Byline: Frank Smith; 1935-07-19; Chicago Daily Times; pages 3
Report: "Seven Days in the Madhouse!" - Frank Smith - Chicago Daily Times
Tags: asylum, madhouse, mental patient, posed as
"According to Oscar's story, he was illegally committed through the machinations of his wife. Family difficulties, constant bickering, had paved the way he related. By subterfuge, he said, he was induced to visit a psychiatrist at the University of Chicago. He was subjected to observation with the result that a month later he was ordered into court for a sanitary hearing. He said: 'I didn't think anything of it. I had to go. BUT what could the judge do except find me sane? I had never had any trouble in my life. For years I had been a clerk in the registry division of the main post office in Chicago. They ought to know if I was crazy. My wife swore I was trying to kill her and the children. All I wanted was to be left alone to study and read in the library I had fitted up in my home on the south side. The social service workers aided my wife in getting me put away' . . ."
Description:In the fifth installment of "Seven Days in the Madhouse!" Frank Smith speaks with Oscar, a fellow mental patient at Kankakee who is in fact sane but has been committed to the hospital against his will.
Rights: No known rights restrictions.