Newspapers Often Alerted the Public to Escapes

Many patients who were involuntarily committed to asylums were understandably anxious to leave. Though most did not have the wealth and eventual aid that patients like Chanler did (see last post), many still managed to escape. These patient escapes were usually termed “elopements” by the psychiatric community, perhaps because the word “escape” sounded very much like patients were prisoners.

August H. Bloom came to the Hastings Asylum in Minnesota on September 2, 1905 and escaped two days later. The asylum’s superintendent described this patient’s escape and the actions he took subsequent to it, which were probably common to most other institutions. “Whenever a patient elopes, we advise the operator at the depot, who notifies the agent on either side of Hastings; we also send out from two to three attendants looking for them.”

Hastings State Hospital, courtesy Minnesota Historical Society Library

The superintendent would then advise any family members of the escape, and ask to be notified if the patient made his way to relatives. If the patient did manage to return home and the family wanted him/her to remain, the superintendent bowed to their wishes. Otherwise, if the superintendent got word that a patient had been captured away from home, he sent an attendant to get the person. If someone elsewhere brought the patient back to the asylum, the superintendent paid the person’s expenses.

Birds Eye View, Red Wing, 1907, courtesy LakesnWoods.com Postcard and Postcard Image Collection

August Bloom apparently bounced around a bit and then settled in Minneapolis. In the summer of 1906 Bloom traveled a short distance away to Red Wing, where he killed the Chief of Police and one of his officers. Even though Bloom had been known to be an escaped asylum patient, no one suspected him of being capable of violence until this incident occurred.