i
1
10 The Conservative.
( which they tried , without success , to
reach by the 4th of July ) he says "this
rock boars the name of almost every one
who can take time to carve or write his
name on it. There is nothing very re
markable about it. "
A Lout Hook.
One other interesting reference we
note , as follows : "On the route to the
South PASS , I would have wanted no
batter guide than the Mormon Guide
Book , which I found to be very exact
throughout that distance. It has noted
clown every hill , valley and stream you
meet with. * * * We had but few
along , and it is hoped , for the benefit of
emigrants , they may b ° come more
freely circulated. " THE CONSERVATIVE
would like very much to learn some
thing concerning the work in question ;
it does not appear ( by that name at
least ) in the vast array of Mormon
literature listed by Bancroft.
Kicker's Column.
One peculiarity of Major Gross1 jour
nal cannot fail to strike the reader ; it is
seldom that one finds a writer who has
so much fault to find. The major has
more trouble than anybody ; he is of the
brotherhood of Launoe "I think my
doer Grab be the sonrest-natnred dog
that lives. " Nothing suits him. His
good men die of cholera and his bad
ones desert , run off to the California
gold diggings. "My outfit was as in-
diftVreut a one as ever left for any
station. * * * The country was not
the least interesting today. * * *
Tiresome beyond any description. * *
Breakfast was late , although it con
sisted , as usual , of nothing more than
fried ham , stale bread and bad coffee.
* * * Among the multiplicity of our
troubles , one of the wagons today broke
down. * * * Saw for the first time
an antelope and was disappointed in its
appearance. * * * First time I had
ever tasted buffalo-meat ; for my part , I
did not consider it anything to compare
with beef. * * * " It is unprofitable
to multiply quotations to this effect.
The brave major was , however , always
expecting every difficulty to be his last ,
and always astonished at finding him
self safely across it ; one wonders what
effect was produced at headquarters by
his report , especially by such passages
as this : "How little is known of the
fatigue which is felt by the members of
that portion of the command who are
always looked to for the success of the
daily marches. It is to be regretted
that the labors of the day could rot be
more equally divided and felt by all.
Who is it on a march like this ex
periences trouble but the one who is
always looked to for the preservation of
the means which is to insure success ,
who must always be diligent and watch
ful over all around , be the trouble what
it may , trusting but little to any one ,
but on his own untiring zeal and in
dustry for the safety of all. "
That last sentence is a wonder in its
way.
The major makes a rather ludicrous
error in connection with the usual fuel
of the plains , which he calls vachc de
hois.
Almost the only object on the journey
of which he has only good to say , is a
pair of elk horns that he picked up along
the North Platte , which he says was
"probably the largest ever brought from
the mountains. " A. T. R.
I ) It. MILLER MAKES AN APPEAL.
[ Dr. George L. Miller , the well-known
pioneer newspaper man , has written for
the Omaha Bee the following significant
letter : ]
In the interest of humanity and
society , and in earnest commendation
of Dr. Teal , who , by the manifest wis
dom of the governor elect of the state ,
has been appointed superintendent of
the Norfolk hospital , I ask space to say
something about prevailing barbarisms
in the treatment , in hospitals and out of
hospitals , of the victims of wrecked
reason in this Christian laud of ours. I
have no reason to hesitate to refer to
my own case in this great matter as a
further warrant for what I am about to
say.
say.In
In the middle of September I was
seized with an acute mania in this town.
The causes were patent and also tran
sient. It did not require medical skill
to discover in me every condition for
immediate recovery , if I could have had
kind and intelligent handling. I was
guilty of no violence , and every second
hour I was as clear in my mind as usual.
Proof of the fact is shown in the memory
I have of incidents. The blackest of
these incidents found me in the com
pany of common criminals in a common
cell in the common jail of this city , with
a stone for a bed and a pillow , after the
common jailer had rifled my pockets of
my small money and pocket-knife.
Caged in a cell , I sought in the perfect
consciousness of my abandonment , and
with every appeal to be allowed to see
Miss Frances M. Briggs , Miss Susan E.
Hill , "Con" Loary and other friends.
No one would listen to me. Exhausted
by appeals and in utter despair , I suf
fered severe abdominal pain. It was
suggestive of a return of a colitis , for
which , years ago , I had consulted Dr.
Dtilafield. I begged the ruffian in
charge of my cell to send for a physi
cian. I was answered by a threat of
violence. My mind gave way again ,
and the next thing that I remember and
all that followed it iu not my present
purpose to relate. I have done in this
regard what was deemed wise in a
communication today to the good and
reverend Mother Mary Vincent of St.
Bernard hospital in Council Bluffs ,
where I was incarcerated nearly two
months. My mental recovery , in spite
of everything , was absolutely complete
in one month after one mistaken medi
cal man had said that I had paresis and
would certainly die in three weeks , and
before another had sworn before Judge
Aylesworth iu Potawattamie county's
superior court that I was suffering from
senile dementia , which , translated ,
means mental idiocy from old age 1
Both of these learned men had previously
declared that all sorts of arteries at the
base of my brain were in a terrible con
dition. It is at least presumable that
these blood vessels were in a state of un
wonted activity , when , to my own great
honor , I was permitted to address 150 of
the solid men'of Omaha at a banquet at
the Commercial club of this city. Mr.
Euclid Martiupresiding.
Deprived'of a Hearing.
I am credibly informed that Dr.
George.Tilden , state examiner for the
insane for a quarter of a century , was
not consulted until after I had been put
in jail by the police , and also that no
examination worthy of the name was
made at all. I was simply sent to jail ,
deported into another state , and duly
imprisoned in St. Bernard without the
slightest pretext of a hearing before any
tribunal , except Judge Vinsonhaler's
court , who did but his sworn duty in
issuing the order on the testimony given
in the case. I pity the stupidity of any
ordinary medioal tyro who cannot see
in the results of my seizure that if I had
been left at home , properly and kindly
restrained by competent attendants , and
real friends , I would have been myoelf
again in not more than ten days. Dr.
W. E. Ford of Utica , N. Y. , distinguished -
tinguished in his profession and living
near.the great insane asylum which
Gray made famous , or infamous I am
not able to decide which of the two
writes of my case the exact truth when
he says :
"After all , it has been my experience
that men who carry much steam are
often better for a slight explosion , pro
vided nothing breaks during the process.
I sincerely hope you inay find yourself
much stronger and more comfortable
after having had it out with your par
ticular devil. "
If I may , after thorough medical
training and more than forty years of
observation , diagnose my own case , I
say that my seizure was due to nervous
prostration with an accompanying tem
porary mental aberration which is com
mon in all serious fevers , and nothing
more. And with this effort to right a
great wrong upon a citizenship in this
town , state and section , of which I have
many reasons for not being ashamed ,
because no one else has seen fit to do it ,
I close this personal branch of the sub
ject and recur to the main object of this
communication.
Dr. Teal returned from a visit to
