PATRICK J. MURPHY IS SENT TO STATE ASYLUM

Summary

Butte Miner's coverage of the Mar 23 commitment — third paper to carry the story (with the Inter Mountain same-day and the Anaconda Standard same-day-next-day). The Miner's framing is notably more sympathetic than the other two: where the Inter Mountain ran "WIFE AND THREE CHILDREN IN DANGER FROM HIM" and the Standard ran "threatening to kill her and the children", the Miner explicitly states "Murphy is not violent." Other new factual content: the medical CAUSE is identified as "a stroke of paralysis" — i.e. an apoplectic stroke, not chronic alcoholic insanity (the Jan 8 hearing's "fits when drunk" framing). The examination was at the family home, 120 West Quartz street, by Judge Donlan with Drs. Turner and Horst. Mrs. Murphy has had the burden of supporting her husband AND THREE CHILDREN. Committed to Warm Springs for "special treatment" that "might be of benefit to him." Three-newspaper journalistic-divergence note. Two papers emphasised danger to wife and children; one emphasised illness. The Miner's "not violent" framing reads protective. Worth noting for the book — the same event read three different ways at three different politically-aligned Butte/ Anaconda papers.

People

• Patrick "Pat" J. Murphy (Cork-born bartender / shoemaker; d. 1912 Warm Springs MT)(as printed: Patrick J. Murphy)
  role: subject · family confidence: 10 flag
• Ellen Murphy (wife of Pat, 1908 hearings)(as printed: Mrs. Murphy)
  role: supporting wife · family confidence: 10 flag

Also mentioned

• Judge Donlan · presiding_judge
• Dr. Turner · examining_physician
• Dr. Horst · examining_physician

Places

• Butte, Montana (primary)
• Warm Springs, Montana (secondary)

Themes

• illness
• court_proceedings
• irish_american_community

Story threads

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

Tags

• candidate_family
• heavy
• evidence_supporting

Source type

news_item, court_report

Related sources

• 1908-01-08 — The Butte Miner, p.12 — PAT MURPHY FOUND TO BE SICK AND NOT INSANE
• 1908-01-08 — The Anaconda Standard, p.9 — TWO MENTAL UNFORTUNATES
• 1908-03-23 — The Daily Inter Mountain, p.10 — PATRICK J. MURPHY IS FOUND INSANE
• 1908-03-24 — The Anaconda Standard, p.9 — IS SENT TO THE ASYLUM

Open questions

• Why does the Butte Miner take a softer line than the Anaconda Standard and Inter Mountain on the same event? Politically the Miner was the Daly / Anaconda Copper paper for a stretch; socially it was Butte's morning daily. Possibly an editor knew the family. Worth a sidebar in the book on press divergence in the same Butte event-coverage.