The Herriges Horror in Philadelphia Part 5

We found Joseph Herriges a sensible, gentlemanly and educated person; having nothing to conceal, he at once entered into conversation concerning his brother; he informed us that John is his only brother, and for whom he has always entertained a brotherly affection; in his youthful days he was sent to school and educated at Joseph's expense; as a schoolboy he was, in literary attainments, about on an average with those attending school at that time. It was the elder brother's intention to fit him for the high school, and with that intention he not only sent him to the public schools, but also sent him to a night school, that he might more rapidly advance in his studies. As evidence of the fact, Mr. Herriges brought forth an old time receipt-book and showed us the following receipt:

Received January 12, 1838, of Mr. Joseph Herriges, five dollars in full for one quarter's tuition of brother John B. Herriges, at evening school, including light and stationary.

$5. R. O. R. LOUETT.

Reporter--When did the insanity of John begin to develop itself?

Mr. Herriges--It first began to show itself when he was twenty years of age. At that time he had only temporary fits of abstraction, which grew worse from time to time, until, at the age of twenty-six, he became wholly insane, and, what is unusual in insanity, he would never eat anything unless fed like an infant. Hunger could not tempt him to eat, nor thirst to drink, any more than it could tempt the infant of three months to eat or drink without a.s.sistance.

Reporter--Why did you not attempt a cure in accordance with the usual method?

Mr. Herriges--I did. I became acquainted with Dr. R. K. Smith, who informed that a cure might be effected, and in accordance with his suggestions, I sent him to the insane department of the almshouse as the following will testify.

Mr. Herriges here produced a paper on which the following was written:

"PHILADELPHIA ALMSHOUSE.

June 23, 1870.

"This is to certify that John B. Herriges was admitted to the insane department of this inst.i.tution on the 21st day of December 1855, aged twenty-seven years, born in Philadelphia, single, and by occupation a tobacconist, and taken out on liberty and did not return.

"From the register in agent's office.

"Attest, ALFRED D. W. CALDWELL, House Agent.

"Witness present--J. C. FRENO."

Reporter--How long did he remain under treatment there?

Mr. H.--About one month.

Reporter--Why so short a length of time?

Mr H.--During the time he was there he became so emaciated, either from improper care in feeding him or from a bad attack of dysentery, that he had scarcely any life in him, and his mother insisted on bringing him home to nurse him. To save his life and to satisfy mother, I procured a carriage and brought him home, where by careful treatment he was restored to his usual good health.

Reporter--Why did you permit your brother to remain so dirty?

Mr. H.--It was an impossibility on our part to prevent it.

Reporter--Is it true you kept him confined in the small room overhead as it is stated in the papers.

Mr. H.--It is not true; my brother had the range of the house and yard at all times, but no more; I could not let him go in the street, for he had no appreciation whatever of danger, and he was therefore liable at any moment to be run over.

At this point the mother put in an appearance. Introducing ourselves to her, she remarked. "I hope you will give a truthful statement of what we tell you." Informing her our motto was "Truth without Fear," she appeared much better satisfied. We asked her if her son had been much care upon her. She informed us he was a constant care; that from the time he was about twenty-five years of age there had never a mouthful of food pa.s.sed his lips except what was fed to him as we would feed a helpless infant.

Reporter--What do you a.s.sign, madam, as the primary cause of his insanity?

Mrs. H.--At the age of nineteen my son began attending lectures given by anti-meat eaters, spiritualists etc., and impressed with their nonsensical doctrines, he, about that time, quit eating meat and took to a vegetable diet, and I think those lectures, together with this diet, had much to do with it.

Reporter--I do not understand how a vegetable diet could cause insanity, when it is well known that Horace Greeley is a vegetintarian?

Mrs. H.--Well, isn't he insane sometimes?

Reporter--Mr. Bennett, of the _Herald_, and Dana, of the _Sun_, say he is; but they think so because Mr. Greeley venerates a dilapidated white hat, wears shocking bad shoes, and is a member of the free love order.

Mrs. H.--Well, those lectures certainly had much to do with his insanity, for his disease began to develop soon after his attendance upon them.

Reporter--Some of the papers stated he was confined because of a desire on the part of his family to get $40,000, alleged to have been left him and to accomplish which, they further intimated that your husband did not die a natural death.

Mrs. H.--My son John never had any money in his own right; he has been kept, maintained and clothed by his brother Joseph ever since his affliction, and indeed long previous to it. As for intimations concerning my husband, the whole thing must have originated in the brain of a woman of fervid imagination, claiming to have some connection with the _Sunday Dispatch_. That lady called to see me, and with acts of kindness, such as throwing her arms around me, and informing me she would send a carriage to have me taken away for fear the crowd around the house would do me bodily injury, and with a promise to give a true account, she got a full and true statement of the case; but to my surprise and indignation, published nothing but a tissue of falsehoods. How a young woman professing to be a lady could so act towards me, an old woman of eighty, I cannot comprehend.

Mrs. Herriges then went on to tell us her poor afflicted boy had been the one care of her life; that she took him away from the insane asylum because she knew they did not know how to feed him, and that he would soon die there if allowed to remain; that she had ever watched over him with all the affection of a mother, never wearying in her attendance upon him.

When we asked, "What of your husband?" we were informed that many years ago he went to Oregon, took up a section of ground in Villamette valley, previous to which he had built himself a house in Oregon City. He died about twenty years ago, and the first knowledge we had of it was from a Caspar Rudolph, living in Oregon, and who was formerly from this city. A power of attorney was sent to Rudolph to enable him to settle the estate.

Upon his taking the necessary legal steps he learned that Mr. Herriges had appointed William Gla.s.s and Dr. Theophilus Degan as his executors. He further learned these gentlemen had disposed of all his property, a short time after which they left Oregon.

After leaving the family we next directed our steps to the insane asylum of the almshouse. Arriving there we made ourselves acquainted with Dr.

Richardson, who has charge of the insane. We found the doctor one of the most obliging public officials we have ever met. He appeared to esteem it a pleasure to give us all the information he could in regard to the insane. The doctor has had charge of the insane since December 1866.

Previous to that time he was connected with the poor department for many years. Informing the doctor our visit was for the purpose of conversing with him in relation to John Herriges, he at once informed us the Herriges family had received a great and uncalled for injury from the press of this city. As for John he was hopelessly insane, and was doubtless so from the first. He told us insanity incurable was stamped upon every lineament of his countenance, and as for the filthy condition in which he was found that signified nothing. His filthy habits appear to come to him periodically: that is, every other night he will pa.s.s his excrement, after which he will smear the walls, floor and his own face and body with it, presenting one of the most disgusting sights the doctor ever witnessed.

The doctor informed us that some forms of insanity ran that way, and instanced one particular case of a lady of education and refinement who came under his notice. She acted precisely similar to John Herriges during the time she was under his care. The lady was cured however and has resumed her place in the fashionable world.

Dr. Richardson also informed us that insanity frequently ran to the opposite of dirty habits, one patient, now in the asylum, is continually, if allowed, engaged in washing himself; fifty times a day or more would he go through his ablutions. And it is more frequently in the other direction; we were informed that Herriges cell had to be white-washed and cleaned every other day; that he cannot feed himself at all; when John first entered the asylum the only meal he seemed to enjoy was his dinner; now he eats his breakfast and supper with a relish; in fact he was just in the act of taking supper when we paid a visit to John Herriges; we found a man of five feet eight inches, weighing about 140 pounds, with a skin as white as any lady's in the city; all traces of the dirt the _Sunday Dispatch_ had ground into his flesh so deep, as never to be washed out, was completely gone, and John presented a better, more gentlemanly appearance than any other man in the asylum. Dr. Richardson made the remark that John had been fed with food of a diversified character; that there was no speck of scrofula appearing upon his body. * * * * * * * He requires to be wheeled on a chair to his meals and back again. His food has to be put in his mouth, or he would never eat, and, altogether, he is one of the most deplorable cases of insanity we have ever seen; and that the sober, second thought of the public will award his family due credit for what they did for him, there can be no doubt; if not before, at least after the trial of Joseph, before a judge and jury shall have taken place.

At the same time we must insert here also the following paragraph, which is taken from _The Day_ newspaper of Thursday June 16th. The article is headed: "_A Poor Idiot Caged Up In a Filthy Room For Many Years_."

"The defendent * * * claimed that he had given his brother all the necessary attention and that the condition of affairs at the house was exaggerated by the witnesses. _That this is not the case, our reporter who visited the premises in company with Chief Mulholland, Coroner Taylor, and other officers can testify._"

"Alderman Kerr stated that he had known the defendant for twenty years, and knew him as a man of property and owner of real estate. * * * never knew he had a brother living; he was abundantly able to furnish him with better accomodation."

The facts which we obtained at the Almshouse can be thoroughly relied upon as being correct as we got them directly from Detective John O'Grady who had been detailed specially by Mayor Fox in conjunction with Detective Benjamin Franklin to work up the facts in the case. Officer O'Grady went to the Herriges house and searched it thoroughly the day that the trunk and bags were taken away from the premises. There were the wildest rumors in regard to this circ.u.mstance which were entirely unjust as the trunk and bags contained nothing only valuable papers which Herriges, fearing the house would be mored down by the mob, wished to save by thus removing them.

Officers O'Grady and Franklin merit special commendation for the manner in which they worked up their part of the case.