USA > New York > New York and its institutions, 1609-1871. A library of information, pertaining to the great metropolis, past and present > Part 36
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The central building contains the kitchen, store-rooms. offi- ces, private apartments for the superintendent and others, and a spacious and elegant chapel, in which service is statedly conducted by the chaplains.
The long wings consist of a broad hall, skirted on either side with a succession of cells and sleeping apartments, which rise three stories high, fronted with iron corridors and stair- ways. Each wing contains 150 of these cells, which are wide, containing four single berths each, with grated doors, and are separated from each other by brick walls. The building. is well arranged and well ventilated. One hun- dred and fifty lunatics have for some time been domiciled here, awaiting the completion of the new asylum on Ward's Island. The original intention of the building was not wholly for a house of correction, but an Institution in which the poor, unable to obtain employment, might be committed, and be, both to themselves and the authorities, profitably em- ployed. As an industrial Institution for the virtuous poor, it has not succeeded, and is now devoted entirely to the vagrant, dissipated, and disorderly classes, who are committed by the police courts for terms of service, ranging from ten days to six months each. The larger number of commit. ments are for intoxication. It is mandatory on the magis- trates to impose a fine on persons convicted of intoxication,
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THE NEW YORK WORKHOUSE.
and in default of payment to commit them to the Work- house. The larger portion remain but ten days, but many are committed over and over again for the same offence, called by the clerks "repeaters," having served twenty or thirty terms for drunkenness. The warden has recommended a change of the law, so that habitual drunkards should be committed for from six to twelve months, giving small wages to the more industrious. He believes that with an army of permanent laborers, large contracts might safely be made, se- curing a much larger income to the Institution, and the long confinement a permanent benefit to the convicts.
The men are kept at work breaking stones, grading, build- ing sea-walls, cultivating the grounds, etc. The carpenters make the coffins for the various institutions, make and repair wheel-barrows, and carts, and toil in the erection of new buildings. Blacksmiths, tinsmiths, and tailors are employed at the respective trades. Companies of laborers are dis- patched daily to toil on the neighboring islands. The women are detailed to toil in the numerous institutions, and are kept busy making and mending the garments of this immense population, and in knitting their stockings. From 15,000 to 20,000 of these convicts are annually received and again dis- charged, costing the public from $50,000 to $60,000 more .than they are made to earn. But few of them are of Amer- ican birth, Ireland, as usual, contributing the larger number, and Germany the next largest. If New York were purged of these dregs of European society, and her liquor traffic sup- pressed, there would be no need of this ponderous and ex- pensive Institution. But as the tide of emigration is likely to still roll heavily upon our shores, and the legislation of the State to favor the rum traffic, there is little hope that the Workhouse will be deserted for many years to come. The establishment of this Institution has had a wholesome effect on the Almshouse population, as seventy persons were known to leave the Almshouse on the organization of this. depart- ment. Many hundreds more, during the last twenty years, would, no doubt, have pressed their suits at the Almshouse if it had not been for its next door neighbor, the Workhouse, to which they were certain to be consigned.
THE LABOR BUREAU, though not specially connected with the foregoing, we still notice here as a matter of convenience. A much larger number of unskilled laborers than can find employment during the winter months are always in New
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NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
York city, and naturally fall a burden upon our private and public charities. The Commissioners, after duly considering this subject, resolved to establish a Bureau in July, 1868, to facilitate the transfer of unemployed laborers to other parts of the country needing their services. The Bureau was opened at the central office of the Commissioners, under the direction of the superintendent of Out-Door Poor, and the plan of its operations published in several leading papers of the country. It was proposed that employers should make application, setting forth the number of persons they required, the kinds of work to be performed, and the rate of wages to be paid, the application to be accompanied with a remittance sufficient to cover the travelling expenses of the laborers. The applications received did not offer sufficient compensa- tion to laborers, and as none of them contained the money to defray the expenses of travel, the scheme failed. But the leading thought had been produced, and the next Legislature made an appropriation for a Labor and Intelligence Office. This was opened June 15, 1869, and from that date to Janu- ary 1, 1870, there were 6,670 male applicants for employment, 11,813 females, and situations were obtained for 3,965 males, and 11,013 females. The labor of this office constantly in- creases and its success is very gratifying.
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NEW YORK CITY LUNATIC ASYLUM.
In the year 1826, separate wards were set apart in the Belle- vue establishment, for the accommodation and treatment of the insane paupers and patients. The large Institution on Blackwell's Island devoted to this use was begun in the spring of 1835, the western wing of which was completed in 1839, and the southern in 1848. The building is of stone, and consists of a central structure, octagonal in form, eighty feet in diam- eter, and fifty feet high, with spiral stairways rising to the cupola, a spacious and splendid observatory, overlooking the river, the island, and a portion of Long Island, and New York. The two wings, at right angles to each other, are each 245 feet long, and several stories high. The building at the time of its erection was one of the finest of its kind in the country, with accommodations for over 200 patients. A short distance from the main building, on the eastward side of the island, was also erected in 1848, another stone edifice 60 by 90 feet and four stories high, which has been exclu- sively devoted to the more violent class, and denominated " The Lodge." This has rooms for 100 patients. Another stone structure called " The Retreat," is devoted to the quiet
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NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
class, with rooms for 110 persons, and numerous wooden ones, " pavilions," have since been added, literally dotting the northern extremity of the island. The capacity of all these buildings is sufficient for 576 patients. The locality is un- surpassed for its salubrity, and the exquisite beauty of its scenery, as nature and art appear to have sweetly blended their gifts and embellishments, to render this home of the ir- rational one of the most attractive spots of the world. Be- fore the erection of these buildings, more than four thousand insane persons had been received, and from 400 to 800 have been annually admitted during the last twenty years. At the commencement of 1847, with accommodations for but 200 patients, nearly four hundred were crowded into the Asy- lum, destroying all plans of classification, and proving a source of constant irritation to each other. In no period in the history of this Institution, have the accommodations been fully adequate to the wants of this large and ever-increasing class of sufferers. The Commissioners have never been en- couraged nor allowed to increase the accommodations, until the over-crowding of the Institution has made it a matter of positive necessity. And it is an anomalous fact, that while every benevolent heart has throbbed over the woes of the aged, the crippled, the orphan, the dumb, and the blind, al- most nothing has been attempted in the line of private charity for the relief of the insane, ten or fifteen hundred of whom now evidently exist in the county of New York, beyond what can be properly treated in existing Institutions.
A larger percentage of those admitted would have doubt- less recovered if suitable space had been provided. The sensibilities of an insane patient are generally extremely acute, and the will often intensely perverse. His future character, even if incurable, depends largely on the treatment he receives during the first few months of his insanity. Harsh treatment, or excessive annoyance occasioned by discomforts, usually render him noisy and intractable; while pleasant surroundings, with government which wisely blends firmness and gentleness, exert a soothing and healthful influence upon him. Comparative solitude is often desirable, and essential to the recovery of a patient ; but this is unknown in a crowded institution. The blame of failure can neither be charged upon physicians nor Commissioners, until adequate means are granted, thus securing accommodations and appliances for the successful conduct of an Institution. In their report of
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NEW YORK CITY LUNATIC ASYLUM.
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1868, the Commissioners presented a detailed statement of the capacity of the buildings constituting the Lunatic Asy- lum. This was stated to be sufficient for 576 patients, but no less than 1,035 were in custody at that time, and the year 1869 closed with 1,181, of whom 150 were lodged in the Workhouse. Having received the requisite authority from the Legislature, the Commissioners have just completed the erection of a new Asylum building on Ward's Island. a few hundred yards west of the Inebriate Asylum. The edifice, a three-story English Gothic, with Mansard roof, was constructed of brick and Ohio free-stone. The central section and two wings present an imposing front of 475 feet, with accommo- dations for 500 patients. It has cost in its erection $700,000. This building, which may still be indefinitely enlarged, con- tains every improvement yet devised for the safety and com- fort of the insane, and will no doubt be a credit to the metropolis. But as over 1,300 patients were committed to the care of the Commissioners during 1870, they still need another Institution. In the early history of the Asylum, convicts from the Penitentiary were largely employed in taking charge of the lunatics. A violent prejudice naturally arose against this class of nurses, both among the patients and their friends, which very seriously detracted from the success of the Institution. It was difficult convincing the insane that they were not in prison when constantly sur- rounded by convicts. But it was found that for the restora- tion of reason, the ministries of persons eminent for their in- telligence and goodness were required, and not of those whose whole career had shown an abandonment of the very quality they were now employed to restore. In 1849, the power to appoint and remove attendants was vested in the physician, from which period there has been a steady advancement in the management of the Institution. In 1850, a night watch- man was appointed; the Croton water was introduced ; knives and forks, and various other articles of comfort were supplied in the halls; and hired attendants substituted for convicts in most of the departments. The halls were many years without lights, and the inmates compelled to retire early or spend their evenings in the dark; but in 1868, oil lamps were introduced, which have since been displaced by gas fixtures, marking an important change in the history of the Institution. In the early years of the Asylum scurvy fre- quently prevailed, adding greatly to the mortality of the
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NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
inmates. With the abundant supply of fresh vegetables and other dietary and sanitary regulations, this form of disease has now almost entirely disappeared. During 1868, eight deaths occurred from scorbutic difficulties, and in 1869 but one.
The rate of mortality in 1847 amounted to 19 per cent .; in 1848 to 13 per cent .; in 1849 cholera prevailed in the Insti- tution, and over 23 per cent. of the inmates died. In 1868, the death rate was 83 per cent., and in 1869, but 7 per cent. In the autumn of 1864, typhus fever appeared in the Asylum, which caused the death of the chief physician, and of many subordinate officers and some of the inmates. The number of recoveries are usually reported in Institutions of this kind, though it is a matter very difficult to correctly ascertain. Of the 905 treated during 1852, 208 were discharged "recov- ered," 90 ."improved," and ten "unimproved." The number reported " cured " amounted at that time to 23 per cent. of the number under treatment. In 1868 the cured amounted to 31% per cent. of all under treatment, and in 1869 to 27 per cent. The smaller percentage of cases during the last year was caused by the over-crowding of the Asylum, and the necessity of dismissing many as "improved " who would soon have been pronounced " cured," if space had allowed them to remain.
A very large proportion of those admitted into the Institu- tion are in a diseased or debilitated condition. Some have organic diseases of the lungs, others are epileptic, or an- æmic. As they are usually unwilling to submit to thorough examination and treatment, the acumen and skill of the med- ical attendants are often severely taxed. Careful medical treatment is administered in all such cases, and a history of the treatment of each case written in a book and preserved. But having counteracted with medicine manifest physical disease, the treatment becomes simply moral. The patients are classified according to the nature of their disease and their susceptibilities. Appropriate employment is provided for those who have sufficient strength, and can be induced to labor with their hands, mental toil for others, and sufficient recreation and sources of amusement for all. A large amount of labor is annually performed by these persons. The men toil at building sea-wall, assist in the erection of buildings, follow their respective trades in the shops, and are made generally useful around the grounds. The women are no less useful. The report of the matron shows that during
NEW YORK CITY LUNATIC ASYLUM. 549
1869, 5,561 articles of bedding and clothing were made by them, and 3,208 articles repaired. Some work at embroidery, and in the preparation of fancy articles for the benefit of the " Amusement Fund" of the Institution. Some sort of gen- eral amusement is now provided once each week to which the more orderly class are invited. These consist of stereo- scopic views, readings, lectures, and musical entertainments. Concerts of sacred and secular music are often held. Books and the periodicals of the day are furnished to those who have any inclination to read. Some volumes are worn out with constant reading. But the most acceptable amusement to the great mass of patients is said to be dancing. A num- ber of those most likely to be benefited by the exercise are assembled weekly in the gymnasium, and spend the evening dancing, which appears to be enjoyed by those who look on as much as by those who participate. The holidays are made seasons of rich and varied entertainment to those suffi- ciently quiet and thoughtful to enjoy them.
While the different forms of insanity present a subject of profoundest study, the various and often changing halluci- nations, coupled with the freaks and idiosyncrasies of the individual sufferers, afford matters of lively amusement. On the return of reason, some awake as from a Rip Van Winkle sleep, to finish the conversation or complete the task that occupied them many years before, when they were plunged into insanity. Some during their mental disorders are trans- ported to higher planes of thought, and are gifted with a power of conception, and a skillfulness of utterance, hitherto unknown.
They declaim with great ability on profound subjects, and quote from memory whole chapters of standard works, which had been long forgotten. . In this state of mind they compose poetry, and various other contributions for the press. The most amusing freaks occur among those suffering under what is termed perfect mania. With these all power of correct reasoning is suspended-one hallucination possessing · the whole mind, though a hundred arguments lie all around to convince to the contrary. Dr. Rush mentions a man who persisted that he had a Caffre in his stomach, who had got into it at the Cape of Good Hope, and all the world could not convince him to the contrary. A maniac during the French Revolution insisted that he had been guillotined-that after his execution the judges had ordered him restored, and that
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NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
the clumsy executioner had placed the wrong head on him, , which he had worn ever since. We saw a fine looking man at this Asylum who believed himself Jesus Christ, and was ingeniously inventing a language to address the world. Some believe themselves kings, queens, or angels; to be the Father of Light, the queen of heaven, the Virgin Mary, or the sister of Jesus. Inflated with such lofty conceptions they not infrequently remain speechless for months, counting it a dis- grace to stoop to common mortals. We heard a friend describe an insane lady who for many months fancied herself a china teapot. She would sit for hours each day with her left hand resting on her hip, the arm bowed a little behind her to represent the handle, while the right arm she held upward in the opposite direction, to represent the spout. During all those weary months she suffered indescribable fear, lest some un- wieldy foot should kick her over and she be broken to pieces.
As in the Almshouse and Penitentiary, most of the inmates are of foreign blood. Of the 680 admitted in 1869, only 157 were born in the United States, 308 came from Ireland, 156 from Germany, and 17 from England. Of the same class we notice that 375 were Roman Catholics, 206 Protes- tants, 27 Jews ; the faith of the remaining 72 was unknown. Of these 284 were married, 267 single, and 46 widows. Of the 680 admitted 298 were males, and 382 females. 210 were between the ages of thirty and forty, 184 between twenty and thirty, 129 between forty and fifty, 30 were under twenty and. 9 over seventy years of age.
The net expenditures of the Institution during 1869 were $128,780.59 or a trifle more than twenty-eight cents per day for each inmate. The expenses of 1870 exceeded $152,278.75.
The medical board is composed of cultivated physicians who with the accommodations now provided are certain to make the Asylum take rank among the noblest public chari- ties of the world.
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IMMIGRANT HOSPITAL.
CHAPTER VII.
INSTITUTIONS OF WARD'S ISLAND.
COMMISSIONERS OF EMIGRATION.
THE Board of Commissioners of Emigration consisting of six citizens of the State of New York, appointed by the Gov- ernor with the consent of the Senate, to which are added as ex-officio members, the Mayors of New York and Brooklyn, the Presidents of the German Society and of the Irish Emi- grant Society, was first organized May 5th, 1847. The Legis- Iature has at different times enlarged and modified its powers.
The Commissioners are charged with the reception of all immigrants landing at New York, their protection from swindlers, and also the protection of the State from financial burdens in consequence of their arrival.
The Act of April 11th, 1848, requires each member of the . Commission to annually depose before a proper magistrate that he has not directly or indirectly been interested in the
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NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONA.
business of boarding immigrants, or in their transportation to any part of the country, that he has received no profit or ad- vantage through the purchase of supplies, granting of con- tracts, licenses, or privileges, the employment of officers, agents, etc. Hence the Commissioners not only serve with- out salary, but are so hemmed in by legislation that no out- side "advantage " can be secured without perjury.
In 1855, the Commissioners leased Castle Garden, for the general landing depot of immigrants. This occupies the extreme southern point of Manhattan Island. .
In May, 1807, this site was by the city ceded to the United States government for the erection of a fortification, but after the "Battery" had been erected, it was found that the foundations were not sufficiently strong for heavy ordnance, and it was reconveyed to the Corporation by Act of Congress passed March 30th, 1822. The building was subsequently used for the public reception of distinguished strangers, and for concerts, operas, public meetings, the annual fairs of the American Institute, and similar purposes, until leased by the Commission. 'The total number of passengers landed at New York during the year 1869 amounted to 307.454, of whom 48,465 were citizens; and 258,989 aliens. Of these 257,188 stepped on shore at Castle Garden. The arrivals during 1870 were considerably less, in consequence of the European war, amounting to 255,485, of whom 72,356 were from Germany, 65,168 from Ireland, and 33,340 from Eng- land. Over five-sevenths of all the immigrants entering the country land at New York. On the arrival of a vessel con- taining immigrants at the Quarantine Station (six miles. below the city), it is visited by an officer of the Boarding Department, who ascertains the number of passengers, the deaths if any during the voyage, the amount and character of the sickness on board, the condition of the vessel in respect to cleanliness, etc. Ile also receives complaints, of which he makes report to the General Agent and Superintendent at Castle Garden. This officer remains on board the ship during her passage up the Bay, to see that, the law prohibiting communication between ship and shore before immigrant passengers are landed is enforced. On casting anchor con- venient to the landing depot he is relieved by an officer of the Metropolitan Police force, and the passengers are transferred to the Landing Department. The Landing Agent, accom- panied by an Inspector of Customs, next proceeds to the.
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' COMMISSIONERS OF EMIGRATION.
vessel, where the baggage is examined, checked, and with the passengers transferred by barges to the Castle Garden pier.
Here the passengers undergo another thorough examination by a medical officer, to see if any have escaped the notice of the Health authorities at Quarantine, and if so, they are immediately transferred by a steamer to the Hospitals on Ward's or Blackwell's Island.
He also selects all blind persons, cripples, lunatics, or others likely to become a future charge, and who by law are subject to special bonds.
After this examination is passed, the immigrants are con- ducted to the Rotunda, a large roofed circular space in the centre of the Depot, with separate compartments for the dif- ferent nationalities. Ilere the name, nationality, former place of residence, and intended destination of each, with other particulars, are taken down.
Agents of the railroads are admitted, from whom tickets are procured to all parts of the country, also exchange brokers, who buy their foreign money. Boarding-house keepers of good character and licensed by the Mayor, are ad- mitted to the Rotunda. All these persons are under the scrutiny of the Commission, rendering extortion nearly im- possible. The depot also contains a telegraph office, by which the immigrant on landing can communicate with his friends in any part of the country without leaving the build- ing; also a letter-writing department, with clerks under- standing the different continental languages, who assist them in conducting their correspondence. A Labor Ex- change bureau has recently been added, which during the year 1869 furnished employment to 34,955 immigrants free of charge. From registered entries made in 1869, of the avowed destination of immigrants, the following is a summary : 85,810 reported their intended destination to be the State of New York ; 40,236 to be Pennsylvania and New Jersey; 15,613 to be New England ; 10,061 to be the Southern States ; 96,646 to be Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and California; and 8,822 to be Kansas, Nebraska, Canada, &n The alien immigration during 1863 was 45,303 in excess of the previous year, and 75,399 greater than the average of several former years. In regard to the nationality of these arrivals, Germany, Ireland, and England show the same pre-eminence and in the same rela-
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NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
tive order that they have since 1865, the first named having sent, of the number landed in 1869, 99,604, Ireland 66,204, and England 41,090, while all other countries contributed 52,090.
Arrangements were early made to establish an Emigrant Fund, to provide for sick and destitute emigrants until they should be able to support themselves, and by their industry add to the general prosperity of the country. A capitation tax of two dollars is now collected of each and all landing by the Commissioners, one-fifth of which they are required to set apart as a separate fund, for the benefit of each and every county in the State, except the County of New York, to be divided once in three months among them according to their claims for the relief of disabled immigrants, the re- mainder to be used by the Commissioners in the construc- tion and improvement of their buildings and grounds. On the 25th of May, 1847, the Commissioners leased three large buildings near Astoria, formerly occupied as the juvenile branch of the Almshouse department of New York, for a fever hospital and other purposes, but the inhabitants, in- censed at the project, assembled in disguise and destroyed the premises on the following evening. In the following De- cember, a portion of Ward's Island was leased, and subse- quently one hundred and twenty-one acres of it were pur- chased, with the whole of the water front toward New York City. A hand ferry connects the island with New York at One Hundred and Tenth street. About twenty different structures have been from time to time erected. The Ver- planck State Hospital is the chief building of interest in the group. It is constructed of brick, on an approved modern plan, and consists of a corridor 450 feet in length and two stories high, from which project five wings, 130 feet long and 25 wide, each two stories high except the central, which is three stories. This building is used exclusively for patients suffering with non-contagious diseases, and surgical cases. The corridors afford ample room for the exercise of conva- lescent patients. The corners of each wing are surmounted with towers containing tanks for water, which is distributed to the bath-rooms and closets attached to each ward. Pro- jecting from the corridor, in an opposite direction from the wings, is a fire-proof building which contains three boilers and the engine. A large fan, 14 feet in diameter, drives the hot air through 60,000 feet of pipe to all the departments
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