WAUPACA POST

May 24, 1894

 

INVESTIGATING THE HOME

 

The Sentinel’s Complete Report on the Matter

 

 

The following report of the investigation of the Veterans’ Home

Is from the Sentinel of last Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

 

 

[Thursday’s Sentinel]

            WAUPACA, Wis., May 15. – The G.A.R. investigating committee began the work of examining witnesses today, the session being held in the W.C.T.U. rooms at the Veterans’ Home.   The most sensational testimony of the day was given by Mrs. Brower who said that she had been given poison on one occasion by the Home nurse and several witnesses testified to cruelties in the hospital which had led up to the deaths of inmates.  The officials against whom these charges have been made will be given an opportunity to refute them and promise to do it fully.  Secretary Woodnorth, Supt. Caldwell and President Marston of the Board of Trustees were notified to report to the committee all goods purchased from firms in which they were interested since the establishment of the Home.  The examination is being held with open doors.

THE FIRST WITNESS

            The first witness of the day was G.W. Northrup, a crippled veteran, who has been in the Home for over one year. He said when he first entered the Home Capt. Caldwell gave him a room alone in Marden Hall, as he had to be by himself in order to “take off his wooden leg and machinery”.  The former occupant of the room, however, returned in fifteen days and Mrs. Caldwell came to him and said, “My man has returned to the Home and you will have to go to the big ward and take a cot.”  “The cot was hardly as large as I was,” continued the witness, “and there was scarcely room for me to care for my crippled limb.  The mattress was old and the springs broken.  I complained to Mrs. Richardson, the assistant matron, but she ignored me.  I then laid the matter before Supt. Caldwell, but it was not remedied. I did not have a night’s sleep for three weeks after that until a kind old soldier’s wife gave me a straw mattress she had paid for herself.  I tried to get the home physician, Dr. Manchester, to examine me, but he refused to do it. I tried to find a place in Waupaca where I could board for $12 a month – my pension money – but failed.  I then called on Mr. Woodnorth and he said he would have Dr. Manchester, who is his brother-in-law, examine me.  The doctor examined me and got me a nice sleeping place.  At one time I broke my artificial leg and had to send it to St. Louis to be fixed.  I walked on crutches only with great difficulty, weighing 260 pounds, and fell one day in the dining room on my broken hip, causing an abscess.  I suffered the most intense pain from the abscess for four weeks and begged the doctor to lance it, but he refused.  One evening in desperation I gouged a hole in it with my thumb and forefinger.  Some of my comrades telephoned for the doctor, but he did not arrive until 12 o’clock the next day.  I have seen patients shamefully treated at the hospital, especially by the steward and one of the orderlies, Milton Chichester.  They were particularly brutal to Neidibold Little, a poor man who had softening of the brain.  The man was tractable when kindly treated, but they would handle him and speak to him roughly.  He would shrink from them and then they would seize him violently and drag him along after them.  At one time he needed washing and the steward threw him into a tub of ice cold water in the month of November.  When he came out of the bath he shook like a leaf.  I  have seen Chichester slap him several times and he got so he was constantly dodging when he walked around.  The man got sick – he could not move, but they would take him and drag him out to the water closet, leaving him sitting there.  When he was first taken sick and was unable to sit alone they tied him in a chair and left him there with his head hanging.  He was attacked with pneumonia shortly after his cold bath and never left his bed again, his death occurring about a month later.

A STORY OF CRUELTY.

            “There was another inmate named O’Kane, who was sick in the hospital.  During his sickness they took him out of bed against the earnest protest of the comrades who knew it was not right.  They left him in the closet where he became unconscious and was left for fifteen or twenty minutes.  The thermometer in the hospital used to register all the way from forty-eight to eighty-nine degrees.  Chichester wanted to take the man out of bed one day but one of the comrades interfered, saying he would not stand by and see O’Kane murdered.  Shortly afterward O’Kane died.  I believe his death was hastened by his treatment in the hospital. 

            “Another man, Mathew Mather, was in the hospital, out of his head, and they allowed him to go around with very scant clothing, sit in drafts and at windows, and he died very suddenly.  I frequently remonstrated with the steward and orderly, but the only answer I ever got from them was, ‘What do you know about it?’

            “Another patient, ‘Uncle Brown’, was always cold and I have felt his hands when they were like two chunks of ice.  He died also.  The steward and orderly in the hospital when they spoke to the patients were cross, irritating and overbearing.  Dr. Manchester, as a rule, visited the hospital every other day.

            “Patrick McCormick, who is entirely helpless from paralysis, being unable to put his hands to his mouth, is rushed off to bed in a hurry every night by Chichester whom I have seen several times take his trousers off.  I have heard McCormick beg him for God’s sake not to handle him so roughly, but it was useless.  The general ward of the hospital was so cold some mornings that a well man could not have dressed in it without fear of being made sick.  The steward was sharp enough to always have the place heated up when the doctor was expected.  One man was ordered to drink hot water every morning at 6 o’clock, but could hardly ever get it from the hospital.  I was sent back to Marden Hall and given a rickety old bedstead which broke down the first night.  I slept on the floor and got sick as a result.”

MRS. BROWER’S STORY.

            Mrs. Sarah Brower, who has been in the Home since October 1893, when asked what her grievance was said that on one occasion Mrs. Richardson, the assistant matron, had called her a liar because she said she did not know a certain woman Mrs. Richardson claimed she did know.  Mrs. Richardson also accused her of insulting the hired help, and had ordered her out of her own room and she had refused to go.  She (Mrs. Brower) then went to headquarters and reported the whole matter.  Mrs. Caldwell told her she did not believe her story and Capt. Caldwell told her there were several old women in the building where she lived who were not fit to associate with dogs.  Capt. Caldwell, she said, had been in the habit of threatening to dishonorably discharge them on the least provocation.  “Mrs. Curtis,” said the witness, “was dishonorably discharged, as Capt. Caldwell said, for the good of the Home, but she had never committed any offense; in fact, she was sick and seldom left her bed from the time she came to the Home until she was discharged.  The meat they gave us was so tough it would take a wolf to chew it. They gave Mrs. Curtis victuals that were not fit for a sick person to eat and I went and bought her food from the restaurant.  This happened in cold weather.  Sometimes we had fire and sometimes we had none, and almost froze to death.  Last month Mrs. Caldwell wanted me to do some sewing, and I told her I could not as my eyes were very bad, and I couldn’t see.  While I was gone to church she unlocked the door and put the sewing chair in my room.  She told me if I did not do the sewing I would get dishonorably discharged.  A friend offered to do the sewing for me, but Mrs. Caldwell told her she would not be allowed to do it.  I paid Mrs. Peckham 25 cents to do the sewing for me as I could not possibly do it myself.  Policeman Stewart came to my room with a petition to keep Mr. and Mrs. Caldwell in and shove out Mrs. Richardson, Mr. Richardson, Mrs. Cleveland, the nurse, and Dr. Manchester.  He asked me to sign the paper and I asked upon what conditions.  He said to keep Capt. Caldwell in.  He said I should have money to go and see my daughter if I signed it.  I refused to sign and the steward said that I would be sorry for it.  When I objected to his coming into my room he said he could enter it whenever he pleased.

            “Sometimes we had a Mrs. Brewer, who was quite sick.  She was not able to sit up, but in spite of this the attendants would take her out of bed and push her in the dining room.  She died five days after I saw her pushed this way for the last time.

THOUGHT SHE WAS POISONED.

            “On April 15, I was made deathly sick by a powder given to me by the nurse and thought I was poisoned.  Imagining that I was about to die I went to a friend and told her if I should die to have my stomach taken out and analyzed.  The doctor and the nurse were very kind to me.  Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Baldwin, who was an inmate of the Home two years, but who left with her husband two years ago, said that they were driven from the Home by unkindness to her and her husband, a cripple.  They had a pension and thought it best to go away and have a home of their own.

            “When I first came here I was allowed to eat in the cottage with my husband,” said the witness, “but after he had written a letter of complaint which had been sent back here to the authorities, I was ordered to go to the general dining room.  My husband was not able to leave his room.  The letters referred to were advising people who had been ill-treated here not to return.  Mrs. Caldwell treated me with great kindness until the matter came up.  I was now singled out.  When ordered to the general dining room there was a general order to that effect.  We were given plenty to eat, but sometimes the meat was tainted and other times not well cooked, but even at that we had an abundance.”

THE COOK’S STORY.

            Albert Wilson, cook in the old people’s building, said:

            “Sometimes it has been very pleasant for me here and sometimes very unpleasant.  One day I cooked some eggs for Mrs. Alfreds, an inmate, not knowing it was against the rules.  Mrs. Richardson came in and scolded me.  One dinner hour is 5 o’clock, but the postmaster came any time from 5 to 7 o’clock.  One day I failed to keep some toast for him and Mrs. Richardson scolded me.  Again on another occasion she accused me of abusing the help, which I had never done.  I gave notice of resigning once, but did not do so and since then it has been very unpleasant.  Sometimes I have been treated more like a dog than a man.  I have not spoken a disrespectful word to any one since I have been in the building.  I never reported irregularities to Supt. Caldwell, because I did not like to report against anybody.”

            Wilson said he had never seen better meals and supplies than were used at the Home.

CRUELTY TO A CRIPPLE.

            “I pray to God that I may be able to get out of the Home, because I have seen the sick in the old people’s building treated so cruelly. Mrs. Brewer was forced to go to the dining room table three days before she died by the hired help.  She asked them to let her rest a minute, but they refused.  She could hardly sit up, and nearly fainted at the table.  She was a cripple, using a crutch, but Mrs. Richardson forbid her to put her hands on the floor to support herself.  After dying Mrs. Brewer’s body lay thirty-six hours in the filth of the bed where she had died before being washed.  I think Mrs. Richardson is a heartless woman, and I would not stay under her administration if I had to beg my bread.  When Mrs. McNeil was discharged last winter she was so sick she could not get along with Mrs. Richardson and had to go.  Mrs. Caldwell and the nurse escorted her out of the building and put her in a cutter.  I signed a petition to the Board of Trustees asking that Superintendent and Mrs. Caldwell be retained at the Home, and Mrs. Richardson be discharged.  Policeman Stewart brought the petition and told me Mrs. Richardson would certainly have to walk the line when the board met again.  With this understanding I signed the petition.  The only thing I know about Mrs. Brower being poisoned was when I saw her having spasms and heard afterwards a powder the nurse had given her was poison.  I have heard rumors of several mysterious deaths around here, but do not believe it.”

            Nelson A. Steward, chief of the Home police, took the stand.  He said he had known of a petition being circulated during the last month asking for the restoration of Capt. and Mrs. Caldwell.  He had received the petition from Comrade Burlingame.  He had first seen it two or three weeks ago. He took the petition into the old people’s building and got some signatures.  He had authority to go into the building in the line of duty.  He knew at that time a G.A.R. committee had been appointed to investigate the Home, but he did not tell Mrs. Richardson who was in charge, his object in visiting the building.  He did not ask her to sign the petition. “I told the people I spoke to,” said Steward, “that they could sign the petition if they chose, but that there was no compulsion and no enmity would be incurred if they failed to do it.  I knew inmates of the building had complained about the treatment they received. I did not know whether Capt. Caldwell knew I had the petition and was getting signatures.  I said nothing to him.  We wanted to do this as inmates to show our good will toward Capt. and Mrs. Caldwell. Several persons refused to sign it. I did not offer anyone’s expenses for a trip if they signed.  I did not say to anyone that Mrs. Richardson would go as soon as the board of trustees met.  The petition was addressed to the Investigating committee.

            “What was your motive in attempting by this petition to forestall the action of this committee?” asked Mr. Clawson.

            “I had no such motive,” answered the witness.

            The witness then stated that he did not know who wrote the petition.  He did not know that Burlingame did not write it, nor did he know whether Adjt. Cooley wrote it.

            The petition was here produced.  In answer to question by Col. Watrous, Steward said he had offered Mrs. Brower no consideration to sign the petition, but said Mrs. Brower told him if Capt. Caldwell would sign an affidavit to get her husband a pension she would sign the petition.

            At this point Mr. Clawson brought out from Officer Steward that he did not want Mrs. Richardson to know anything about the petition.

AGT. COOLEY WROTE IT.

            E.M. Cooley, agent of the Home, stated he had received his appointment from the Board of Trustees and acted as superintendent during Capt. Caldwell’s absence.  He testified to having written the petition.  He wrote it at the request of several inmates.  He knew Capt. Caldwell was aware the petition was circulated.

            Mary Bergerine, employed in the old people’s building, said that Albert Wilson, the cook, got cranky spells and had not treated her well, being cross and ugly.  She never threw a pail of water over the floor as alleged by Wilson.

GOODS TAKEN AWAY AT NIGHT.

            Lewis Peisker said that last winter he was detailed to attend a sick man while he was suffering from heart disease and a double rupture.  He could hardly walk at times and asked to be relieved, but his request was not granted.  He was finally taken down and his sick wife had to wade through the snow every day to get him food.  He related how he had late one night seen a wagon drive up and carry off several rolls of carpet which had been bought for the Home.  He had seen other loads of goods hauled away at the dead of night.

            The committee adjourned at ten o’clock tonight.  The investigation will probably last all the week.

ELECTION OF HOME TRUSTEES.

            At their meeting today the trustees re-elected the following officers:  President, Maj. Joseph H. Marston, of Appleton; vice president, A.O. Wright, Madison; secretary, J.H. Woodnorth, Milwaukee; treasurer, Maj. R.N. Roberts, Waupaca; chaplain of the Home, the Rev. Enoch Perry, Waupaca.  Other members of the board are:  A.J. Smith, Amherst; A.F. Chase, Oshkosh, and Commander Watrous, ex-officio.  It was resolved that hereafter all supplies for the Home be bought in open market.

 

*****

 

[Friday’s Sentinel.]

            WAUPACA, May 17. – The investigating committee was busy from 9 o’clock this morning until 10 o’clock at night listening to testimony regarding the management of the Veterans’ Home.  Mrs. Caldwell, the matron, was present throughout the proceedings, and cross-examined witnesses on various points, causing them to contradict themselves in some statements.  Late this afternoon Pension Agent Woodnorth was called before the committee, and Mr. Clawson put him through a critical and severe examination as to the purchase of drugs from his store and the appointment of his brother-in-law as surgeon of the Home.

            When the examination began G.W. Northrup was recalled and testified that Attendant Chichester of the hospital, was very often drunk while on duty, being under the influence of liquor one-third of his time.  He said Steward Mortell was an “ignorant pup and a mischievous man.”  Peter H. Brewer was recalled and stated that about a year ago George L. Richardson, husband of the assistant matron, was “carrying on with a girl employed in the kitchen of the old people’s building,” and that they were “kissing all over the house”  He wanted to break the thing up, and went and told all the comrades about it.  The officials heard of his having told of it and he was called to headquarters and asked by Mrs. Caldwell if he could swear to what he had told.  He said he could, but afterwards it was given out from headquarters that he had denied everything.  After that Mrs. Richardson abused him, calling him “an old liar” and another name.  At one time, while a corpse was lying in one room of the old people’s building, “the hired girls cut up and carried on,” making a great deal of noise in an adjoining room.  When some of the veterans complained to Mrs. Richardson she said her girls could have all the fun they wanted, even if the old soldiers had to go somewhere else to eat.

A COLD DINING ROOM.

            Daniel McFetridge testified that last winter with the thermometer 12 degrees below zero, there was no fire in the dining room, and the inmates suffered intensely.  This happened morning after morning.  No morning throughout the winter was the dining room warm.  While he and his wife were in the old people’s building, sick, they could not get delicate food, he said, and then he acknowledged that he had never asked for it.  He said that three days before Mrs. Brewer died, two attendants forced her to go to the dining room.  She prayed them for God’s sake not to make her go, but they insisted upon it.

HE COULDN’T REMEMBER IT.

            “Do you not remember me taking delicate food to your wife several times?” asked Mrs. Caldwell.

            “No, I can’t recall it,” said the witness.

            Mrs. Cary, recalled, in answer to questions from Mrs. Caldwell, said her husband had never failed to get an order for food when he wanted it.  She had taken friends into the dining room several times – sometimes as many as three to a meal.  She had cooked on a gas stove in her room, against the rules of the Home.

            Mrs. Coon, a former inmate, said at one time she was forcibly ejected from her room; that there had been no carpet on her floor, and that the matron had ordered her to keep her door open all the time.  After this she feared having another row with the matron, and left the Home.

            Cross-examined, she said it was against the rules to keep her door locked.

NOT FIT FOR A DOG TO EAT.

            Mrs. Elizabeth Austin, who left the Home two years ago, said she had been mistreated while an inmate.  There were three days that she had no meats, because she could not walk to the dining room. Her clothes had been ruined by being washed at the Home laundry. Some of the food given to her was not fit for a dog to eat.  For twenty days she had no breakfast, because she was too sick to get up and go after it, and when her husband asked to get it for her he was refused.  “When the inmates were heating bad meant,” said the witness, “the bosses were eating ham and eggs.”

            James Austin, husband of the former witness, said that while in the Home he was detailed to work when he was not able to work.  He did not have as good food as the hired help.  He was detailed once to saw wood when he had an excuse for not working from the doctor.  He sawed the wood, but another sick man, (Kinney) who also had an excuse, refused to saw wood, and he was discharged from the Home.  The doctor instructed him to get food for his sick wife from the kitchen, but Mrs. Caldwell countermanded the order.  One noon meat was served for dinner which smelled so bad that nobody could eat it. The same meat was served for supper that evening, and the next morning it was cut up, fried with onions and bread, and given to the soldiers for breakfast as sausage.  After the authorities refused to send his wife’s breakfast to her room he had to buy food for her.  Mrs. Caldwell had given as a reason for not allowing his wife’s breakfast to be sent to her room, that she was able to go to the dining room.  He had gotten back pension pay to the amount of $1,319, and thereupon had been notified that the state could no longer support him, and he was given a dishonorable discharge.

 

LISTENING AT THE DOORS OF INMATES

            Christina H. Wagner testified to having been unable to get proper food and medicine while she was sick.  She said that some nights the rooms in the old people’s building were so cold that it was impossible to sleep in them.  She said that neither Mrs. Caldwell, Mrs. Richardson nor Mrs. Anderson, the nurse, had called at her cottage for over a year.  This statement was denied by Mrs. Caldwell and Mrs. Anderson.

            Erastus L. Brower said that the old soldiers were expected to sit with folded arms while they were being abused by the officials, and they were not allowed to answer the abuse bestowed upon them nor to enter a protest.  Mrs. Anderson had told him last week that she could say what she pleased to them, but they had no right to answer back.  He had caught Mrs. Anderson listening at the doors of the rooms of inmates of the old people’s building.  Mrs. Richardson had “pitched into his wife and abused her,” and had misrepresented things about them to Captain and Mrs. Caldwell.  They always had plenty of food, but sometimes it was not very good.  A number of things had been stolen from his room while he and his wife were away.  Brower denied Policeman Steward’s evidence to the effect that Mrs. Brower had promised they would sign the petition requesting the return of Superintendent Caldwell if Mr. Caldwell would help them get a pension.  When the police officer left he told Brower he would regret not having signed the petition.  Brower said he did not believe his wife was given poison purposely, but got it through a mistake.

            Timothy Cronin, an inmate for two years, testified that a Mrs. Burns, who had died in the old people’s building, had been left by the nurse to die sitting in a chair, where she had breathed her last.  Before her death Mrs. Burns had instructed him, in the presence of witnesses, to send two of her trunks containing clothing, to the Orphan’s Home at Fond du Lac, and had given him certain things around the room.  Mrs. Richardson, however, compelled him to give up the trunk keys, saying: “The Home has a better right to her clothes than anybody else.”  When he went to get the trunks to ship them he was given one old trunk which had never belonged to Mrs. Burns, and which had nothing but old rags in it.  The other trunk might not have been the other one left by Mrs. Burns.  He refused to accept the trunk filled with old duds, and they gave him another one, which, however, was not one of Mrs. Burns’ trunks. One of the trunks left by her, he said, for the orphans, was never taken from the Home grounds.  He said that everything had been pleasant around the Home until Mrs. Richardson had been installed as assistant matron. He believed her to be responsible for all the present trouble.

            Cross-examined by Mrs. Caldwell, he said he did not know the contents of one of the trunks sent to Fond du Lac.

TRUSTEE WOODNORTH TESTIFIES.

            Pension Agent Woodnorth came before the committee armed with books and papers.  He had been a trustee of the Home since 1888, and secretary of the board of trustees since then.  He said he submitted a record of the doings of the trustees since 1888 to the present time; also copies of all contracts made in behalf of the Home, and various other papers which Chairman Coe took charge of to be examined by the committee later.  Mr. Woodnorth said that the rules governing the grounds and regulating the admission and discharge of veterans had never been recorded in the books of the board of trustees.  There was no regular form of rules governing the superintendent.  His duties had been outlined in various resolutions adopted at different times by the board, and these were recorded in the minutes of the several meetings.  The board appointed the assistant matrons and the assistant superintendent.  Mrs. Richardson was appointed assistant matron by Captain and Mrs. Caldwell, which action was endorsed by the board.  Dr. Manchester was appointed the Home surgeon by the board of trustees.  Dr. Manchester was Mr. Woodnorth’s brother-in-law.  He did not know whether Captain and Mrs. Caldwell were related to any member of the board.  Supplies for the hospital were purchased by the surgeon and paid for by the board after the bills had been audited by the superintendent and adjutant.  The adjutant bought the general supplies for the Home.  E.N. Cooley, the present adjutant, was appointed on the recommendation of Maj. Marston, president of the board of trustees.  He was not a G.A.R. man, but his father and two brothers were in the war. No bond was required of the adjutant, as he never handled more than $100 at a time.  No one paid bills for the Home but the treasurer.  Bids had never been asked for in buying supplies.  Most of the coal had been bought in Milwaukee, but three or four car loads had been bought of J.H. Marston & Co., of Appleton, in which firm, however, President Marston was not interested.  The witness himself ordered the coal from Appleton.  The Home’s flour supply had been bought largely from a Waupaca mill in which the treasurer of the board of trustees was interested. It was the only flour mill in Waupaca.

PATRONIZED ONLY ONE DRUG FIRM.

            Drugs, Mr. Woodnorth said, had always been purchased at the store of Woodnorth & Whipple, in which the witness owned a half interest. The price of drugs was fixed by the Home surgeon and the person who sold them.  No drugs were bought from other Waupaca druggists.  Drug bills had been presented to the board in the name of Frank Whipple since 1892, at the suggestion of the witness.  “When the Home was started,” said Mr. Woodnorth, “it was penniless, and I offered to supply it with drugs that could be paid for at any time the Home was able.  Mr. Roberts volunteered to supply flour on the same conditions, and the board of trustees gladly accepted the propositions.  That was the way the Home began buying drugs from me.”

            No supplies, besides flour, drugs, paint and coal had been purchased from any firm in which any person was related to any of the trustees.  In the judgment of the witness no money could have been saved the Home by advertising for bids, because everything was bought at the lowest possible price as it was.  The gross amount spent for supplies during the year 1893, he thought, was about $15,000.  In 1893 the salary of the Home physician was increased from $700 to $1,000.  No attempt to get a cheaper doctor was made, as he was giving entire satisfaction to the Home management.  “The fact that he is a relative of mine did not influence me at all in his selection by the trustees.”

            When asked as to why an outsider had been selected to take charge of the Home post office Mr. Woodnorth said it was simply because the trustees did not think there was a man among the inmates who was in every respect qualified for the responsible position.  He continued:  “I had never seen nor heard of the present postmaster Mr. Tucker of DePere, until he was recommended to me for a place in the pension office, the G.A.R. post of DePere endorsing him very highly.  I was told that he was a cripple, the son of a deceased soldier who was wounded in the war, and I naturally took an interest in him.  It was impossible to put him in the pension office, so when the Board of Trustees decided they needed a man in the Home post office I recommended him to Supt. Caldwell and he was appointed.  I had no interest personally, politically or otherwise in the appointment, and any statements to this effect are utterly false and without foundation.

 

*****

 

[Saturday’s Sentinel.]

            WAUPACA, Wis., May 18 – The defense in the Veterans’ Home investigation had an inning today when considerable rebuttal testimony was taken.  The most important evidence to offset the charges of cruelty in the old people’s building was given by Miss Sarah Anderson, the nurse.  She was on the stand over two hours.  From the testimony of President Marston of the Board of Trustees and Adjt. E.N. Cooley, it was learned that no record of discharged soldiers was kept at the Home.  President Marston of the Board of Trustees was put on the stand this morning and questioned as to the policy of not requiring the adjutant of the Home to give bonds.  He said it had never occurred to him that a bond should be required of this officer, but there was room for argument on the question. He had known the present adjutant, E.N. Cooley, twenty years, and had implicit confidence in him.  He did not recall whether there was a rule providing for the disposition of the effects of a deceased inmate.  The power of discharge lay with the superintendent.

DIDN’T KNOW OF THE NEGLECT.

            “Are you aware that there is not a single record of the findings, decision, or recommendation or paper signed by anybody dishonorably discharging an inmate from the Home from its inception to the present time?” asked Mr. Clawson.

            “I am not, and if such is the case I am at a loss to know why the secretary has failed to make such a record.”

            As to the method upon a discharge by the Board of Trustees he said that the inmate complained against and the complainants were heard and the board then voted upon the case.  Many discharges had been made by the superintendent without the knowledge of the board, but in man cases the case had come before the board on appeal by the person discharged.  Frequently, when a person was discharged dishonorably he was allowed to remain at the Home until the board met and made his appeal.  Others were told to travel, and that was the last heard of them.

            “Do you know that when an inmate is dishonorably discharged every Home in the country is notified, so as to disbar him from entering any of them?”

            “Yes, I know that.”

            “Do you know that there is no record, finding or paper of any person dishonorably discharged from this Home when it could be proven in a court of law that an inmate had been so discharged?”

            “I cannot say that I do know it.”

            “Well, it is a fact,” said Mr. Clawson.

            “Do you think the officer in immediate command of the soldier should under any possible circumstances be allowed to summarily dishonorably discharge him?”

            “Since you use the word possible, I believe the superintendent has the right to discharge.”

            “Do you know whether the commander of any national Home has the right to so discharge a soldier?”

HAVE NO SUCH AUTHORITY.

            “I believe that they are so invested with power.”

            “Then it is my happy duty to inform you that no commander of any national Home has this high authority.”

            Maj. Marston qualified his statement that he believed the superintendent should have the power to dishonorably discharge by saying he should have the power to put the soldier off the grounds.  The witness said the board had formulated rules governing the purchase of supplies for the Home which he supposed to be in the secretary’s books.

            Explaining why some of the trustees had purchased supplies from firms in which trustees were interested, the witness said when the Home was organized Maj. Roberts and Mr. Woodnorth had furnished supplies to the Home without any return, and the Home’s trade in that direction had remained with them.  The witness had never furnished a dollar’s worth of goods to the Home from any firm in which he was pecuniarly interested.  He was not a member of the firm of J.H. Marston & Co. of Appleton.  He had not considered the Home a public institution, but rather a Home where the weary old soldier could rest.  He did not know that J.H. Woodnorth had held a half interest in the firm of Woodnorth & Whipple during the last three years.

            “Do you know that for four years all the printing of this institution has been done by a relative of J.H. Woodnorth?”

            “I was never aware of such a fact.”

            E.N. Cooley, adjutant of the Home, testified that dishonorable discharges were noted on the records of membership, that being the only record of them. No record was kept of charges, testimony, findings, conclusions or orders in cases of dishonorable discharges.  The notation in the record book was a memorandum made alongside the name of the inmate, being simply “discharged” on such a date.  There was nothing to prevent him entering the same against any inmate by mistake.  When inmates were dishonorably discharged he sent notices to twenty-eight different national and state Homes.

HADN’T HAD A BATH IN TEN YEARS.

            Mrs. Sarah Anderson, the nurse in the old people’s building, not an inmate of the Home, said she was employed by the matron of the home and was paid $25 a month by the Relief corps of Wisconsin, and received no salary from the Veterans’ Home.  Relative to the testimony given by Mrs. Parsons, witness said that woman’s charges that she ordered a sick patient to shut up was wholly false.  The statement that she asked for medicine and did not receive it for a week was equally as false.  In explaining the charge that Mrs. Brewer’s death was hastened by being forced to go to the dining room when she was unable to do so, the witness said that she attended both Mr. and Mrs. Brewer with all the care and attention possible. When she wanted to give Brewer a bath he objected, saying he had not had his feet wet in ten years.  By the doctor’s orders the nurse and steward of the hospital gave him a bath and cut his toe nails, which had grown an inch long and doubled up under his toes.  When she wanted to have him put on clean clothes Mrs. Brewer objected, saying she wanted to save the clean clothes to lay him out in.  Brewer insisted upon using the ingrain carpet as a cuspidor and also as a handkerchief.  When Mrs. Brewer was taken ill the witness cared for her diligently.  The statement that the Brewers had been neglected twenty-one days was utterly false and without foundation. She had prepared them oysters, soups, gruels, beef tea, jelly, etc.  She had never refused them any food, except such as was injurous, such as mince pie, etc.  She had conscientiously discharged her full duty as nurse toward the old people.  Brewer was often intoxi-cated and Mrs. Brewer was so at times.  When Mrs. Brewer was taken to the dining room, which was a week before her death, the doctor had pronounced her able to go and it was simply for the sake of exercise. She was kindly assisted by one of the attendants.  It would have been very much less labor to have carried food to her than assist her to food.  Mrs. Brewer was never allowed to lie in her own filth for several hours as charged.  Mrs. Caldwell did not tell the witness just before Mrs. Brewer’s death that she had better clean her up, because it would not look well.  The doctor visited Mrs. Brewer the day before she died.  The witness was with Mrs. Burns when she died, but did not know how many trunks she had.  She saw Mrs. Richardson get the trunk keys from Cronin, and, going to the trunk, get garments for laying out the dead woman.  Mrs. Richardson did not steal any of Mrs. Burns’ clothing, nor did she, the witness.

MRS. M’NEILL’S CASE.

            Coming to the statement of one of the witnesses that Mrs. NcNeill was put out of the Home in cold weather while she was sick, Mrs. Anderson said ti was true that Mrs. NcNeill was sick.  She was always sick.  Prior to going away she had been sick three weeks, during the last week being able to go to her meals.  She was a sufferer from consumption, and was in a feeble condition, suffering pain, but she was a fault-finder.

            “In your opinion, Mrs. Anderson, was it prudent to remove Mrs. McNeill in a cutter to Waupaca, from where she had to travel to Stevens Point?” asked Mr. Clawson.

            “I think she was able to take the journey.”

            The witness then stated that Mrs. McNeill violated the rules by using abusive language to the superintendent and matron.  Here Mrs. Burns was quoted as having applied epithets to the matron unfit for anyone to hear or read.  She kept this thing up for eighteen months.  Once she marched through the hall shouting:  “Captain Caldwell is an old back devil!” intending that he should hear it.  She was an improper person to have in the Home. Mrs. Anderson denied that she had ever been guilty of eavesdropping, nor had she ever said she could say anything she pleased to the inmates.  Mrs. Richardson had never said anything to the inmates.  She was their superior socially.  Mrs. Caldwell made frequent visits to the old people’s building, officially and socially.  She had never heard the hired help speak to the inmates in any but the kindest manner.  She had never seen any of the girls improper in their relations with the men.  Mrs. Richardson had never mistreated Timothy Cronin as that witness had alleged.  On one occasion Cronin got drunk, engaged in a quarrel with his wife, and when Mrs. Richardson interfered he abused her, shaking his fist in her face and calling her vile names.  Captain Caldwell had to be called to take him in charge.  The witness had never heard Mrs. Richardson swear or use unbecoming language.

            Peter Hansen, head cook at the Home, testified that he, his brother, the assistant cook, and the hospital steward had keys to the storeroom, and got supplies when they wanted them. When the adjutant, the night watchman, the cook at headquarters, or the hostler wanted anything from the storeroom he gave them his keys and let them get it.  Supplies were not checked off to them.  During his five years at the Home he had known tainted meat to be cooked only once.  That was about three weeks ago. After dinner all of it was thrown away.  It was no evidence that corned beef was bad because it smelled bad.

            “This,” said Mr. Clawson, “explains some of the complaints from inmates about meat.”

            The witness said he had seen some meat spoil at the Home, but it had never been cooked.  Not during the last three years had there been any ground for complaint against the meat furnished for the Home.  The bread was good.  Occasionally the potatoes were not well cooked which was the fault of the cook.  The witness said he was not required to be at the kitchen at any stated time in the morning, nor was the fireman.  The dining room had not been properly heated during the past winter, which was the fault of the fireman.  He could not say whether Captain Caldwell had known of it.  Improper heating was the result of negligence or carelessness of the fireman, Mr. Richardson.  Meats were always as good as they had been the past week.  No charge had been made for the committee.

HAD COOKED TAINTED MEAT.

            Hans Hansen, assistant cook, said he had cooked tainted meat a couple of times.  It was never cooked over and served again.  He had served potatoes that were not properly cooked, because people were waiting to eat.  Sometimes the lack of steam was due to the boiler being out of order.  Mrs. Caldwell had ordered him not to cook tainted meat two weeks ago.

            John Hewes, an inmate, stated that about five years ago Mrs. Jarrett, a cripple, was made to wash and hang out clothes when she was not able to stand up without support.  Her clothing was not sufficient to keep her warm.  She died about nine months after the witness entered the Home.  In answer to questions by Mrs. Caldwell, he said that neither he nor his wife had ever been neglected at the Home.

            Mrs. Anna Hewes corroborated her husband’s testimony.

            George L. Richardson, an inmate, testified that he had never broken open the door to a room occupied by Mrs. Alford, as charged.  He knew nothing about her being forcibly removed from her room, nor had she been abused by Mrs. Richardson.  The witness had charge of the furnaces, and knew no reason why the dining room should not have been kept warm last winter.  He had never been instructed to make the fire at any specified time.

 

*****

 

[Sunday’s Sentinel.]

            WAUPACA, Wis., May 19 – The testimony taken by the investigating committee at the Veterans’ Home today was largely rebuttal.  Mrs. Richardson, assistant matron, and Dr. Manchester, the Home surgeon, were examined at length as to charges against them and their departments.  Mrs. Ellen Peisker, an inmate, testified that Mrs. Caldwell told her she had the dirtiest cottage in the Home, ordered her to clean it and said she had to furnish her own things to clean with.  The matron had called her a liar and other names.  She could not keep her house clean because she was too busy sewing.  Part of the time she was too sick to do the work, but the matron told her to do it or she would be discharged.  The witness testified to having seen a wagon loaded with boxes and carpets leave the grounds one night two years ago.  She had been abused and called vile names by Mrs. Richardson. She and her husband had been required to furnish their own carpets and bedding.  Her present mattress was so old, torn and lumpy that it could not be used, but she could not get another from the Home.  A load of household goods had been sent to her by a Relief corps but she never received them.  Reverting to the wagonload of goods Mrs. Peisker, in answer to a series of questions, said that the wagon had made a tour of the Home grounds and in spite of the darkness she could see the ingrain carpet.  She knew it was ingrain.

SEARCHED HER TRUNK.

            Mrs. Emma Mathews, an inmate for five years, said she had been neglected and abused. She was sick eight weeks last winter, but neither the matron, assistant matron nor the superintendent called on her.  Her sickness was the result of having to sit in the cold dining room.  When she first moved into the cottage the bedding was removed by the Home authorities, and she had to purchase her own bedding.  At one time the matron had searched her trunk.

            “No power in the state can give the authorities the right to search the trunks of these people,” said Mr. Clawson.  “They are not paupers, nor are they locked up here.”

            Mrs. Mary Taylor, not an inmate, who lives about half a mile from the Home, said she knew a Mrs. Haha, who was an inmate and blind, and her husband, who was an invalid.  At one time Mrs. Haha had a hemorrhage of the stomach on a Thursday and from then until the following Sunday she had only string beans for food and could not eat them.  The witness had sent and got some milk for her from the Home kitchen, and as she was giving it to her Mrs. Haha said, “Oh, how good.” After drinking the milk she had a chill and turned purple.  “I remarked to some one in the room,” said the witness, “if this ain’t slow starvation I don’t know what is.  I brought a chicken from home for the sick woman the next day and her husband told me that he thought the authorities would fire me out on account of the remark I had made about starvation. When I called on Mrs. Haha a few days later she told me the doctor had left word for me to stay away from the Home for my own good.  I believe Mrs. Haha was starved, but I was told Mrs. Caldwell was not to blame for it.  I do not know where Mr. and Mrs. Haha went from the Home, but I heard they were recently seen begging in Milwaukee.”

MRS. M’NEIL HAD A TEMPER.

            Mrs. Belle A. Richardson, the assistant matron, testified that she was in charge of the old people’s building. “I knew Mrs. McNeil, the woman who was discharged and sent away in a cutter,” she said.  “When I first knew her I heard her use violent and abusive language against the matron of the Home. She seemed to like me at first, but when she found I could not be cajoled into doing tings for her she turned against me and would frequently assail me with vile language, saying among other things that I was doing Mrs. Caldwell’s dirty work.  She said the Home was so arranged as to be simply a prison. It was even worse than Libby prison, to use her own words.  She was loud in her denunciation of Capt. Caldwell.  Just before Capt. Caldwell ordered her discharged he talked to her three times, warning her to control her temper, as her conduct would result disastrously to herself. The captain himself handed her the discharge and she became very much excited, which resulted in an illness of several days.  The day she left she walked around the house considerable, and seemed to be quite strong.  Her physical condition was such she could make the trip before her without endangering her health.  It was to the best interest of the Home that she be discharged.  I never called Mrs. Brower a liar as she charged, nor did I attempt to belittle her. I have not quarreled with the inmates, though I have been very indignant over the way they have treated me and the Home. In my opinion the matter of neatness in the building was not overdone.  When Mrs. Burns died I got her trunk keys from Timothy Cronin and got the clothes to lay her out in, but nothing else. When I delivered the trunks to Cronin to be carried away he said one of them was not Mrs. Brower’s trunk, and I immediately got the proper trunk.  I am satisfied that both of Mrs. Brower’s trunks and their contents went to the Orphans’ Home at Fond du Lac as directed by her.  I have seen Cronin very drunk in the building.  There is no rule, order or regulation specifying what disposition I shall make of the effects of inmates who die. I would like to be relieved of the responsibility of taking charge of these effects.  Mrs. Brower’s death was not due to having been pushed to the dining room as testified to.  She was not pushed.  The doctor said she ought to go to the dining room in order to exercise her limbs.  She was simply assisted by two attendants.  She did not lie in filth for thirty-six hours.  The statement that I said Mrs. Caldwell had given me a new set of false teeth for getting rid of two old people in the building is absolutely false, so help me God.  Mrs. Peckham, who made several complaints against me, is very much given to gossip and is ignorant, being unable to read or write.  I never used vile epithets toward Mrs. Peisker, as she testified, nor to any one else.  I never told any inmates of the Home that they would get their discharge if they did or did not do certain things.  As a rule the old people’s building was very comfortable and warm.  There have been times when it seemed impossible to get up enough heat to keep the building uniformly warm throughout. I have tried at all times to avoid any cause for complaint on this score. It has been charged that since I became assistant matron the discontent and ill-feeling has been greatly aroused and increased among the inmates.  I can say that I have discharged my duties, some of them very unpleasant, to the best of my ability, and always with kindness, avoiding all needless offense, keeping in mind that the inmates were old soldiers and their wives and not paupers.  I am myself a soldier’s wife.

NEVER ORDERED A COLD BATH.

            Dr. D.L. Manchester, surgeon of the Home, testified to having diplomas from two medical colleges. The health of the inmates of the Home could not be compared with the health of adjoining communities, as they were old and feeble.  The hospital steward, Mr. Mortell, was appointed by the superintendent on the doctor’s recommendation.  He had not known of the nurse, Chichester, being drunk.  He was a little under the influence of liquor once.  The doctor had confidence in his ability.  “It is my great aim and ambition,” said the witness, “to have the hospital conducted in the best possible manner. It is a matter of professional pride with me to get the best attendants to be had in order to keep up the standard of the institution.  I do not know anything about Archibald Little having been forced to take a cold bath, which led up to his death.  I never ordered a cold bath for him or any other patient.  Little was demented and the grip was the cause of his death. He was 70 years old when he entered the Home. He had been running down for a couple of months. I think he did not die of pneumonia.  It is an order of the hospital that no profane language be used, and that there be no rough handling of patients.  No patient has ever complained to me of having been so treated.  Nothing of the kind has ever occurred to my knowledge.  I inspect all the meat used in the hospital, to see that it is good.  The only complaint I have heard about the hospital being too cold was during a recent storm, one of the furnaces having been allowed to burn out the day previous, as the weather was very warm.  I remember Mrs. McNeill.”

NO RECORD OF HER DISCHARGE.

            At this point Attorney Clawson made the discovery that Mrs. NcNeill, who, it was charged, had been dishonorably discharged in winter when she was too sick to go, had not been discharged at all.  In examining the adjutant’s record he found that no entry of discharge had been made against her name.

            “She is still an inmate of the Home,” said Mr. Clawson.  Continuing the doctor said that Mrs. McNeill was affected with lung trouble, but he had told the matron she was able to be moved.

            At this juncture the tin can from which Mrs. Brower said poison had been given her was introduced, and the doctor stated that its contents was anatikamnia, which was not poison. It was given very often to counteract a distressed stomach. It could not produce convulsions.  If any inmate was sick several weeks without getting attention it was his or her own fault.  As to Parsons’ statement that he had been neglected when sick, the doctor said he had called on Parsons, who had himself said that he did not want any medicine.  The witness knew of the abscess which Northrup told about having on his hip, and he did not think it safe to lance it, nor did Northrup want it lanced.  It finally broke of itself, and was not torn open by Northrup, as that witness stated.  All of Northrup’s testimony in regard to the hospital was false.  No one had ever been neglected in the old people’s building. He regarded Mrs. Anderson as an extraordinary good nurse. He bought the Home drugs from Woodnorth & Whipple, but had never been instructed to purchase them there.  He was a brother-in-law of Woodnorth, and was a soldier in the late war, and was wounded.  He considered Mrs. Caldwell an excellent nurse, and knew she gave a great deal of attention to the sick.  He got $1,000 a year for his services as Home physician.

HAD TO WORK WHILE SICK.

            Mrs. Mary Bragdon, a former inmate of the Home, now living in Waupaca, testified that she and her husband left the home on getting an increase of pension.  While in the Home she had been ordered to take up carpets while she was sick. Another time Mrs. Caldwell searched her trunk and claimed to have found articles which were not there.

            Dr. George H. Calkins of Waupaca, testified that he was a veteran of the war. Trustee Roberts had once asked him if he didn’t want to be surgeon at the Home, as Dr. Manchester did not want to do the work for less than $1,200 a year.  He said if Manchester did not take it he would accept the position for $750 a year.

            Mrs. Mary Sherwin of Waupaca, testified that while living at the Home once as a guest she had known food to be sent to an old sick couple which was not fit for a dog to eat, if the dog was respectable.  She finally went to Waupaca and got nourishing food for them.  She had furnished delicacies for about twenty old women at the place.  People had told her Mrs. Caldwell was down on her for caring for the sick.  Her husband erected one of the Home buildings, and had trouble with the trustees.

TOOK GOOD CARE OF HER.

            Mrs. Ann Elizabeth Fairchild, who had been in the Home six years, said she had been sick a great deal, and Dr. Manchester and Mrs. Caldwell had taken good care of her, but the officials neglected her now.  Mrs. Caldwell and the nurse were too busy to give her attention, and Mrs. Richardson did not like her.  She was not given suitable clothes.

            Stephen Bragdon, 73 years old, who was at the Home four years, said he took advantage of getting $8 a month pension to leave the Home because he did not like the way it was managed. Mrs. Caldwell had abused his wife, refused her clothes she needed, and shaken her fist in her face.

            Mrs. Elizabeth Stevens, who was in the Home for six years, said her husband had been dishonorably discharged because he had told the truth, but had been readmitted.  The witness thought that a Mrs. Howard, who died in the Home five years ago, would have lived if she had gotten proper attention.  The witness said Margaret Borwain had been discharged because she refused to work when she was sick.

 

*****

[Monday’s Sentinel.]

CAPTAIN CALDWELL TESTIFIES.

            Captain Columbus Caldwell, superintendent of the Home, testified that he was a soldier in the rebellion.  He explained that he got financially interested in the lake front store at the Home through having advanced $160 to the former proprietor, Mr. Nichols, an old soldier, who, with his partner, wished to operate it.  The partner of Nichols borrowed $175 from Mrs. Caldwell.  This man was found dead in bed one morning, and his heirs sold his interest in the store to witness for $85.  In the meantime Nichols had gotten too sick to work and had turned over his interest in the store to the witness in lieu of his original debt.

            “I have never worked harder in my life than in the six years that I have been here,” said the witness.  “For a long time I was my own hostler, policeman and everything else. My salary is $800 and my wife’s $400 a year, but we divide it up and take $50 apiece a month, I have flattered myself that the Home was a success in accomplishing the purposes for which it was originated. It has been my ambition to make it successful in every respect.  I never thought there was any more grumbling or kicking here than there would be in any community of the same size.  I expect some kicking on account of the peculiar class of people that we get as inmates. Two-thirds of the complaints made at this investigation were entirely new to me, and some of the evidence given dumbfounded me.  Some of the people making the startling complaints are those whom I have made every possible exertion to assist, and I had never before heard them make a complaint. When I came here it was with the determination to treat every old comrade just as I should expect to be treated were I an inmate of such a Home. A complaint that I considered worthy of notice I never let drop until I had ferreted it out.”  Captain Caldwell then explained that the cold complained of in the reception hall adjoining the dining room was due to the opening of the outside doors to let the people in.  The dining room had nearly always been warm.  There had never been any trouble about late meals until the new system of steam heating had been put in.  He had control of hiring the help, and made it a rule to give employment to the old soldiers if possible.  No civilian was hired where an old soldier could do the work.  He had carried out this policy sometimes when it had made considerable trouble for him. He had never failed to look into complaints made to him unless it was some little, trivial thing.  There were no written rules governing the disposition to be made of the assets of deceased inmates.  When an inmate died his or her effects were taken in charge by the authorities and sent to the relatives of deceased.

            He saw Mrs. Burns’ trunks packed and shipped to the Orphans’ Home at Fond du Lac, where she  had requested them to be sent.  He recollected getting up one night at 12:30 o’clock to go out and quiet Timothy Cronin, who was drunk.  Cronin had frightened the inmates of the old people’s building, and witness took him by the collar and led him to his room.  He afterwards got up, slipped out with his shoes in his hand, and “I was up all night trying to keep him quiet.  That morning I discharged him and afterward I agreed, with the sanction of the board of trustees, to take him back, upon condition that he apologize to the women he had insulted.”

MAJOR ROBERTS ON THE STAND.

            Major R.N. Roberts, treasurer of the Home, testified that he was in no way related to anyone connected with the Home.  He paid money out on the order of the secretary.  He was a member of a firm which had sold flour to the Home.  He himself had never purchased the flour; on the contrary, he had told his partner repeatedly that he did not wish to sell flour to the Home, but his partner had said that if they came after it he would not turn them away.  He did not consider it good policy for trustees to purchase goods for themselves.  He wanted to state that the Home had sometimes purchased flour elsewhere, but had invariably had occasion to complain about it. When the Home was first started it was penniless, and he advanced several thousand dollars worth of supplies and let the account run on.  He had advanced $1,000 at one time and $500 at another to the Home, and had negotiated paper put into his hands by the trustees.  The witness was not interested financially in the steamboat at the Home.  He had simply loaned the money to build it, to the present owner.

MORE ADVERSE TESTIMONY.

            Frank Aldrich, an inmate, testified that Chichester, the orderly at the hospital, had too much work to do, and consequently could not give as much attention to the sick as he should.  Sometimes he was rougher with the weak patients than he ought to have been. He had known the patients to complain of being cold when the thermometer was up to 95 degrees,  The witness said he would like to see the man or woman who could run a Home and suit everybody.

            Edward Barrett testified that he hospital was sometimes very hot and sometimes very cold.  In his opinion the steward of the hospital was “no good.”  He was lazy, and at times peevish. The witness had always found Captain and Mrs. Caldwell, Mrs. Richardson and Mrs. Anderson to be very courteous and kind to him and to other inmates.  He thought the only people who were not satisfied around the Home were the drunkards.

            Mrs. Levina Hurst said that her husband had been sick a great deal since they entered the Home four years ago, and she had had to buy him food, as the food they got from the Home was not fit to eat.  The witness said they had been abused by the hired help.

 

*****

 

[Tuesday’s Sentinel.]

            WAUPACA, Wis., May 21. – Supt. Caldwell, continuing his testimony, said in referring to the charge that he had used Home wood for his own use, that whatever fuel was consumed at his store was charged up against his personal account.  Since he had come to the Home he had done most of the purchasing of supplies by order of the board of trustees. No trustees had even told him where to buy flour or other provisions.  In making purchases he had never taken into account whether the person fro whom he bought was a relative of any one of the trustees.  As superintendent he did not handle any money.  Mr. Clawson asked the witness to explain why an inmate, James Norstrand, was discharged.  Norstrand was a fearful drunkard and the worst character who had ever come to the Home.  The witness had dealt with him mercifully, sitting up nights at a time with him. Almost every day he used violent and abusive language to other inmates.  He was an unfit man to be in the Home.  The witness had been register of deeds, superintendent of the poor and a member of the County Board of Waupaca Co.; had been in the state assembly twice and was one of the board which had charge of the construction of the Waupaca county court house.

            Speaking of the McNeil case the witness said she was an improper person to have in the Home.  He thought she was legitimately discharged.  He had heard most of the evidence in the investigation damaging to the Home and he was prepared to put in a general denial of each and every allegation of mismanagement.

MRS. CALDWELL ON THE STAND.

            Mrs. Ida L. Caldwell, the matron, testified that she had had opportunity to see and know that Mrs. Richardson, the assistant matron, had always discharged her duties faithfully and had always been kind to the inmates.  “Many things I require her to do,” said the witness, “necessarily give offense to the person disciplined and it is unpleasant for the disciplinarian.  The Home cannot be run without discipline.  In my judgment the complaints against her are without foundation. In ordering the inmates to clean their rooms she was obeying my instructions and had she not have done so I would have asked for her discharge.  As to Mrs. Anderson I know her to be a kind and efficient nurse and she had done far more for the old people here than was really required of her.  I have never heard her say an unkind or improper word to anyone. She is a woman of education and refinement.  Her husband is a crippled old soldier, an inmate of the hospital. I have always kept in mind that the inmates of the Home were neither criminals nor paupers. It would not be possible for me or any other matron of the Home to give much personal attention to every sick inmate.  There are nearly always fifteen to twenty sick persons.  I have gotten up in the middle of the night frequently to administer to the sick.  I have never used violent nor threatening language to any of the inmates.  I have no pets and am never partial in the distribution of the Home’s supplies.  The people who are making the bitterest complaints against me now are those who have received the most attention from me.

CHARGES DECLARED TO BE UNTRUE.

            “As to Mrs. Piesker’s charges of not having received furniture sent there for her cottage, I went to see that he furniture was all placed in her cottage.  Both floors were carpeted.  The same furniture is there today.  Supplies sent here by Relief corps are placed wherever the corps directs, and that accounts for the difference in the furnishings of some of the cottages and some rooms in the old people’s building.  I have to place the furniture where it is ordered, and cannot divided it up equally among the cottages.  All cottagers have the right to furnish their own cottages with whatever they care to buy.  I never knew that Mrs. Burns had such a shawl as the witness Cronin testified that Mrs. Anderson had taken from her effects.  I have tried conscientiously and faithfully to discharge the duties of the Home, complex as they are, to the best of my ability.  I have had no ambition but to make the inmates comfortable and happy here.”

            The witness broke into tears. Then explained that she had not given Mrs. Bragdon certain articles of clothing asked for because she did not need them. She never looked through Mrs. Bragdon’s trunk except when the woman was there and unlocked it of her own free will.  “After Mrs. Bragdon had been refused clothing,” continued the witness, “she went to the waiting room and exposed her person in an indecent manner to make the women think she was suffering for want of underwear.  Both the nurse and I visited Mrs. Bragdon during her sickness and I received a report as to her condition regularly every day.

            “As to Mrs. Sherwin she was simply living here while her husband was building some cottages on the grounds.  Mrs. Grant, whom Mrs. Sherwin accused me of having neglected, was a favorite of mine on account of her age, her dialect and her disability.  Mrs. Sherwin came one night and reported that Mrs. Grant had fallen on the floor. My husband went to her cottage immediately, but I could not go as I had a sick baby to look after. After that I visited her three ties a day and provided for her comfort.  I thought many times that Mrs. Sherwin meddled too much, trying to incite the inmates to insubordination.

            “The charge that Mrs. McNeill could not get proper food is untrue.  As to the statement that Mrs. Haha, while sick for four days, had nothing to eat but string beans, I myself prepared food for her, took it to her room and I know that she had good and sufficient food. She was well taken care of.  I was never unkind to nor ill-treated Mrs. Baldwin, as she charged. I have never neglected nor refused any of these people because they did not treat me well or grumbled.  Mrs. Koon was removed, and not by force as she swore, from a cottage, because there was a sick woman in it to whom she was not kind.  The only time I ever made her unlock her door was when I was on my inspection tour of the rooms.

            “In the case of Mrs. Austin, who said she went for twenty days without her breakfast – if she failed to have her breakfast, I did not know it. If as she says her clothes were ruined at the laundry, I know nothing about it.  I am not the laundress, but I try to provide competent help.  I am positive both of Mrs. Burns’ trunks were sent to Fond du Lac.

            “The statement from George Parsons that no one called to see him when he was sick is false.  I called myself regularly.  Mrs. H.K. Waddleigh asserted that she could not get what she wanted to eat when she and her husband were sick.  I know that several times I gook from headquarters such delicacies as I thought a sick person would relish and carried them to her and was constant in my attention to them.  There is no truth in Mrs. Waggoners’ statement that I did not call at her house for a year.  I called there several tiems during the year.

            “Mrs. Mathews claims that I came to her house and ransacked her trunk.  The facts are that Mrs. Treadwell told me Mrs. Mathews had a good many of the Home dishes in her trunk, but opened it when I threatened to have a civil officer search her cottage.  I found in it a market basket full of dishes belonging to the Home.

            “Mrs. Piesker charges me with having used vile language toward her. It is as unfounded as the accusations of the other witnesses.  I never addressed her in any but the most pleasant language.”

INMATES COMMEND THE HOME.

            Mrs. Sarah A. Hommest, an inmate for six years, testified that the charge that Mrs. Jarrett was neglected while sick and made to go out in the cold against her will at which time she caught pneumonia, which resulted in her death, was not true. The witness had cared for Mrs. Jarrett while she was sick and that woman had gone out to wash her own clothes of her own free will and without even the knowledge of those in authority.  Pneumonia followed the exposure at the bath tub and caused her death, but while sick she received every possible attention.  The witness said if she got as good burial as other inmates who had died she would be perfectly satisfied.  “If it was not for this Home I do not know what I would do,” she continued.  “The Lord has provided in it a good Home for old people and I think it cold not be better.  We have plenty of good food. Our board is paid and washing is done for us.  We have a kind matron and a good superintendent and receive a physician’s attention when we are sick. But for this Home I should probably have been in the poor house, as I am a widow and unable to work.  As a rule the dining room has been warm and comfortable. Sometimes in the morning it was cold.”

            Thomas McCrossen, who has been in the hospital a great deal, said that the care and attention given to him and his wife was all that any one could expect and desire.  They had always been treated kindly by the officials.  He never knew Mrs. Caldwell to speak an unkind word to any inmate of the Home under any circumstances. He had found her tender and sympathetic and he thought it would be pretty hard to fill her place.  He had known Capt. Caldwell forty-two years and had always been treated by him like a gentleman.  He had never known Capt. Caldwell tomistreat any inmates of the Home.  Mrs. Richardson had always been very kind.  There were some men in the Home who had led rough lives and been vicious.

            “William Flannigan, who has been in the Home for six years, said he would not want better treatment than he had received at the hands of Capt. and Mrs. Caldwell and could not feel more at home anywhere than he did here.  The majority of the inmates were well satisfied.  Some of them had nothing else to do, so they growled and kicked.  Take the inmates of this Home all the way through,” he said, “and I don’t believe Christ could come down here and please them all.”

            C.W. Crossman, who had been in the Home six months, had observed that Capt. and Mrs. Caldwell were very kind and courteous in their intercourse with the inmates.  He had been in the Milwaukee Home four years, but the Waupaca Home was far superior to it and the board was much better. He had never heard an officer of the Home use profane language toward an inmate.  The trouble in the Home came mostly from the drunkards. There were some men in the Home who were so rough and disagreeable that he kept away from them.

            Jacob Phyner said that he had been in the hospital eight months and that he had never been treated better than while there.  Capt. and Mrs. Caldwell and Mrs. Richardson had always been very kind and thoughtful toward him and the doctor was attentive to and gentle with the patients.

            John A. Walton said he had visited two national and three state homes, but he preferred the Waupaca Home to any of them.  He thought complaints from inmates were mostly imaginary.  He had never known of any cruel, harsh or unjust treatment of inmates.  He thought there were as many opinions as to how the Home should be governed as there were individuals.

            W.G. Foster testified to having always received the kindest treatment from the Home authorities.  He had forbidden some of the inmates to enter his cottage because they were faultfinders. He thought there were some tough characters in the Home.  Mrs. Foster corroborated her husband’s statement.

            James M. Allen, an inmate for four years, had received nothing but the kindest treatment while in the Home.  He had seen no one abused or ill-treated.  James Hammond, 74 years old, who had been in the Home prior to Capt. Caldwell’s regime, had always been used well and had no fault to find about the Home officials.  He said:  “I think Mr. Woodnorth must have been talking through his hat when he said there were none of the inmates qualified to run the post office.”  Mrs. Hammond endorsed what her husband said and said she was in love with the matron.  Anton Rideout had no fault to find, having always been used well by Capt. and Mrs. Caldwell.