Gorilla in the Waiting Room

By John E. Seaman

In 1850, after the Gold Rush and Californias admission to the union, two brothers acquired some valuable land. There was a young tree on that land. It was growing fast and began to exhibit a peculiar feature. Its roots didnt seem to go deep but instead spread out above-ground.

One brother became concerned. Why didnt the roots go down? He thought something sinister must be buried beneath that tree. The roots seemed to balk at going there. His brother thought it wasnt anything to get worried about, just the natural way of that tree. It didnt look right though, even to him, and as the tree continued to grow, he wondered too.

A century and a half later, the tree is still there, with roots, tendrils and knobs extending in every direction, strange, unnatural, at times bizarre. We still wonder, not even sure what to call it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 20, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483606729

John E. Seaman

The author lives in Southern California.

Book preview

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Preface

PART I

PART II

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

VII

VIII

IX

X

Epilogue

Also by the Author

The Captain’s Secret, Iuniverse, 2008

On the Road with Ruben Doyle and Two More, Xlibris, 2010

Global Gleanings, Createspace, 2011

High Fives, Gunfire, and Humbug, Xlibris, 2012

Acknowledgments

I am indebted to Dr. Robert Hill, of Stockton, and Dr. Freeman H. Adams, former superintendent and medical director of Stockton State Hospital, for copies of the records of patients admitted to the Stockton hospital in 1852-1853. Also for a monograph by Stuart A. Brody, Hospitalization of the Mentally Ill during California’s Early Years: 1849-1853, The Psychiatric Quarterly Supplement, Part 2, 1964. My main sources in Part II have been the Los Angeles Times and the U-T Tribune . I have acknowledged several sources where appropriate. To cite by-lines would have been cumbersome. Special thanks to daughters Anne and Martha and to my wife, Hannah, for valuable editorial advice and encouragement.

Preface

I n 1850, after the Gold Rush and California’s admission to the union, two brothers acquired some valuable land. There was a young tree on that land. It was growing fast and began to exhibit a peculiar feature. Its roots didn’t seem to go deep but instead spread out above-ground.

One brother became concerned. Why didn’t the roots go down? He thought something sinister must be buried beneath that tree. The roots seemed to balk at going there. His brother thought it wasn’t anything to get worried about, just the natural way of that tree. It didn’t look right though, even to him, and as the tree continued to grow, he wondered too.

A century and a half later, the tree is still there, with roots, tendrils and knobs extending in every direction, strange, unnatural, at times bizarre. We still wonder, not even sure what to call it.

PART I

1850

T he Gold Rush of 1848-49 attracted to frontier California a swarm of newcomers and immigrants from all over the world. San Francisco was the natural destination for immigrants on their way to the mining districts. Its sudden increase in population (from 900 in 1848 to 56,000 in 1860), along with free-for-all turbulent times, generated a fair number of mental disorders, a social problem the new state and community could not ignore.

In October 1849, San Francisco officials converted an old British frigate, the Euphemia, into a brig for custodial care. A local ordinance directed the captain of the ship to receive at his discretion any suspicious, insane or forlorn persons found strolling about the city at night. There were many vagrants, and also a steady flow of ailing sailors who had jumped ship or been dumped ashore to fend for themselves. The Euphemia (the crazy brig) held criminals and lunatics until November 1852, when it became landlocked by wharves and buildings.

In 1851, the state established a hospital in Sacramento and another in Stockton to care for both ill and insane patients. In Stockton, the condition and circumstances of patients were recorded in brief entries. {Names have been reduced here to initials.}

April 4 M.B. Connecticut Age 30

Was brought to the hospital from Mariposa County. Not married and a trader. Has epileptic attacks occurring every other night. The frequency increasing. Perfectly furious. Epileptic Mania Discharged and sent to San Francisco with his friends April 25. Then to the states by steamer May 1.

July 27 H. H. New York Age 23

Brought to the hospital from Oakland. Parents live in New York. Not married and a carpenter. Came to California across Mexico two years ago. Was engaged to be married to a female in Oakland, who rejected him for some freak. Became quite gloomy, melancholic and attempted suicide. A masturbator, quite peaceable and tractable. July 20 well able to work.

Aug 20 J. K. Ireland Age 35

A naturalized citizen of New York. Came to California around Cape Horn and was arrested in Stockton before Justice Weir on charge of larceny. Was sentenced to receive 39 lashes and 3 months imprisonment in the County Jail. Was taken out on a writ of habeas corpus by DA James Anderson and a county judge and sent to the insane hospital. Oct 15 discharged and sent to Moq. Hill.

Jan. 29 H. H. L. France Age 28.

Admitted by order of R. G. Crosier, city marshal, San Francisco. Was arrested on charge of larceny and tried before Recorder Baker. Adjudged insane and ordered to be sent to Stockton. Feb 10 discharged.

Almost immediately, the Sacramento hospital was deemed inadequate for the mentally ill. Dr. Wade Bryarly, a Sacramento physician, made a plea to create a separate facility.

If there is no place provided for their proper care, they must, among this selfish people, having no relations to fall back on, be treated and cuffed as the vilest vagrant, or perhaps wander from all habitation and die of starvation; or perhaps, from actual want commit some criminal act, which condemns them to the State Prison. All of these reasons indicate a public Asylum as the proper place for the lunatic.

Bryarly’s plea was answered in 1852 by an act to establish an asylum for the insane in Stockton, the