to
open an office in Bridgeport, Conn. Fail-
ing to get the money, he sent his wife
on the same quest, and her visit proved
successful. With the money thus secur-
ed the bigamist opened an elaborate of-
fice in Bridgeport and was just getting
established when the Dental Association.
got after hint again. He then moved to
New York city, and it was while he was
hunting for a location that a friend of
the former Mrs. Parkhill recognized her
husband as the man who had married
and deserted Aliss Etta Randall, of Bos-
ton.
Changed His Name • Again.
It subsequently was learned that Witz-
hoff had married Miss Randall in 1903,
and that he had lived in Someville with
her under the name of Dr. George A. -
Muller. For awhile Witzhoff made his
New York wife believe that the Boston
and that he had lived in Somerville with
patient and that an injustice had been
Jolie him by the woman friend of Mrs.
Parkhill. To satisfy herself Witzhoff's
secondwife went to Boston to investi-
gate the story. While she was gone the
dentist got as- many of her belongings
together as he could and left the city,
Since that. time Witzhoff, with a new
mate for each victim, pursued the career
of a bigamist. Be studied hypnotism
and the fashions, and, as Johann Hoch
declared, "the art of promising." Tray
ellieg hotel city to city, he adopted a
varying disguise, and m his capacity as
assistant in various dental offices he
inet many women. Bending over his pa-
tients in the dental chair the young roan
whispered words of love in their ears,
and seldom did he meet with reverses in
his conquest of 'feminine hearts. Always
it was the story about wanting to estab-
lish an dike' of his own in some town
where he and his prospective •bride could
Half of Radiators Uncovered.
Giving their impressions of what they
saw at the institution, the members of
the committee found fault with the ad-
ministration for failure to cover the
radiators, especiallly in tbe wards of
the epileptics. It was explained that
the reason so many radiators were.
found uncovered—more than half of.
them, it is said—was because of repairs
to the steam plant.
It also was announce:l by members of
the committee that it would be shown
before the inquiry ends that 'at least
one—and possibly two—of the phys}-:
chins in the Inst*tntion are addicted to
the use of deuce, and have become
known as "alnpe flonda e
The committee .limam ea subject to
the eail of Chairman Tr;li. It was an-
nounced aft
no ed ftern••ird 1.v dint the
Heti s e at-t•rine'iday in happily ever afterward that made his joined with the Democratic menibere in
will take place victims forget the nerve splitting grind the hand -clapping. •
- -
t ea on
tine, formerly of Toronto, who is no
serving a life sentence in Joliet Peniten-
tiary for the murder of Hers. Louise H.
Gentry, on Sunday last leaped from the
seventh gallery in the prison in an at-
tempt to commit suicide. Constantine's
condition is said to be precarious. He
made his spectacular attempt to end his
life while under extra guard. He brood-
ed over the murder of Mrs. Gentry and
over the hopeless term of ineareeratioi
which confronted hien. Before making
his leap he smiled and nodded pleasantly
to other prisoners standing nearby.
Constantine, who was born in Toron-
to, was taken to Joliet four months
ago, after he had been sentenced to life
imprisonment. The murder of elites. Gen-
try occurred Jan. 8, 1906, at her apart-
ments in La Salle avenue. Constantine,
formerly a boarder at the woman's home,
fled to Toronto; and thence to Europe,
after the tragedy, and was captured in
New York a year later, when he ven-
tured to return to this counrty.
••a+
LONDON MAN WAS HELD UP.
Dazed by Blow, His Arms Pinioned and
His Pockets Rifled.
A London, Ont., despatch: Mr. Roy
Smith, a young man residing at 21
Marley Place, was held up last night
in a dark section of London South,
badly beaten and robbed of all he had,
a trifle over ,`f9. His assailants are un-
known, the affair occurring such a
way that he was not prepared to get
a good look at the men.
Ile was walking along the street at
8 o'clock and noticed that two men
were following closely at his heels. He
turned out to allow theta to pans, when
he was struck a severe blow in the
face, which dazed him for a few min-
utes. His arms were pinioned, while
his pockets were rifled.
MR. TROTTER'S GREETING.
.01,10.011011*.
FIND HEADLESS
BODY IN LAKE.
POSSIBLE MURDER OF WOMAN IS
INVESTIGATED BY THE POLICE..
Nude and Unidentified—Mutilated fte•-•
mains Are Drawn From Broken Teen
Off Jackson Park,
I ;l
Chicago, Jan. 27.—Floating fa the
lake at the foot of Sixtieth street the
body of a woman was found' yesterday
afternoon. The body was almost head-
less, and there was no clothing. The
leek of clothing is believed to indicate
murder almost to a certainty.
Prank Johnson, 317 Sixty-third street.
eaw the body as he passed on the break-
water along the front of Jaeksbn Park.
When he was almost oppoeite the Ger-
man •but.:ling, which has been standing,
since the world's fair, he noticed a dark
object rising and falling in the waves,
of ice and water.
As soon as Johneon saw that it was a.
human form he summoned James Gavin,
a park policeman. They were unable
to take the body to land, and notifies],
the Woodlawn police station.
Identification seems almost impossi-
ble. According to Lieut. Monahan, of
the Woodlawn station, the body proba-
bly has been in the water for two
months. The police were unable to dis-
cover whether the woman's head had
been crushed in the ice or had been
chopped off.
At the undertaker's It was said that
the body was that of a woman weightiut�g'
from 130 to 140 pounds. It is estimated
that she was about 5 feet 4 inches in
height. From the condition of tho
hands and feet, it is believed that rho•
was not an old woman. Seem], 1y, she
was between 25 and 35 years old.
Detectives Leahy and Walsh, of the
Woodiawn station, were detailed on the -
mystery by Lieut. Monahan. They made•
a search of the records of the missing
women last evening, but were tunable to
fix the identity of the dead woman by
the names of those who have disappear,
ed and have not been found.
At the place where, true body floated
to the shore there is a long ehelviag-
beach of undressed rock. During the•
colder months there .are few visitors in.
the park. The buildings are closed, and
except for the occasional passing ad e4
park policeman there is rarely a sound
to break the stillness.
The cold weather of last week filled.
the southern part of the lake with -
broken ice. Being hemmed in by the•
little-
southpier that runs Into' tth
of the German bui'he ding, e ice
akea
piled high until it filled the space es '
the incline between the water's edge -
coin the sidewalk paving. When- tile-
south winds of the last two days car-
ried
-
ried the ice away th,e lake was left with -
the smaller fragments tossing on it. It:
was in this sea that the dead woman
was found.
"If this woman's body had been cloth-
ed, we tehould.have agreed at once that
she had committed suicide," said Lieut.
Monahan. "It is impossible that her
head was crushed by the foe in the last -
few days, but it is equally possible that.
she was killed, her head severed, or al-
most severed, from her body before she
Tells Britain Emigration Will Not Solve
Unemployed Question.
London, Jan. 27.—Mr. W. R. Trotter.
addressed a fraternal greeting on be-
half of Canada to the Labor Congress
at Hull to -day. He emphasized the
entire absence of a demand for skilled
artisans in the Dominion, and point-
ed out that emigration agencies were
carrying on a propaganda unauthor-
ized by the Dominion Government,
while in every city in Canada there
was an unemployed problem. The
Salvation Army, he said, ought to
come into the open as emigration
touts. Mr. Trotter believed the solu •
tion of the unemployed question in
Britain was not to be found in emi-
gration. •
of t.h i »'}t' ^ i1Vobab11 build themselves a little home and live
e•s
FATHER AND SON DROWNED.
Their Dory Swamped in Big Sea Off
. Westport, N. S.
A Halifax despatch: A drowning acci-
dent took place cff Westport, Brier
Island, this afternoon. • -Frank 1'. Titus,
aged 56 years, and his son Blake, aged
20 years, were rowing in from their
lobster traps. Mrs. Charles Buckman,
wife of the Northern Point lighthouse -
keeper, saw there pass the point. A big
sea was breaking on shore, caused' by
a heavy ocean swell coming up the Bay
of Fundy. A few minutes after the
dory passed the point Mrs. Buckman no-
ticed that it was bottom up, and im-
mediately gave the alarm.
In the meantime both bodies had been
washed ashore, the father's body being
badly bruised where it came into con.
tact with the rocks. Frank P. Tithe
was one of the most prominent resi-
dent residents of Brier Island.
ea•c-
-
BRYAN FOR PRESIDENT.
House of Representatives Told That He
Will Be Nominated.
Washington, D. C., Jan. 27.—The in-
tention of the Democratic party to nom-
inate William 3. Bryan for President
at the convention to be held in Denver
in July next was declared on the floor
of the House of Representatives to -day
by Representative Champ Clark, of Mis-
souri, and evoked continued applause
mingled with cheers. Some Republlcans
was thrown into the lake.
"Until the coroner's physician makes.
an examination of her lungs, and dater -
mines whether she was dead when she
wins placed in the lako, or died In the.
water, - it will not be possible for the
police to make much headway."
4 •
THREW TILES AT POLICE.
More Socialist Outrages in Streets of
Berlin.
Berlin, Jan. 27.—There was a serious
collision late to -day between the polies -
of this city and a number of unemploy-
ed,
nemployed, who earlier in the day had attended.
one of the five mass meetings organized:
and addressed by the Socialists. The -
police used their sabres when the crowd:
hurled missiles at them, and before -
order was restored many men were
wounded.
The demonstrants, when they encoun-
tered the police, were marching down-
tbe Sahiffineuerdemm, near the Lust,
garter. The authorities tried to dis-
peree them. The men at once took up,
a position around several piles of tiles,
before a new theatre building, and be-
gan hurling the tile; at the }rolice. The,
policemen were at, once reinforced by
a mounted detachment, which charged'
the crowd with drawn sabres. The mem
scattered and £led, but not before many
bad been injured.
Several Socialist members of the -
Reichstag addressed the mass meetings•
and called upon the elate and the mite
nicipality to provide employment fore
those without work. They declared'
that among the unemployed in Berlin
there were 24,826 skilled artisans be-
longing to trades unions.
=mss
INFANT WAS MURDERED:
Nd freerest as to the condition of the Springfield.
Body Found in Culvert on Queen- Street
West, Toronto.
Toronto despatch: At an inquest held
at the City Hall last night the jury re-
turned a verdict to the effect that a
male infant, found iv the culvert at the
corner of Ohio avenue and Queen street,
had been deliberately murdered.. At the
inquest last night Chief Cbroner Johnson
and Dr. Harrington gave the medical
evidence. This eliawed' that the child
had eertaiily been it live, healthy babe.
It was slightly decomposed; but could
not have been en the culvert long, There
were marks on- the head that• dearly
indicated v£oienee: