THREATENED TO PUT
LAWYERS IN JAIL.
Persistent Interruptions in Hospital
Hearing Got on the Nerves of
Alderman Clubertson.
Threats of imposing a fine, with the alternative of going to jail, were made yesterday afternoon by W. C. Culbertson, chairman of the council committee hearing the charges against the management of the general hospital. Attorneys W. O. Cardwell and J. A. McLain, who are conducting the investigation for the complainants, were the objects of the alderman's threat. Members of the inquiry committee were compelled to request the attorneys to desist from interrupting cross-examination of witnesses.
One of the witnesses yesterday was Scott Murphy, an ex-policeman and a painter, who was an inmate of the new general hospital in November. He testified that he saw an extract poured on the injured leg of Arthur Slim, who testified that "Curley" Bates did it. But Murphy swore that a nurse did it and that Bates was not in the room.
Murphy testified that he was treated very well except that the doctors refused to give him any medicine for his cough, and that one of the nurses slipped him some cough tablets. He told of being in the "dope" ward, and also in the "crazy" ward. It was the latter place, he said, that he saw one man put in the bath tub, fulled with ice water, several times each day.
The most serious charge this witness made against the hospital was that of washing the dishes, knives and forks in an uncleanly manner.
Mrs. Maggie Struble was called by the complainants and testified that a son of hers died in the hospital March 18, 1909, and that Dr. Neal had charged her $2, which she has not paid, to sign the death certificate. She also said he had performed a postmortem on the body after she had refused to give him her consent for it to take place.
As to the treatment of her son while in the hospital she said that her son told her they treated him "fine." The only thing she complained of regarding the treatment her son received was that they fed him cooked pigs' feet unseasoned.
The committee then asked Dr. Neal to take the stand. He said that he had refused to sign a death certificate because he did not know the cause of the young man's death. The coroner, he testified, signed the death certificate and performed a postmortem on the body. Dr. Neal admitted charging $2 for filling out the certificate for the insurance company.
Two witness placed on the stand by the complainants were Fannie and Greg Grant, negroes, who testified that they were charged $5 by a physician at the hospital who filled out the insurance papers.
The investigation will be resumed next Monday afternoon.
