TWO MENTAL UNFORTUNATES — One is sent to the asylum and the other to the county poor-house

The Anaconda Standard, Anaconda, 1908-01-08, p.9

Summary

Anaconda Standard's third-of-three-papers next-day coverage of the 7 January 1908 Judge Donlan commission hearing. (Butte Daily Post and Butte Miner had their own versions on Jan 7 and Jan 8.) ## VERBATIM KEY PASSAGE > Pat Murphy, **a native of Cork**, and Barney Boyle, a > native of Kildare, Ireland, were examined by commissions > of physicians on charges of insanity yesterday. Murphy was > sent to the county poor house and Boyle to the state > asylum at Warm Springs. > > The wife of Murphy made the complaint against him. He has > been a **partial paralytic for 11 years** and Mrs. Murphy > has been **supporting** him. Lately he has been so cross > and irritable that she could no longer care for him. She > said he had threatened the children with harm and had > threatened to burn the house. He was formerly a bartender > and drank a great deal. When drunk he had fits. > > Drs. Schwartz and Renick concluded that Murphy was not a > fit subject for the asylum, but recommended that he be > sent to the poor-house, which would **relieve the family > of his care and burden**. [Article continues describing Boyle as "Boyle was a 'horse fighter' in..." — cut off at clip boundary.] ## KEY ADDITIONS TO THE OTHER TWO JAN 7-8 ACCOUNTS 1. **"Pat Murphy, a native of CORK"** — explicit Cork origin (other accounts said only Ireland). Confirms PJM is from Co. Cork — matches the Beara/Ardgroom family's documented origin. 2. **"Mrs. Murphy has been SUPPORTING him"** — Ellen was the family's breadwinner. The reversed financial role of the PJM household by 1908 is now explicitly documented: wife works, husband disabled / unemployed. 3. **"Threatened the children with harm"** — the children were not just teased by him (per Butte Daily Post) but actively threatened with harm by him. 4. **"Relieve the family of his care and burden"** — the poor-farm commitment explicitly framed as **burden relief** for the family. A grim but candid 1908 phrasing of the family's resort to institutionalization. ## NEXT-DAY THREE-PAPER CORROBORATION SUMMARY Same case, three papers, three slightly different details: - **Butte Daily Post (Jan 7, p6)**: longest; Maggie = niece; Mary Sullivan = sister; PJM age 50; came Montana 20 yrs ago; 11 yrs invalid; mine-accident head injury; 2 strokes - **Butte Miner (Jan 8, p12)**: shorter; Maggie = sister (conflict with BDP); Mrs. Ellen Murphy explicitly named as complainant - **Anaconda Standard (Jan 8, p9)**: native-of-CORK; Ellen as breadwinner-supporter; threatened children with harm; poor-farm as burden-relief Two months later (March 1908) PJM would be re-examined under a second commission and sent on to Warm Springs asylum, where he died April 1912.

People

Patrick Murphy (my ancestor)(as printed: Pat Murphy)
role: subject · family confidence: 100 certain
Native of Cork — corroborates PJM as the Beara/Ardgroom Cork-origin family member. Adds Cork specificity over the other accounts.
Ellen (Lyne) Murphy (b. Ardgroom; m. Patrick Murphy 1881; d. Butte 1935)(as printed: Mrs. Murphy / The wife of Murphy)
role: complainant wife breadwinner · family confidence: 100 certain
Ellen as the family's BREADWINNER by 1908 — new dimension of her agency in the family economy.

Also mentioned

Barney Boyle · peripheral_other_subject
Native of Kildare, Ireland. The other 'mental unfortunate' at the same commission; sent to Warm Springs asylum while PJM went to poor house.
Dr. Schwartz · commission_physician_for_pjm
Dr. Renick · commission_physician_for_pjm

Places

Butte, Montana (primary)
Silver Bow County, Montana (primary)
County Cork (source_of_pjm)
Anaconda, Montana (source)

Themes

Story threads

The Pat-and-Ellen Murphy household — Butte 1887 to LA 1980

Source type

news_report

Related sources

Transcription

transcription: complete · confidence high

# TWO MENTAL UNFORTUNATES **One is sent to the asylum and the other to the county poor-house.** *The Anaconda Standard · Wednesday, January 8, 1908 · Page 9* Pat Murphy, a native of Cork, and Barney Boyle, a native of Kildare, Ireland, were examined by commissions of physicians on charges of insanity yesterday. Murphy was sent to the county poor house and Boyle to the state asylum at Warm Springs. The wife of Murphy made the complaint against him. He has been a partial paralytic for 11 years and Mrs. Murphy has been supporting him. Lately he has been so cross and irritable that she could no longer care for him. She said he had threatened the children with harm and had threatened to burn the house. He was formerly a bartender and drank a great deal. When drunk he had fits. Drs. Schwartz and Renick concluded that Murphy was not a fit subject for the asylum, but recommended that he be sent to the poor-house, which would relieve the family of his care and burden. [continued — Boyle was a "horse fighter" in ...]