Insane asylums were a popular topic in the 1800s, in a negative way. It was discovered that the inmates in these asylums were being treated in an inhumane manner in terrible environments. People such as George W. Cable, Alexander Mather, and Nellie Bly helped expose the issue to the masses. The public reacted well to the amateur investigations, and joined the push for asylum reform. They sought to improve the ways that nineteenth century lunatics lived. Initially, however, the public was not immediately aware of the issue.

In Ten Days in a Mad-House, Nellie Bly recounts the time she purposely committed herself into the Women’s Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island. Bly highlights the deplorable conditions of this particular nineteenth century insane asylum. A report on the inhumane treatment of the inmates is also presented to the reader. Nellie states that “everything was spotlessly clean” in the nurses’ quarters whereas the inmates’ quarters were drab, uncomfortable, and unsanitary. Harsh orders by the nurses were given to the inmates as they marched them around. Inmates were only given a questionable substance to drink and a slice of blackened buttered bread for their last “meal” of the day. Inmates were bathed all over their bodies with “ice-cold” water, and then the nurses dumped multiple buckets of the water onto the inmates’ heads. After all of this mistreatment was published in Ten Days in a Mad House, an investigation of the Women’s Lunatic Asylum spawned, and the end goal was achieved. The handling of the insane asylum’s inmates was reformed. 

As of 1819, Alexander Mather was a surgeon who co-owned a private asylum outside of York, England (Brown, 2006). His reputation would soon be in jeopardy after a woman was falsely committed to the asylum because her uncle wanted a pension she received from her brother. Eventually, Mather would be charged with trespassing and false imprisonment. Upon Nellie Bly’s arrival at the asylum, one of the other patients, Tillie Mayard, notes to Nellie that she does not look as if she is insane. Some patients may have been victims of other people’s greed, or some may have been committed simply because of what someone else saw. An asylum patient might have been admitted after being witnessed while even slightly out of sorts. After all, Nellie Bly was only acting like a typical insane asylum patient of the time and was committed to the Blackwell’s Island Women’s Lunatic Asylum, at the discretion of “four expert doctors” (Bly, 1887). Tillie even sounded “rational” to Nellie as she unsuccessfully attempted to appeal to the nurses (Bly, 1887). This shows that some nineteenth century asylum patients may not have rightfully belonged in a lunatic asylum. 

Rethinking Early Nineteenth-Century Asylum Reform notes that Alexander Mather’s “scandal” of falsely admitting a patient to a lunatic asylum was not the first for the York asylum. A few years prior, a similar scandal affected the York Lunatic Asylum. Some men were intent on making the conditions of the institution more humane. This scandal marked the beginning of insane asylum reform after it was exposed across Britain. It appears that calls for action regarding insane asylum reform started decades before Nellie Bly’s stunt journalism. Reform also might have started earlier in certain nations, as the York scandal took place in the UK and Nellie conducted her stunt journalism in the United States. From Ten Days in a Mad-House and Rethinking Early Nineteenth-Century Asylum Reform, it is known that insane asylums provided deplorable conditions in both the United Kingdom and the United States, both some of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the nineteenth century. Conditions in insane asylums in poorer countries during the nineteenth century might have been even more horrible, or worse, lunatic asylums may have been nonexistent. People living in poorer countries who were legitimately insane might not have been able to receive the care they needed, possibly resulting in the loss of innocent lives. Judging by this article, insane asylums even in some of the world’s most successful nations provided inhumane conditions for patients during the nineteenth century. 

Reformers of the York institution sought to implement a system where the institution staff would be regularly surveyed. In 1813, nearly fifty reformers discovered that one could join the management committee of the York asylum for a small amount of money. Discussions that had previously occurred in the privacy of the committee room between “original” managers were now being transferred to publicly readable newspapers by the reformers. In March 1814, Godfrey Higgins surprised the asylum with a visit, forcibly made his way in, and published his discoveries, after a man he himself had sent to the institution had returned to him with lice. Higgins spun himself as someone who was opening a previously private space to the public, and enraged numerous “original” lunatic asylum managers. “Some miserable bedding was lying on straw, which was daubed wet with excrement and urine”, “the walls [were] also besmeared with excrement”, and “the stench was almost intolerable” (Higgins, 1814). This shows that journalism that showcases the conditions of nineteenth century insane asylums was being published in Britain long before Nellie Bly conducted her own stunt journalism by faking her way into a lunatic asylum in the United States. News did not travel very fast in the 1800s, especially across different nations, and especially for a relatively narrow issue. The American public was still in the dark when it came to asylum patient treatment, decades after the publishing of British asylum conditions. Nellie Bly’s stunt journalism took place in the 1880s, whereas Higgins’ visit, the York Lunatic Asylum’s scandals, and the overrunning of the York Lunatic asylum took place from 1813-1815. 

In addition, a man named Alexander Hunter joined the York Lunatic Asylum following its inception in 1772. He would later become the asylum’s only physician in 1777, when the institution was finally ready to take in patients after suffering from financial hardship. During the 1780s, Hunter expressed interest in admitting more wealthy patients to the institution to offset the cost of admitting peasants. Although he worked without pay, instead of using the money for admitting poorer patients, Hunter used it for himself, with the patients living in the poor conditions Higgins would eventually find all the while. However, Hunter was not the only person related to the institution who was taking money from patients. Charles Best, another physician and Hunter’s successor, admitted that he had been taking money from patients at the York Lunatic Asylum and his own private asylum. Eventually, the reformers won out by having the York asylum professionally inspected for the first time in twenty-seven years, and the operation was destroyed. Some of the patients Nellie Bly stayed in the Blackwell’s Island asylum might have come from wealthy backgrounds, and the nurses or management might have taken funds from them or their families while keeping the patient in horrible conditions. It is possible that an underground money “collecting” scheme was taking place. Such a scheme could be the reason why the nurses were living so nicely compared to the inmates, with their “fruits, beautiful white bread, and nice meats” that they ate (Bly, 1887). Even still, a scheme such as this would be taking place decades after the York Lunatic Asylum scandal, which shows that the problem was fixed or recognized sooner in some countries and later in others. Corruption behind the Blackwell’s Island Lunatic Asylum could have been a very real occurrence, considering how easily the physicians at the York asylum made off with patients’ money for so many years.

George W. Cable pushed for prison and asylum reform in 1881, in New Orleans. His operation had three goals. One was to garner intel on what was happening inside asylums and on past improvements of asylum condition within the United States and overseas. Goal number two was to place potential new rules in front of elected officials to improve conditions, and the final goal was to make the conditions of asylums and the steps being taken to improve them public. Cable channeled his calls for reform through newspapers, finally settling on the Times-Democrat (Cable, Turner, 1972). He was the payless secretary of the Prisons and Asylums Aid Association, which improved asylum conditions throughout Louisiana from 1882 onwards by having its regulations passed by officials and by creating guidelines for asylum and prison reform. This shows that asylum reform was finally underway in parts of the United States by the 1880s, the same decade that Nellie Bly conducted her stunt journalism. However, this still took place years after the York Lunatic Asylum scandal and reforms. Most of the general public was unaware of the issue in New Orleans until George W. Cable brought it to their attention, and this was still only in one state. Nellie Bly still had to conduct her stunt journalism to publicize the problem to the public and even investigators in New York. Mr. Cable became nationally known for his efforts in asylum reform, following the same three stage method. Even still, Nellie Bly felt the need to publicize her work a couple of years later because she felt that the issue was not receiving enough recognition. Both Bly’s and Cable’s efforts produced quick action from officials and investigators however, unlike with the York Lunatic Asylum scandals. 

Throughout the 1800s, the conditions of insane asylums and the treatment of those inside insane asylums were an issue in multiple countries. The issue of insane asylums grew faster in some places and slower in others, but an incredibly high number of people were committed to helping lunatic asylum patients live better lives, whether it be in a cleaner, more humane asylum or whether it be in the free world due to false admission. Blatantly bad treatment, greed, and corruption were all fought against by these reformers, to improve the quality of life for these patients. With the general public behind the reformers, nothing could stop them. Their immense drive, perseverance, and courage is still recognized today.  
