The trial of Ebenezer Haskell, in lunacy, and his acquittal before Judge Brewster, in November, 1868 : together with a brief sketch of the mode of treatment of lunatics in different asylums in this country and in England, with illusrations, including a copy of Hogarth's celebrated painting of a scene in old Bedlam, in London, 1635.

  • Haskell, Ebenezer.
Date:
1869
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The trial of Ebenezer Haskell, in lunacy, and his acquittal before Judge Brewster, in November, 1868 : together with a brief sketch of the mode of treatment of lunatics in different asylums in this country and in England, with illusrations, including a copy of Hogarth's celebrated painting of a scene in old Bedlam, in London, 1635. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    STATEMENT. A brief outline of the facts connected with the confinement of Ebenezer Haskell in the Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane. Ebenezer Haskell, an industrious, sober citizen, more than forty years a resident of Philadelphia, and long and well known amongst the leading business men of that city as an energetic and successful mechanic, on the 8th of April, 1866, being over 60 years of age, files a Petition in the Orphans' Court of Montgomery County, in the right of his wife, Adelaide A., the daughter of Henry Horn, deceased, praying a citation for an account against the Executor, James H. Horn, of the said Henry Horn, who had then been more than four years in possession of the trust, without showing any account. This causes disturbance in the immediate family of Mr. Haskell, consisting of himself, wife, three sons and one daughter. On the 24th of May, 1866, Ebenezer Haskell is arrested, by virtue of a Warrant issued by Alderman Hutchinson, on the oath of his son, George W. Haskell, charging him with threats, and having a large dirk knife. He was brought before the Alderman, and no one appearing against him, was required to give bail in $1000, for his appearance on the following day, the 25th of May, and in de- fault of bail was committed to the County Prison. The Constable having him in charge, surrenders him to the Police officers of a neighboring Station House, who, accompanied by his sons, and fortified by a certificate made by a practicing Dentist, and reading as follows: I have seen and examined Ebenezer Haskell, of Philadelphia and believe him to be insane. JOHN BIEKET, No. 245 South Sixth St. Philada., May 24, 1806. Took him to the Insane Department of the Philadelphia Alms House. On the following day, Br. S. W. Butler, who at that time had charge of that department, gave a certificate of his insanity, which as he subsequently said under oath, on the trial of the question of his lunacy before a jury, was necessarily based on the statement of