By Marylou Elton

Dr. Henry Waldo Coe saw himself in the role of a father figure – a man who was firm but willing to give a patient a hand up or a second chance.  Morningside did not offer “treatment” but Coe was proud the hospital offered a safe place to eat, sleep, and possibly pass the time at some chores while recovering from whatever symptoms had induced fellow Alaskans to call for the individual’s commitment.  There were several times he petitioned the Interior Department to allow a patient to be reinstated if, after discharge, they were not able to make their way in the world or if the “symptoms” came back.

Many of the battles he waged with Congress and the Interior Department were to increase funding that would eventually impact his own bottom line (especially during World War I when the cost of goods rose dramatically).  But some of the skirmishes he entered into with the bureaucracy were strictly on behalf of the patients.

A true example of this was his pursuit of whiskey for his patients during Prohibition in the 1920’s.  In late January of 1920, Coe was notified that whiskey impounded due to Prohibition could be made available to his patients at Morningside if he would contact the U.S. Attorney in Oregon to apply to the courts for the necessary order.  Coe immediately gave a positive reply, noting “a few ounces of spirits for some of these old Alaskans at times is really a life-saving substance”.

The process dragged on for several months. Coe made contact with U.S. Assistant AG Austin Flagel, in Oregon, who at first said all that was needed was a request from Interior to release 50 gallons of whiskey to Coe as an agent of the department.  By the end of May, after numerous letters between all parties, Coe was disappointed to receive a letter from Flagel saying the deal was off since the state laws of Oregon prohibited the use of intoxicating liquor for any purposes.  Flagel suggested the Interior Department should ask for the liquor to be turned over directly to the department, rather than Coe.

Coe traveled in Europe that summer, but did not give up the quest.  In mid-October of 1920, the Acting Secretary of Interior, Alexander Vogelsang, provided the proper request to Lester Humphrey, Flagel’s boss, for the liquor to be turned over to the department to be disposed of how they might see fit.  Vogelsand also directed Coe to keep the liquor under lock and key and to include usage data in the monthly reports.

A week later, Flagel wrote back saying the request could not be complied with.   Since Flagel’s suggestion in May that Interior should ask for the liquor directly, the War Department had made proper application for the liquor and all they had available had been turned over to them.  Nothing was left.

Coe did not let it rest.  He agitated for action from the department with a letter to Acting Secretary Vogelsang pointing out “that Mr. Flagel has turned (about 1000 gallons) of liquor over to the War Department, and while he is willing to accept the receipt for the liquor from the War Department he is unwilling to do so for the Interior Department”.  “So far as I know”, he continued, “there is nothing in the Oregon law or any other law which manifests any disposition to discriminate between the different departments of the government.”

The Interior files include two more letters on the subject.   A December 11, 1920, letter, from Johnson Smith, the Federal Prohibition Director, authorizing Dr. Coe to accept and transfer liquor on behalf of the Interior Department; and a January 1, 1921, letter from Dr. Coe to Acting Secretary Vogelsang, notifying him that 200 gallons of whiskey had been turned over to him as an agent for Interior, with 185 gallons being kept under lock and key and an initial 15 gallons “released to the institution, was in the process of employment”.

You may view the letters actually copied from the files of the Interior Department here: 091520 Letter (9).  103120 Letter (9). 121120 Letter (10).

A few days before she left Morningside, Dr. Henry Coe, the president of the Sanitarium Company, informed the Department of the Interior of her release. In the letter, he described her as, “strong, vigorous, active, cleanly, and the most capable Eskimo woman I ever saw.” He goes on to say that she will be leaving with a baby named Mary McLoshkin (apparently born at Morningside?) who she adopted. You can read the discharge letter (27) here.

Coe notes that Katharine was in a photo with him and a Department of the Interior inspector (above, from the Library of Congress). He also wrote that she made fine baskets. I believe that this is a photo of one of her baskets. The caption under the 1916 photo (from the National Archives II) reads, “Made by an Alaska Native who was returned by Morningside to the island of Attu, 4000 miles distant.”

Dr. Coe ends the letter with, “I am going to write up her story, one of these days. It is stranger than fiction.” I wish he had. I’ve checked many sources but can find nothing on Katharine after her discharge from Morningside. Please leave a comment if you know more about her or her family.

Walter Clark (right), Alaska’s first territorial governor, went to Morningside and spent 4 days “investigating  conditions at the asylum”, where he conferred with Edward Dixon, the Department of the Interior inspector who also conducted the 1909 inspection.

The following documents detail the complaint and investigation.

Von Kowski Complaint: September 21, 9122 (0), Governor Clark Letter: December 11, 1911 (68), Dixon Inspection Report: December 29, 1911 (83)

The pictures below show how the hospital changed as it morphed into Morningside Hospital, going from private-pay patients to government contract supported care of Alaskans. These images are from an October, 1909 investigation report on the care of Alaskan patients at Crystal Springs Sanitarium. The report, written by Edward W. Dixon, is from US Department of the Interior records at the National Archives II in College Station, MD. You can read the full report and see additional photos here – 1909 Dixon Inspection Report (48).

The changes in the architecture are striking.

The Massachusetts Building (Crystal Springs Sanitarium) with the Nurses Cottage (to the left).

Morningside Asylum building, where Alaskan patients were housed.

This photo (L) is of a subpoena given to the Federal Marshall by the Judge. Subpoenas were issued for the alleged insane person and the witnesses. Summons were also  issued for six jurors. All persons alleged to be “insane and at large” had a 6 person jury trial.

This (R) is an example of a Probate Docket book from Ketchikan. Inside are records of Estates, Guardianships, Adoptions and Sanity court cases.

This photo (L) is an example of a page from a Ketchikan docket book from 1953. The amount of information varies from date to date and location to location. Some have entries with basic information only. Others have complete verbatim documents and testimony summary.

This photo (R) is of the vault in the Clerk of Court Office in Nome, Alaska. The vault was barged to Nome during the Gold Rush.

We found the Probate Docket books in this vault. The Probate Docket books have entries for the sanity proceedings from the late 1800′s to 1960.

This (L) is the inside of the vault in Nome where historical files, journals and dockets were kept. In early days, gold was also kept here.

They are relying on two sources of information in their search.  They’re using the quarterly reports submitted to the Department of the Interior that list the names of patients who died, the cause of death, and the burial location. The Oregon Death Index has also been useful in finding burial locations. The certificate below is from the Virtual Cemetery site. It notes that Rita Lane, from Nome, died of pneumonia at Morningside when she was 14 years old. The burial location, Multnomah Cemetery, is at the bottom of the right side of the death certificate.

“The question still remains, why Oregon?  The State Insane Asylum (later Western State Hospital) at Fort Steilacoom near Tacoma had been in operation since 1871 and is geographically closer to Alaska than Salem or Portland.  Or perhaps even more logical would be to establish an institution in Alaska itself.  Our 1916 text hints that difficulties in transportation around the Alaska Territory made the transfer to another institution a reasonable solution.

Although Portland is somewhat remote from Alaska, it is to be remembered that Alaska, with some 3000 miles of water frontage has no central point.  A patient from the north would have to come to Seattle and be shipped back to the lower part of Alaska, if there was an institution in that region, and vice versa.  Moreover, the climate of Alaska is none too good for an insane patient.”

To read more, go to The Oregon State Hospital Museum Project blog.

The site includes information on how to claim cremains if you can prove you are a relative. The 6 Alaskans who died there between 1900 and 1903 were not on the list. Thanks to Eric Cordingly of the Friends of Multnomah Park Cemetery for sharing this link.

A few of the more interesting things in the report:

• On July 25, 1923, there were 246 patients at Morningside, including 35 Alaska Natives.
• 25% of the patients had syphilis. One of the symptoms of late stage syphilis is mental illness.
• 472 patients out of the 973 admitted between 1904 and 1923 were discharged.
• The federal government was paying $50 a month for each patient. The monthly rate for the Pioneer Home in Sitka was $103.
• The inspector found that three Morningside patients were not insane and one other was doubtful.
• The sexes were kept “entirely separate”.
• The hospital grounds included 97 acres of farm land which was used to produce food for the patients.
• The inspector found that there were no other institutions in the northwest that were “prepared to properly care for the Alaska insane” besides Morningside.
• Emigration officials inspected patient records three times a year, and deported foreign patients regardless of their condition.
• Deceased patients were buried in the Riverview Cemetery. The graves were “properly marked with a cement block imbedded in the ground and marked with a number, which corresponds to a like number, with name, shown on a plat kept by the Cemetery Association.”

Between 1901 and 1903, 69 Alaskans were sent to there, 31 of whom were later transferred to Morningside. Six men died while in Salem, including:

• William Johnson, d.23 Aug 1901 (age 30, b. England)
• Thomas A. Wilson, d. 9 Jan 1902 (age ___, b. England)
• Alexander H Carpenter, d. 30 Mar 1902 ( age ___, b. ___)
• Robert Sweet, d. 9 Nov 1902 (age 48, b. American)
• Wm. Ukas, d. 24 Jun 1903 (age ___, b. Alaska)
• Louis Bronson, d. 27 Jun 1903 (age 68, b. Germany)

On January 11, 1902, the Oregon Statesman published Thomas A. Wilson’s obituary. They reported that he committed suicide by jumping from a third floor window. The article went on to say:

“Wilson was committed to the Insane Asylum from Alaska, and he had recently shown marked signs of improvement. When realizing that he was in an insane asylum, he was very much distressed. He had thus far shown no signs of suicidal tendencies, and was generally considered a model patient.”

One of the interesting aspects of this is that the six men who died at the Oregon State Insane Asylum may be among those whose remains are in the copper canisters I wrote about on September 15. Another lead to follow the next time I’m in Oregon.