Ten Days in a Mad-House; or, Nellie Bly's Experience on Blackwell's Island.: Feigning Insanity in Order to Reveal Asylum Horrors. The Trying Ordeal of the New York World's Girl Correspondent.Bly, Nellie
History
Ten Days in a Mad-House; or, Nellie Bly's Experience on Blackwell's Island.: Feigning Insanity in Order to Reveal Asylum Horrors. The Trying Ordeal of the New York World's Girl Correspondent.
Bly, Nellie
Bly, Nellie, 1864-1922; Mentally ill -- Commitment and detention -- New York (State) -- History -- 19th century; N.Y. City Lunatic Asylum; Psychiatric hospital care -- New York (State) -- History -- 19th century; Psychiatric hospitals -- New York (State) -- History -- 19th century; Women -- Mental h
With this I was led away and another patient was taken in. I sat right
outside the door and waited to hear how he would test the sanity of the
other patients. With little variation the examination was exactly the
same as mine. All the patients were asked if they saw faces on the wall,
heard voices, and what they said. I might also add each patient denied
any such peculiar freaks of sight and hearing. At 10 o’clock we were
given a cup of unsalted beef tea; at noon a bit of cold meat and a
potatoe, at 3 o’clock a cup of oatmeal gruel and at 5.30 a cup of tea
and a slice of unbuttered bread. We were all cold and hungry. After the
physician left we were given shawls and told to walk up and down the
halls in order to get warm. During the day the pavilion was visited by a
number of people who were curious to see the crazy girl from Cuba. I
kept my head covered, on the plea of being cold, for fear some of the
reporters would recognize me. Some of the visitors were apparently in
search of a missing girl, for I was made to take down the shawl
repeatedly, and after they looked at me they would say, “I don’t know
her,” or “she is not the one,” for which I was secretly thankful. Warden
O’Rourke visited me, and tried his arts on an examination. Then he
brought some well-dressed women and some gentlemen at different times to
have a glance at the mysterious Nellie Brown.
The reporters were the most troublesome. Such a number of them! And they
were all so bright and clever that I was terribly frightened lest they
should see that I was sane. They were very kind and nice to me, and very
gentle in all their questionings. My late visitor the night previous
came to the window while some reporters were interviewing me in the
sitting-room, and told the nurse to allow them to see me, as they would
be of assistance in finding some clew as to my identity.
In the afternoon Dr. Field came and examined me. He asked me only a few
questions, and ones that had no bearing on such a case. The chief
question was of my home and friends, and if I had any lovers or had ever
been married. Then he made me stretch out my arms and move my fingers,
which I did without the least hesitation, yet I heard him say my case
was hopeless. The other patients were asked the same questions.
As the doctor was about to leave the pavilion Miss Tillie Mayard
discovered that she was in an insane ward. She went to Dr. Field and
asked him why she had been sent there.
“Have you just found out you are in an insane asylum?” asked the doctor.
“Yes; my friends said they were sending me to a convalescent ward to be
treated for nervous debility, from which I am suffering since my
illness. I want to get out of this place immediately.”
“Well, you won’t get out in a hurry,” he said, with a quick laugh.
“If you know anything at all,” she responded, “you should be able to
tell that I am perfectly sane. Why don’t you test me?”
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account