Tag Archives: Dr. John Gray

No One Safe

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Dr. John P. Gray

Dr. John P. Gray

Patients could bear animosity toward asylum staff (see last post), but no one in the public eye was immune from random attack–including Dr. John P. Gray, superintendent of the State Lunatic Asylum in Utica, New York. He had been an expert witness regarding the sanity of Charles J. Guiteau when he stood trial for the assassination of President James Garfield. “I see nothing but a life of moral degradation, moral obliquity, profound selfishness, and disregard for the rights of others,” Gray said [of Guiteau] at trial. “I see no evidence of insanity but simply a life swayed by his own passions.”

The notoriety from this trial likely focused former shoemaker Henry Remshaw’s attention on Gray. Remshaw apparently had made public threats against Gray well before he entered Gray’s office one March evening in 1882 and shot him with a revolver. Fortunately Gray had looked up just at the right moment, and the bullet went through both cheeks rather than his brain. The journal Transactions of the Medical Society of the State of New York reported, “The hemorrhage was at first quite profuse, but in a short time began to subside, and ceased entirely in about four hours. Swelling and infiltration were immediate and extensive, and within a very few minutes of the reception of the wound it was almost impossible to separate the left eyelids, and before midnight the right eye was closed and the face distorted beyond recognition. There was no shock, the pulse ranged between 80 and 90, and the Doctor exhibited perfect self- possession.”

Charles Julius Guiteau

Charles Julius Guiteau

The Transactions of the Medical Society also reported that Remshaw escaped to his brother’s-in-law in the nearby town of Deerfield, “where he called for two glasses of ale and said he was going to New York.” Remshaw later went to the jail and gave himself up. “When searched there was found upon his person four revolvers, a single-barrelled derringer, a dirk knife, and over two hundred cartridges.” Remshaw was sent to the State Asylum for Insane Criminals.

Physicians at the time did not think Gray’s wound particularly serious, but the superintendent never recovered his health entirely. The wound affected his breathing and left him with almost constant pain. Gray died officially of Bright’s disease (which causes inflammation of the kidneys) on November 29, 1886 at the age of 62.

Psychiatric Hospital, courtesy New York State Archives

Male Patients Exercising in the Yard of the Utica Psychiatric Hospital, courtesy New York State Archives

Authority Always Wins

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Investigative Reporter Nellie Bly Being Committed to an Asylum

Investigative Reporter Nellie Bly Being Committed to an Asylum

Whether a supposedly “insane” patient really was or was not, the odds were not in his favor when it came to putting up a defense against commitment and treatment. One potent factor against patients was the almost automatic presumption that the diagnosis they suffered was correct. (See last post.) Another factor was the very real authority and influence of an asylum’s superintendent.

Superintendents almost never initiated a diagnosis of insanity unless a person were sent directly to an asylum because of dangerous or noteworthy actions that seemed to put the patient or society at risk. In that case, a superintendent or one of his staff might examine the person and decide whether or not he was insane. Otherwise, some sort of panel or set of doctors/judges made the diagnosis and sent the patient to the (usually) nearest asylum. This certainly gave an appearance of impartiality to the superintendent, who might then be presumed to have only the patient’s best interests at heart.

Reverend Hiram Chase (mentioned in my last post) noted that he had once spoken with a man whose wife had been in an asylum for a long time. Chase asked the man what he thought about “the propriety of keeping one so many years in an asylum.” The man essentially replied that the doctors were wise and skillful, the nurses and attendants well skilled, that “great care and patience were exercised over the patient, and that no stone was left unturned to soothe and comfort these unfortunate victims of insanity.”

Attendants Were Not Nearly So Patient and Skilled as the Public Supposed

Attendants Were Not Nearly So Patient and Skilled as the Public Supposed

Dr. John Gray was Superintendent of the Lunatic Asylum in Utica During Chase's Commitment There

Dr. John Gray was Superintendent of the Lunatic Asylum in Utica During Chase’s Commitment There

Chase cheerfully accepted this husband’s words on the topic. Later, he unfortunately found them to be patently untrue once he was, himself, committed to the Lunatic Asylum in Utica [New York]. Chase stayed there for a little over two years and afterward wrote a measured but unsparing account of his stay that should have made others fearful of too innocent a trust.

 

Maternity as a Cause of Insanity

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Dr. John P. Gray

Dr. John P. Gray

Mothers today know they have a difficult job, but in the late 1800s some alienists believed maternity could cause insanity. They based this belief on the surprisingly sympathetic premise that the overwork, anxiety, and loss of sleep associated with caring for children could weaken the body–and consequently the mind–enough that a woman could no longer cope sanely with life. Dr. John P. Gray, superintendent of the State Lunatic Asylum in Utica, New York gave an example:

In 1885, a woman with five children came to the asylum with symptoms Gray diagnosed as mania; she had lost her mental balance a few weeks after the youngest was born. The new mother “was incoherent, laughed to herself, expressed no interest or anxiety in her children, [and] wandered from one subject to another.” Her history showed that she had been vigorous and strong, but that she began doing her normal work two weeks after the birth of her last child.

Careworn Mother During the Great Depression, 1936, courtesy Library of Congress Photograph by Dorothea Lange

Careworn Mother During the Great Depression, 1936, courtesy Library of Congress Photograph by Dorothea Lange

Unfortunately, four of her children got whooping-cough and then the baby, and this mother was kept awake and was up often at night, “and then for six weeks she was deprived largely of sleep, was anxious, worked constantly, and took little food . . .'” One day she felt strange in her heart and head, then her mind wandered, and “from that time lost self-direction and passed into insanity.”

Money Made a Difference in the Ability to Care for Children

Money Made a Difference in the Ability to Care for Children

Gray then vigorously took up the cause of mothers. “In all the range of human affairs there is no neglect, no wrong, no cruelty, that compares with the neglect and ignorance associated with motherhood.” He said that this neglect was both a direct cause, and sometimes an indirect cause, of insanity. ” Husbands, he said, must protect their wives and make some sacrifices, themselves, “to shield their wives from undue labor under any circumstances, and especially under such [impending motherhood] and with such a possible outcome.

Strong words for an era in which women could not even vote!

Asylum Superintendent’s Job Included Danger

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American Journal of Insanity

American Journal of Insanity

Dr. John Gray (see last post) was an influential, well-known alienist, long-time editor of the American Journal of Insanity, and superintendent of the State Lunatic Asylum at Utica, NY. He was also the chief medical expert who had testified for the prosecution at the trial of Charles J. Guiteau, the assassin of President James Garfield in 1882. While sitting in his office one evening of that same year, Gray was shot through the upper jaw by Henry Remshaw in the presence of three other people (including his son, John Gray, Jr.).

Assassination of James Garfield, courtesy Smithsonian Magazine

Assassination of James Garfield, courtesy Smithsonian Magazine

Remshaw’s deed was thought to have been provoked by some aspect of the Guiteau’s trial, and he had apparently made several threats against Dr. Gray previous to the actual shooting. Remshaw ran outside the asylum to avoid capture, fired at his pursuers, and finally reached his home. There, he told a woman living on the lower floor that he had killed Gray, then “danced about, showed her four revolvers, a dirk, and piles of cartridges” and then told her he would give himself up.*

Inmates in Lockstep at Auburn Prison

Inmates in Lockstep at Auburn Prison

When Remshaw did give himself up at the Mohawk Street jail, he turned over his four loaded weapons and cartridges, plus a bottle of acetic acid and opium. Remshaw raved that he was an ambassador sent from heaven to kill Gray, but observers seemed to consider him a “crank and a fraud” more than someone who was insane. A court commission did find him insane, though, and recommended he be sent to an asylum. Remshaw was sent to the Insane Department of the State Prison at Auburn.

Gray died November 29, 1886 from causes attributed to his decline in health following the shooting.

 

*Quoted from an article from the Journal of Psychological Medicine and Mental Pathology.

Thoughts on Religion

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Causes of Insanity Included Religious Excitement

Causes of Insanity Included Religious Excitement

Discovering the reasons for insanity proved difficult for early alienists. For many years, these mental health experts attributed the origins of insanity to what modern medicine would call laughable causes: excessive novel-reading, masturbation, smoking, religion and so on. Eventually, a few medical men began to question these sorts of factors as true causes of mental issues.

Dr. John Gray, superintendent of the State Lunatic Asylum in Utica, New York, wrote in 1885 that, “Religion, strange to say, is sometimes set down as a cause of insanity . . . . To some it means that a person is insane on the subject of religion; to others that the insanity was caused by religion.”

Dr. John Gray

Dr. John Gray

Gray recognized that the idea of “Religious Insanity” actually meant that religion caused insanity to many people. His belief, though, was that: “What people talk about when they become insane, has rarely anything to do with the real cause of the disease.” Gray gave a couple of examples concerning his theory, one being the case of a severely overworked minister who finally broke down and began raving that he was Zerubbabel and had been appointed by God to preach “to the spirits in prison” and that he had descended into hell to preach the gospel of salvation and redemption.

“This was not Religious Insanity,” said Gray, “but insanity from exhaustion, religion having nothing to do with it except to give tone and character to his delusions.” Gray found that many people who appeared insane due to exhaustion or broken health could often recover when given rest and proper medical treatment.

State Lunatic Asylum, Utica, New York, courtesy National Library of Medicine

State Lunatic Asylum, Utica, New York, courtesy National Library of Medicine

His point of view was a refreshing counterpoint to others in his field who would have labeled a patient like this insane and perhaps never expected a recovery.