Insane Man Clings to His Blind Wife

1919

WILL BE RELEASED FROM ASYLUM TO JOIN HER.

Love Keeps Sightless Girl and Mad Husband Together Despite Obstacles Imposed.

NEW ORLEANS, La. — Lying in the Home for Homeless Women, a blind woman smiles. She smiles the smile of expectant motherhood.

In the City Hospital for Mental Diseases, a man smiles. His smile is that of a man about to be freed of the charge of insanity and allowed to return to his blind wife.

Dr. Earl Joseph Vollentine, graduate of Tulane College of Dentistry, will not be returned to the Southwestern Insane Asylum in Texas, if Charles H. Patterson, secretary of the Charity Organization, can prevent it.

Dr. Vollentine, says Secretary Patterson, will be released from the City Hospital for Mental Diseases in time to be near his blind wife when their expected child arrives. Instead of allowing Dr. Vollentine to be returned to the insane asylum in Texas, it is Secretary Patterson's plan to start the little family on their way to Vivian, La., where the husband has been assured work.

Not Dangerously Insane.

In the opinion of Dr. Henry Daspit, of the City Hospital for Mental Diseases, the young husband is not dangerously insane. He is merely the victim of nervous attacks said to have been brought on by overstudy.

And then there is the charge of his blind wife that her husband was sent to a Texas insane asylum by his rich father because the youth dared to marry her.

The story of the blind wife and the alleged mentally deficient husband verges on the dramatic — even melodramatic.

The girl was blinded when a child. One eye was lost when she fell on a pair of scissors. The other was shot out accidentally by the wad from a blank pistol. She was sent to the Blind Institute in Austin, Texas, by her father, of moderate circumstances.

It was while she was visiting her sister in Yoakum, Texas, that the young doctor first saw the helpless blind girl. First it was sympathy. Then it was love.

Marriage Was Annulled.

They were married. Then, says Mrs. Vollentine, her husband's father interfered and had the youth sent to the Southwestern Asylum in Texas, saying that he could be cured of his nervousness in about a month. The marriage was annulled.

The blind child wife waited. Her husband was not released. She grew impatient. So did he. He escaped. They journeyed to Vivian, La., and were remarried.

The husband obtained employment as a boilermaker. They saved money. Then the search for the cure of the wife's blindness began. They came to New Orleans to consult specialists. They applied to Secretary Patterson, of the Charity Organization, for help.

Making no attempt to conceal anything from Secretary Patterson, the young husband informed him that he had escaped from the Texas Insane Asylum.

Ask Return to Asylum.

Learning of the young wife's condition, Secretary Patterson had her sent to the Home for Homeless Women. He communicated with the Texas authorities, who requested that Doctor Vollentine be held until a representative of the asylum arrive to return him.

When informed by Dr. Daspit that young Vollentine's mental deficiency is of a minor nature, Mr. Patterson determined not to allow the young husband to be returned to Texas without a fight.

"If Vollentine refuses to accompany the Texas authorities back to the asylum," said Mr. Patterson, "I do not think they can take him forcibly."

Charges Father Opposes Her.

"My husband is so sympathetic toward the afflicted. It was when I lost the sight of my second eye thru an unfortunate accident that he was drawn toward me. He read in the papers how I completely lost my sight and told my sister he would like to know me.

"He was so kind and attentive that I loved him. We married — and then his father interfered. They tore him from me; sent him to an insane asylum and left me helpless. My husband was determined. He escaped. As our marriage had been annulled, we remarried and made our way to Vivian, Where my husband was employed.

"When we saved a little money my husband insisted that we go to New Orleans so my eyes could be treated. We came and then came our present trouble. But thank God there seems to be a silver lining to our dark cloud. He will be released. Our baby will be born and then we will go back to Vivian and happiness."

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 11.

Note: Dr. Daspit's name in the first instance (in the original newspaper printing) was spelled "Despit." But the correct spelling is Daspit. He's referred to in books at Google Books, and was working at the City Hospital for Mental Diseases just as in this article.

Wood Alcohol First Blinds, Then Causes Victim's Death

1920

Authorities Alarmed by Increased Use

More than 150 persons are dead and scores are dangerously ill as a result of drinking poison booze in various parts of the United States. Wood and denatured alcohol, homemade stuff with "a kick in it," hair tonic, perfume and various other concoctions, drunk to alleviate the thirst that will not down, are blamed. In all parts of the country steps are being taken to put down the traffic in these death-dealing drinks and to warn the public against indulging in them. Dozens of arrests in big cities have revealed plans to ship the poison booze to small towns and villages, the men back of these plans being willing to risk killing fellow-men in order to reap a few dollars.

Investigation by the Federal authorities at Washington has revealed that existing laws are powerless to stop the sale of wood alcohol to those who may want it. Congress, when it meets next Monday, will be asked to rush new legislation that will put such restrictions upon the sale of denatured spirits that the death list which is becoming of such big proportions will not be increased by leaps and bounds.

Warning by Employers

Large employers of labor have been asked to warn all their men of the danger incurred in drinking stuff with "a kick in it." Most of the deaths and cases of total blindness resulting from drinking wood alcohol have been among the laboring classes, the people who were unable to put by a large reserve of booze when the country went dry last July.

Symptoms of poisoning by wood alcohol are vertigo, nausea, vomiting, headache, dilated pupils, delirium and unconsciousness, rapidly followed by death unless a physician is called immediately. If recovery takes place there is serious danger of blindness. Blindness has followed the taking of so little as five teaspoonfuls of wood alcohol and less than half a pint may cause death. There is no antidote to counteract the effect of this poison booze. Once absorbed into the system, there is nothing that can be done.

Started With Christmas Jags

The ravages of wood alcohol made their appearance the day after Christmas in towns in Massachusetts and Connecticut, where thirty-six persons died as a result of drinking booze that had been distributed from New York. At the town of Chicopee, Mass., eighteen persons, including one woman, died. Discovery then was made that great quantities of the booze had been shipped throughout the New England States for the Christmas trade. The shipments were traced to New York, where several persons are under arrest.

Federal agents arrested five men who are believed the heads of the gang which flooded five eastern States. The headquarters of this gang was in New York. A wine and liquor dealer, a druggist and an undertaker are among the prisoners. A saloonkeeper and his bartender also were arrested. Charges of murder in the first degree will be placed against the last two as a result of the deaths of four men from wood alcohol, the victims all being roomers over the saloon. Thirty-five persons have died from wood alcohol in New York since Nov. 1.

Twenty-seven deaths in Chicago are attributed to the same cause. One Christmas party resulted in three deaths, those of two women and one man. The man, a former saloonkeeper. was stricken while at the bier of his wife, who had died after being stricken with blindness.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 1.

Social Memory

1900

Henry Fawcett, says Sir Edward Russell, had an extraordinary memory for persons. One night Sir Edward was in the House of Commons, to hear a debate, under the gallery.

A friend introduced him to Mr. Fawcett, who, learning why he was there, said:

"Oh, then you can look after my old father, and tell him who the people are. He is going under the gallery, too."

Three or four years later, Sir Edward was presented to Mr. Fawcett, who was then chief guest at a political dinner, and said to him, in "the usual conventional mumble:"

"I once had the pleasure of being introduced to you, Mr. Fawcett, but it's a long time ago." "I remember," said he, "you very kindly looked after my father under the gallery at the House." And this was the memory of a man totally blind. — Youth's Companion.

A Blind Girl's Interests at the Art Institute

Chicago, 1895

Mysterious Old Woman and Sightless Girl Doing the Art Institute

They tell a story over at the Art Institute on the lake front about an old woman who goes there on free days leading a blind girl, says the Chicago Tribune. The old woman totters in her steps and her face is wrinkled. Her attire is not shabby, but it is severely plain and doesn't belong to this generation. The girl has a face as white as marble and her blind eyes are unusually full. Her mouth is expressive and a singularly sad smile nestles about it.

Somebody who asked the old woman one day tells that the twain live on Mohawk street and that the girl has been blind since she was 4 years old. She is now 12. The girl always, since she was old enough to know, evinced a passion for art. At one time she undertook drawing, but had to quit it. They say she plays naturally and sweetly. But her strong like is art in sculpture. The old woman leads the child among the statuary and reproductions of the various rooms, mentioning, of course, anything new. The girl has learned the location of the principal works, and after they have been in one room for awhile the girl will say to the woman: "Let's go into the room where ——-," mentioning what it is she wants to "see," as she expresses it. One of her favorites is the group of Amphion and Zethus chaining Dirce to the bull. Someone told her the story one day, and seemed to fascinate her, and she asked several curious questions about it.

But after they have wandered about the rooms most of the day the girl nearly always says to the woman: "Let's go and see the child that is listening to the sea." The work is in one of the corridors, and has been noticed with interest by thousands. The child said one day when she was told that the figure was listening to the murmur of the sea, and that it appeared to please her, "Then she must be blind." Several people have asked the woman her name, but she evades the inquiry, and when the child is questioned she nestles to the woman and makes no reply. It is believed that they are mother and child.

Helen Keller — How a Deaf and Blind Girl Talks

1896

The hundreds of personal friends of Helen Keller, the totally blind and totally deaf girl, whose development and whose attainments are nothing short of marvelous, and the tens of thousands who have become interested in her will be pleased to learn of the remarkable progress she has been making within the last year.

Not only does she use her voice constantly in communicating with those about her, but she has reached that state where those who wish to talk with her speak to her as they would to any one in full possession of all his senses.

Miss Keller no longer uses her fingers to talk to others. She uses them now in conversation simply to listen to others who speak to her. By placing her fingers on the lips and throat of those who are talking to her she not only almost instantly "hears" words that are difficult to pronounce clearly but she is also enabled to detect the various shadings of vowel sounds that many persons even with a keenly developed ear, cannot pronounce, after a teacher. — Demorest's Magazine.

Awarded $450 for Fainting Bertha's Assault

1920

State Must Pay Woman Attendant for Insane Patient's Act

LINCOLN, Nebraska — The State of Nebraska must pay $450 because "Fainting Bertha" Liebke, while incarcerated in the Lincoln insane asylum, threw formaldehyde into the eyes of Anna E. Sprecher, an attendant, which resulted in partial blindness.

The State compensation commissioner awarded the claim after a semi-legal battle put up by former Attorney General Dexter Barrett, who discovered that the assault had not been reported to the board of control as the law required.


Here's World's Eighth Wonder

PITTSBURGH, Pa. — The eighth wonder of the world. A "For Rent" advertisement in a local newspaper stipulates that the couple seeking a home must have at least one child. The owner, the advertisement states, is fond of children.

Note: I had another "Fainting Bertha" story a month or so ago. Check it out.

Young Child Gets Pig Eye, Corneal Transplant

1914

Operation in Baltimore Hospital the First of Its Kind in United f States.

Baltimore, Md. — What is believed to be the first operation of its kind in this country was performed at a local hospital when the cornea of a pig's eye was grafted on the sightless eye of a three-months-old boy.

It was said that previous operations, in which rabbits' eyes had been used, were unsuccessful, but that experiments with pigs' eyes had led scientists to believe that they were more adaptable. Two cases are said to be on record where the grafting of human cornea gave sight to totally blind eyes.

In the operation the pig was chloroformed, the eyeball taken out and the cornea cut from it. An extraordinarily fine needle and fine silk were used in sewing the cornea in place. The eye will remain bandaged for about a week.


How to Wed Happily

1914

Princeton, New Jersey — "To assure happy marriages all applicants for marriage licenses should file declarations of intentions a month before the license is granted," said Prof. R. M. Ross, in a lecture on social economics.

Modesty of Slit Skirts Debated; New Fashions Give Sight to Blind

1913

Daughters' Dress Care of Mothers

Denver Pedagogue Says Parents Can Check X-ray Gowns and Slit Skirts on Girls

DENVER, Aug. 30. — Superintendent of Schools William H. Miley expressed the utmost satisfaction today at the stand the Mothers' congress has taken against transparent and slit skirts for school girls. He felt so sure the mothers can accomplish more than the school department officials in the direction of discouraging immodesty of dress on their daughter's part, he said, that he does not even consider it necessary for the school heads to issue any orders on the subject.

Some well known Denver women were not so sure, however, that the wearing of the new styles of skirts can be prevented by the means adopted and one or two went so far as to hint that the new skirts critics are inclined to be old fogyish.

"How can children be disposed to moderation in dress unless their mothers display it?" asked Mrs. Henry Hershey, a prominent member of the Mothers' congress. "I hope, too, that the congress will move with delicacy and tact. There is an idea that old styles are more moral than new simply because they have been worn for a long time."

"It isn't the display or concealment of the body that constitutes modesty or immodesty," said Mrs. Dora Phelps Buell, also a leading member of the congress. "And I am sorry to see the mothers beginning in the wrong way. The moment a woman or a girl wears a gown shows her figure there is a howl that the effect is immoral. The world has gone mad over externals."

—The La Crosse Tribune, La Crosse, WI, Aug. 30, 1913, p. 6.


Slit Skirt Makes "Blind" Man See

KANSAS CITY, Mo., Aug. 30. — M. J. McCarty, "fake" blind man, who was sentenced to serve 100 days on the municipal farm because he gazed for thirty seconds on the aperture in a slit skirt, was not at all downcast today.

"Believe me," said McCarty, "believe me, it was worth it."

McCarty was wearing a "Help the Blind" sign around his neck when a pretty brunette, with a skirt slit to the knee, passed and dropped a dime in his cup. J. W. West, a clerk, saw McCarty turn and stare after the girl. West stared too, and then he called a policeman.

—The La Crosse Tribune, La Crosse, WI, Aug. 30, 1913, p. 10.

Hale, Hearty on 86th Birthday, Pretty Good "For One So Old"

New York, 1911

HALE AND HEARTY ON 86TH BIRTHDAY

Mrs. Elizabeth VanKeuren, of 235 Monhagen avenue this city, recently celebrated her eighty-sixth birthday anniversary. Mrs. VanKeuren's old age does not stop her from being quite active. When the Times-Press representative called upon her she had just finished peeling potatoes for dinner.

"I am in perfectly good health with the exception of an occasional attack of rheumatism," said Mrs. VanKeuren.

Her hearing, for one so old, is excellent, the only sense which seemed to be impaired is her seeing, she being totally blind in one eye.

Mrs. VanKeuren's husband, who died a few years ago, lived to reach the ago of ninety years, and every member of Mrs. VanKeuren's family lived to be older than eighty-four years of age.

—Middletown Daily Times-Press, Middletown, NY, Aug. 5, 1911, p. 5.

The Whiskers of Cats

1878

Use of Whiskers to a Cat.

The sense which of all others is most deficient in the cat is that of smell. In this she differs most markedly from the dog. It is said that a piece of meat may be placed in close proximity to a cat, but that, if it is kept covered up she will fail to distinguish it.

This want is, however, partly compensated for by an extremely delicate sense of touch, which is possessed, to a remarkable extent, by the whiskers, or vibrissae, as well as by the general surface of the skin. These bristles are possessed to a greater or less extent by all cats, and are simply greatly developed hairs, having enormously swollen roots, covered with a layer of muscular fibres, with which delicate nerves are connected. By means of these latter, the slightest touch on the extremity of the whiskers, is instantly transmitted to the brain.

Those organs are of the greatest possible value to the cat in its nocturnal campaigns. When it is deprived of the guidance afforded by light it makes its way by the sense of touch, the fine whiskers touching against every object the cat passes, and thus acting in precisely the same manner as a blind man's stick, though with infinitely greater sensibility. Imagine a blind man with not one stick, but with a couple of dozen, of exquisite fineness, and these not held in his hand but embedded in his skin, so that his nerves come into direct contact with them instead of having a layer of skin between, and some notion may be formed of the way in which a cat uses its whiskers.

Dwarf Darnell Flim-Flams Little Blind Girl

Atlanta, 1902

MONROE DARNELL, MIDGET, FLIM-FLAMS BLIND GIRL

The climax of eccentricities in flim-flamming was reached yesterday, when a little dwarf was caught trying to flim-flam a blind girl out of 10 cents.

Monroe Darnell, the well-known midget, was the flim-flammer, and his victim was a little blind girl who stands at the street corners patiently waiting for good-hearted people to drop money into a tin cup which she holds in her hand.

Darnell tried to swipe a 10-cent piece which he saw in the cup, and in its stead placed a copper.

The police are constantly meeting up with flim-flam games and new ones are always coming to light. It takes novelty to make a flim-flam go, and the crooks are ever trying to invent some new scheme by which they can get hold of coin without working for it. But it took Dwarf Darnell to present the most unique flim-flam that has come before the police in many a day.

Yesterday the little blind girl was standing at the corner of Decatur and Ivy streets. Some one had dropped a 10-cent silver coin into her tin cup. Across the street Monroe Darnell, who is himself no slouch when it comes to begging money, was standing, and when he saw a coin fall into the blind girl's cup he strolled over her way and peered into the receptacle. Having ascertained that the coin was a dime, he took a 1-cent piece from his pocket, and squinting his eyes around to see if he was unobserved, he quickly swiped the dime from the cup and left the copper in its place. He might have swiped the dime and left nothing in its place, but his leaving the copper showed that his conscience was not entirely dead.

He was not unobserved, however, for a citizen saw the flim-flam and reported the matter to an officer. Darnell was caught with the dime in his hand. He admitted having exchanged a copper for it, but stoutly maintained that he did not mean to steal it.

"Now, look here," said he in his squeaky voice, "yer all knows how I like a joke. All the boys will tell yer that poor little Monroe is always full of his fun. I just meant to play a joke on the blind girl, seeing as how she couldn't see. Then I meant to teach her a lesson about being too careless with her money. I was just going to say to her: 'Baby mine, I have slipped away your dime and put a copper in its place. You mustn't leave your money in your cup so long. You must take it out as fast as you hear it drop, or some fine day a sure enough rogue will swipe your money, and he won't be as honest as poor little Monroe.' You see, I make my money by the same sort of hard licks as the blind girl, and I want her to learn how to take better care of the stuff."

The dwarf was made to restore the dime, and he generously let her also have his copper. If he had not been caught, however, the flim-flam would have been a very serious joke to the little blind girl.

–The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, Nov. 23, 1902, p. 5.

Eye Ball Removed, Doesn't Affect Sight

1940

BONHAM, Feb. 23.—(AP)—A piece of steel Friday stuck in Roy Taylor's eye and doctors were forced to remove his eye ball. The operation, however, did not cause loss of sight in the eye. He was already blind in that eye.

—Austin Statesman, Austin, TX, Feb. 23, 1940, page 3.