So today's blog might be a little...controversial...but that's never stopped me before in the pursuit of the truth! And while the title of this post is 'In Defense Of,' I offer you what historical documentation I've found, give my opinion, but encourage you to look at the facts and come to your own conclusion.
There are several stories that are told to every visitor investigating the Fairfield County Infirmary in Lancaster, Ohio. One of those stories is of a certain Superintendent by the name of Hummel, who was a cruel and abusive overseer of the institution. A shocking claim is that people going past the infirmary would see Hummel out in the farm, beating inmates without mercy. They reasoned, 'if he's doing that out in the open where the public could see, what the heck is he doing behind closed doors to those poor, unfortunate souls?' Further stories tale of gross neglect in addition to the abuse, and many believe that Hummel was outed from his position of Superintendent when the citizens of Fairfield County finally had had enough and requested a formal investigation.
To back up these claims, an incident is cited where an abused inmate had finally had enough, and brutally attacked Hummel out in the fields one day, nearly ending his life. And despite being gone from the institution for so many years, the ghost of Hummel has returned. His name has popped up on spirit boxes, and affirmative responses have been given when communicating with spirits about their thoughts on this cruel superintendent. Even our group has had a definite feeling that there was some darker, more oppressive force on site, possibly hindering the communication with other spirits. But how much of it is true?
Henry Matthew Hummel was born on November 10, 1873 to parents Louis and Sophie, in Lancaster County, where he would live out his entire life. Hummel was a devout Lutheran, and was a member of several civic organizations. He married his wife, Minnie Watts, on September 4, 1899 and the couple had five children together. As their children began to get older and leave home, Hummel and his wife started exploring new opportunities. They took the Civil Servants test (kind of like the test government workers today take) and both passed with high scores. As a result, Henry was appointed to the position of Superintendent of the Fairfield County Infirmary in 1917, with Minnie joining him as Matron.
But, all was not well for Superintendent Hummel. Despite the fact that the local paper was constantly running articles on him for his outstanding management of the county farm, and his work with bringing community charity into the infirmary, there were those who disliked him.
 |
| Lancaster Eagle-Gazette 25 November 1918 |
On November 20, 1918, Hummel received a letter from two members of the County Commission, President Ben Friesner and Mr. E.B. McCullough (the third member, Amos Hoffer was against the complaints) stating that Mr. Hummel will be removed from his post, effective at 9 a.m. on November 25th. The letter listed three reasons: 1. In the summer of 1918 inmate George Smith was noted to have maggots in his foot. 2. In the summer of 1918 inmate John Switzer died without proper care. 3. The farm lost too many calves last season. The letter listed the temporary superintendent as George Bierly, a young man from the community involved in the grocery business.
Obviously, Hummel filed an injunction right away, and the court agreed. Hummel claimed that not only were these allegations vague, but that he was not given proper time to defend himself against them. He maintained that he had never been neglectful of his duties in any way and that the two commissioners had been opposed to his appointment from the start, and had actively been conspiring to have him removed ever since. Oddly enough, both Friesner and McCullough admitted that they had never actually seen anything supporting these claims, but that they were admitted by Hummel himself in his reports, and that they had heard complaints (again, Hoffer maintained that he had never heard any complaints).
As part of the investigation, a special commission was sent unannounced to the infirmary for a surprise inspection. This delegation was greeted warmly and welcomed into the facility. They noted that neither Hummel or his wife ran off to coach inmates or to hide any evidence of wrong-doing. Instead, they were given full access to the building to roam un-chaperoned, interviewing as many inmates as they wished. The group noted that every inmate they talked to LOVED the Hummels, and claimed that they had always treated them with the utmost attention and dignity. They said they were the kindest and most hard-working, even suggesting the county hire a nurse to alleviate some of the burden on Mrs. Hummel, who did her job without complaint at all hours of the day and night.
Two little old ladies said they'd leave if Hummel was forced to leave, despite not having anywhere else to go. Another elderly woman said that the man with maggots in his feet was crazy, and that he would rip off his bandages faster than they could be put on, cursing and swearing the whole time. Everyone interviewed was quite agitated at the idea of losing their beloved overseers.
The board decided to petition in favor of Hummel, finding no evidence of neglect. At the same time, the taxpayers of the county were also signing a petition to keep Hummel at the infirmary. Playing Devil's Advocate, it is possible that someone on the board gave Hummel a head's up about the surprise inspection. It's possible that the worst of the worst inmates were somehow silenced, or that a biased group just chose to focus on the positive. Whatever the scenario, the court was unable to substantiate any reason to fire Hummel, and he remained at his post until his death.
Henry Hummel passed away at his residence at the Fairfield County Infirmary on February 20, 1927 after a five month illness. He had served the institution faithfully for ten years. Immediately upon his death, his son, Lloyd, was named interim superintendent, with Minnie as Matron, until a replacement could be found. He was buried in the mausoleum at nearby Forest Rose Cemetery.
So where do these stories about Hummel being a horrible, abusive overseer come from? I think they stem from a combination of two things: 1. The brutal attack of Hummel by an inmate, and 2. Charges filed against ANOTHER superintendent!
 |
| Lancaster Eagle-Gazette 30 July 1924 |
The Attack
On July 29th, 1924, Hummel and one of the infirmary inmates were entering the hay field across the street. All of a sudden, the inmate rushed towards Hummel, and whacked him over the head with a three foot iron bar, used to stack hay. This first blow broke Hummel's hat and stunned him, allowing the inmate to get in a second blow, causing a large laceration. Frenzied by the sight of the blood, the inmate just kept going, while Hummel, now fighting for his life, began to grapple with the man. Hummel was able to grab a wrench out the man's pocket, and hit him with it, causing the man to stop and take off running. By this time, others had seen what was going on and grabbed the crazed man. An article in the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette stated that they nearly beat the man to death, but Hummel intervened. Both were taken to the infirmary and given medical treatment, and both thankfully survived the encounter. Although the name of the inmate wasn't given, he was said to be a 36 year old man who had been at the infirmary for the last 16 years. Days prior to the attack, other inmates claimed that the man was walking around muttering, "I'm bloodthirsty. I'll kill somebody!" An interesting side not to this story is that obviously the public was upset that something like this could happen, and it brought up the discussion of whether or not 'insane' inmates should be housed with what was mostly an elderly and infirm population at the county infirmary. What we see after this event is an increase in inmates from the infirmary being brought up on lunacy charges and transferred to the state asylum in Athens.
Now, I never met Hummel. I can't say whether he was generally a likable guy or not (although newspapers paint him to be). What I can say is that I'm sure the job of superintendent wasn't an easy one. Maybe he was a little too strict in his effort to keep things running smoothly and keep everyone in line. And, whenever you have a person in authority, you're going to have those who oppose that authority, no matter what the disposition of the authority figure is. So yeah, maybe the guy was just crazy, or maybe he just had a beef with Superintendent Hummel over a real grievance, intended or not. Either way, I don't think anyone could compare Hummel with Superintendent Braden.
In early Fall of 1851, a scathing story came out in the local Lancaster papers, calling for the removal of Superintendent Joseph Braden. It seems as if the town was divided in a bitter dispute, which sounded like it was mostly political in nature. The main issue was over how much Braden was being paid by the county, but a further charge was that Braden was an extremely cruel overseer.
Corporal punishment had been abolished at the county infirmary only that past January. When Braden started this job, it was perfectly legal, and even acceptable to use canes and wagon whips to beat unruly inmates into submission. However, Braden was accused of not only carrying on this tradition after it had been abolished, but carrying it out with an intense cruelty that went above and beyond what was necessary for order and punishment. Some came to Braden's defense and claimed that he was doing what he was told to do in his position as Superintendent, but the public testified that these beatings would occur out in broad daylight, and many were witness to the inhumane treatment of inmates.
Whatever the true story was behind Braden, and despite his supporters, he did end up leaving the position over this controversy. You can't keep a man like Braden down, however. The following year, an article appeared in the newspaper that discussed a young, tall, bearded Captain Braden on picket with the 30th Indiana, "sporting his sword as vigorously as he once did the birchen rod."
Superintendent Hummel and Superintendent Braden seem to have very similar stories, that ended in very different ways. Both seemingly were doing their best in a difficult position, hindered by politics. Both had plenty of supporters, but also enough detractors to make one wonder what was really going on. Admittedly, in the early days of the infirmary, corporal punishment WAS the norm, a tragic realization for a location already filled with sorrow and death. I do, though, think that for the sake of narrative, the stories of Hummel and Braden were intertwined to create one entity that speaks of the symbolic nature of the tragedy that is the Fairfield County Infirmary.
Additional Sources/Citations Coming Soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment