Annotated and Abridged Artifact

Abridged Text

THE ALMSHOUSE.

GOVERNOR BUTLER'S ORDER TO THE STATE BOARD OF CHARITIES.

AN INTERVIEW AND CORRESPONDENCE SHOWING HOW THE QUESTION STANDS TO-DAY.

The State board of health, lunacy and charity met by special call of the Governor Monday, when the following communication was received and read by the Chairman, ex-Gov. Talbot: [1 »]

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSSETTS.
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.
Boston, April 23, 1883.

To the Honorable members of the State Board of Health, Lunacy and Charity:
For the good of the public service, and in the exercise of the power and authority conferred upon the Executive by the Constitution and laws, the Board of Health, Lunacy and Charity are directed to assume and exercise all the powers and duties of the Board of Trustees of the State Almshouse in any and all matters relating to the management thereof.

And the said Trustees, from and after the day you comply with this order, will cease to do any act or exercise any authority or power in regard to said institution, and especially will Incur no expense on behalf of the Commonwealth, and contract no debt.

I think it is due to the relations which exist between the Executive and your board to state courteously and frankly that it is my intention to put the responsibility for the conduct of the almshouse primarily and especially upon your board in the future, so that there may be no ground for reasonable suspicion hereafter that its affears-sic- are not properly conducted, and its inmates, either alive or dead, not humanely cared for.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully,

BENJAMIN F. BUTLER, Governor

GOV. BUTLER INTERVIEWED

The Governor was interviewed by a reporter monday-sic- evening, at his rooms in the Revere house, Boston, with the following result:

Reporter -- Have you seen the newspaper comments in reply to your communication to the State board of health, lunacy and charity?

Gov. Butler -- Yes, I have; and it seems that the members of the board have entirely misunderstood the matter. I have passed no judgment upon the case; I have simply said that sufficient has been shown in the evidence thus far taken to prove that the interests of the State, the State property and the inmates demand that it should be put in charge of other hands temporarily. It is like a preliminary injunction in a court of equity, to preserve the status or present condition of the property until litigation is terminated. My order was purely remedial, not punitive. When the investigation is closed, then it will be the duty of the executive to pass on the question of what shall be done with the offenders, if they are shown to be offenders but, when pregnant women are delivered with rat-tail files and screwdrivers it is time something was done to prevent such outrages. If the people of the State think I am wrong in the matter, they will say so. The women in the State will have something to say upon that subject, [2 »] however, in my judgment. They should, and will, have a word to say as to whether such atrocities shall longer be allowed to exist in the State of Massachusetts. I see that the State board of health, lunacy and charity, under the lead of the chairman, have voted 6 to 1, that they will not assume the duties unless compelled to do so. Be it so. I will exert all the power confided to me by the people of Massachusetts to stop this condition of things. Whatever may be the defence, I propose to relieve the fears of the poor, helpless and oppressed, that they are either to be cut up in Harvard or Tewksbury. It is due to the poor and helpless, the widows and the orphans, who are so unfortunate as to be compelled to go to the almshouse, that their minds will be relived of the distressing thought that they may be finally cut up at Harvard, as I have already said, or murdered at Tewksbury. If it appears as result of the investigation that there has been no human body improperly sent away for dissection no poor man's skin tanned, no woman delivered and the child killed by means of a rat-tail file and a screwdriver, then an executive order can restore the trustees to their places, and not until then. In pursuance of the statute made in the case, I have simply devolved the duties of the trustees, temporarily it may be, upon the State board of health, lunacy and charity. If the members of that board refuse to assume these duties thus imposed upon them, it is their fault and not mine, and I can say with all calmness that I regret their action, if it is in disobedience of an order sanctioned by law of the supreme executive of the State of Massachusetts elected by the people to carry out the functions of that office. I shall do my duty fearlessly as I have endeavored to do it elsewhere, disregarding everything but the dictates of my own judgment and acting according to my conscientious convictions.

Speaking of F.B. Sanborn's note of declination, Gov. Butler said that Sanborn was a life-long bitter political enemy of his, but that he had suggested his name because he supposed he would make a good superintendent of the almshouse, Sanborn having, in 1876, shown some disposition to reform that institution. The Governor referred in detail to the gentlemen whom Sanborn had so kindly given a character as reformers and said that "if they have made any efforts to reform this institution I have not been notified to that effect." Gov. Butler spoke of Dr. Nathan Allen as "one who has other duties to perform," and as to "Thomas Talbot, who is chairman of the board of state charities, I could not think of having him detailed, because the statute provides that he shall receive nothing for his service and besides, having been a Governor heretofore, he has had an opportunity of reforming this almshouse, which he did not embrace." Gov. Butler said that Dr. Parmenter is dead, and Dr. Robert T. Davis is a member of Congress, with higher ambitions to engage him than superintendent of the Tewksbury almshouse.

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