The Sad Story of Worn-out Minds

Photo of the Chatterton House Hotel /Queen’s Hotel Desk book 1887 from the  Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum– signature W. Wilson Kingston Asylum

Warning- this essay could be disturbing in nature- but it’s history…

This piece has taken me hours to write as I had to step away from it many times. Yesterday, as I was doing some research in the newspaper archives I came across a disturbing 1945 article about a man from Iron Hill, Quebec. Today, I saw another notation in the Chatterton House Hotel registrar from Carleton Place, Ontario that made my stomach do a flip. It was signed in January, 1887.

The name read:

W. Wilson- Kingston Asylum.

I figured it wasn’t a patient out on a work program, but rather staff. After searching the Kingston Whig-Standard archives there was a W. Wilson who was part of the Ladies Benevolent Society that prevailed in the Kingston Asylum. That would make sense, as in those days to be poor, sick or have mental issues was hard, as the nature of available assistance did vary considerably.

The Maritimes had the British Poor Laws, and in Quebec one could receive assistance from church-run welfare institutions. Ontario had voluntary charitable organizations which sprung up in the absence of a Poor Law framework. 

Mrs. W. Wilson had been sent to evaluate the mental condition of some poor Carleton Place residents by the Ladies Benevolent Society who tended to the Kingston Insane Asylum. If you were lucky your family looked after you if you were considered mad–but some were kept in closets, basements, barns, or thrown out into the street to fend for themselves. In those days they thought those in mental anguish were impervious to outdoor temperatures. Most, however, were put in asylums for moral treatment. In the year of 1887 when Mrs. Wilson visited; there were 6 people from Carleton Place in the Kingston Insane Asylum. I would say that 75% of all patients were under the age of 30 with one being only 16-years old. Imagine being driven to an insane asylum in a carriage and dropped off with a satchel knowing this was going to be your permanent home. There you would be handed a distinctive canvas uniform bearing the word LUNATIC.

*Michael Jones Iron Hill 1945

In November of 1945 a man was held for eight days in the county jail at Sweetsburg, Quebec. He was practically incoherent and said that he had been the victim of alleged torture and abuse over the past 20 years. Michael Jones, 42, of Iron Hill, Que. was suffering from multiple bruises and cuts, and was taken under police protection by Chief William Soles, of Knowlton, Que. Soles said the man was “subnormal”.

Jones said he had been locked in a hay barn whenever the family, which took him under its wing 20 years ago, left the farm. Without shaving implements, he went about bearded and dirty, witnesses told police. There was also a local rumour that he had been beaten and kicked repeatedly, and that he attempted to stop his persistent hunger by eating middlings set out for animals and other unfit food. 

The man could hardly speak, and when he did he spoke in an odd mixture of French and English. Chief Beauregard said that the victim kept repeating the name of a person, now dead, as his “torturer”. In 1925 Jones went under care by the Iron Hill family after small troubles with the law. The municipality was scheduled to pay $20 a year for his keep but did not do so when the keeper announced that Jones was working sufficiently to meet that obligation.

In the end there were no arrests or court cases for the abused man, and his condition at that time was said to have been “deplorable.”  He was deemed 99% better by authorities after 7 days but had a deformed foot and walked with difficulty. ( sounds like a club foot)  Residents of the district, led by the Anglican and Presbyterian clergymen, held a meeting and demanded the arrest of persons involved in the alleged torture of Jones.  Deputy Director Hilare Beauregard of the provincial police said considerable information had been found from investigation of charges, and that the farmer and his family treated Jones like an animal, allegedly beating him and chaining him over a period of many years.

Jones is said to have identified his “torturers.” The farmer, whose name was never released by police, denied charges that he had ill-treated Jones. On rare occasions, when members of the family were away, Jones was locked in a garret so that he couldn’t cause himself any harm. If he wasn’t watched, “he just would get into trouble” they said.  In the November 30th, 1945 edition of the Sherbrooke Daily Record it was reported on the front page that two former employees saw Jones kicked, beaten, cuffed and struck with pieces of wood, but claimed he had never been chained.

Jones was reported to have come from the Bolton district of the Eastern Townships. When I tried to do research on him the only thing I could find was that he was the only child of a Methodist couple in East Bolton. Most likely they did what they could and then turned him out to the world to fend for himself.

This is the reason I write history every day. To bring attention to those that were in our communities and how we have thankfully changed in how we deal with those that are different or are suffering mental health issues.

There is a story behind each and every person.

There is a reason for them being the way they were or are.

We need to think about that and respect them for doing the best they could under the circumstances in the past. I am hoping Michael Jones found some peace in his life, but today we will remember him.

See you next week!

*Michael Jones- name was changed for privacy reasons.

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