H. Hughes, respondent, v. United Pipe Line; Alita A. Akeu, appellant, v. Sarah A. Kellogg, etc.; John T. Baxter, respondent, v. Brooklyn Life Insurance Company: Adolph Prochownick and another, appellants, v. Eugene S. Boyd; Francis B. Thurber, et al., respondent, v. John Stimmel; New York Lumber and Wood Work Company, appellant, v. Morris Schneider and another.

OTHER DECISIONS.

In re judicial settlement of Mary J. Clark, executrix of Freeman J. Fithian, deceased.Order of General Term affirmed and judgment absolute ordered for defendant on stipulation with costs-Max Mayer, appellant, v. James McCreery.-Order affirmed and judg ment absolute ordered for plaintiff on stipulation with costs-Jeremiah Bulger, respondent, v. Isaac A. Rosa.

-Order of General Term reversed and judgment entered upon verdict affirmed with costs-Owen Donnegan, appellant, v. Joel B. Erhardt, receiver. SECOND DIVISION.

JUDGMENTS AFFIRMED WITH COSTS.

Julia Frear, appellant, v. Franklin Sweet and others. respondents; Wm. Campbell, respondent, v. Abuer M. Wright and another, appellants; John L. Doug.

New York, respondent; Richard Murphy, respondent, v. N. Y. C. & H. R. R. Co., appellant; Julia M. Ferry, respondent, v. Manhattan Railway Company, appellant; John B. Leverich, respondent, v. Weeks W. Culver and another, appellants; James A. Farley and an other, appellants, v. Union Mutual Life Insurance Company, respondent; Charles Herold, respondent, v. Manhattan Railway Company, appellant; Genevive Baker, respondent, v. Manhattan Railway Company, appellant; Marcus Beeman, respondent, v. George A. Banta, appellant; John J. Lehr, respondent, v. Steinway and Hunter's Point Railroad Company, appellant; Wm. H. R. Sandford, respondent, v. Standard Oil Company, appellant; Alma McCord, appellant, v Town of Ossinino, etc., respondent; James Murphy, Jr., as administrator of John Murphy, appellant, v. City of Brooklyn, respondent; Newcomb C. Bainey and others, respondents, v. John M. Forbes, Jr., appellant; Warren Chemical and Manufacturing Company, appellant, v. Giles J. Holbrook, respondent: Wm. Holdridge, appellant, v. Eurydice L. Hicks and others, respondents.

Motion for re argument denied with $10 costs-Wm. Cole, executor, respondent, v. Charles F. Frost, etc. -Motion to prefer denied without costs-Henry Mason and others, appellants, v. George C. Williams, etc. -Motion to recall denied with $10 costs-Wm. F. Lawrence, etc., respondent, v. Arvin W. Harrington. -Order affirmed and judgment absolute ordered for defendant on stipulation with costs-George W. Law-lass, appellant, v. Merchants' Insurance Company of ton, etc., appellant, v. Wm. N. Steele.-Order affirmed and judgment absolute ordered for plaintiff on the stipulation with costs-Lucy F. Wyman, administratrix, respondent, v. Phoenix Mutual Life Ins. Co., -Judgment of General Term and that entered at Trial Term reversed and the complaint dismissed with costs-J. Emmett Wells, executor, respondent, v. Town of Salina. Judgment reversed, new trial granted, costs to abide eveut-National Bank of Providence, appellant, v. Navassa Phosphate Company. Order of General Term reversed and judgment upon report of referee affirmed with costs-Win. R. H. Martin, etc., appellant, v. Frank T. Gilbert, sheriff.. Judgment reversed, new trial granted, costs to abide event-Alfred Roe, etc., executors, appellant, v. Caroline A. Strong, etc.— -Judgment affirmed and judg-| ment absolute ordered on stipulation with costs-Theresa Lynch, respondent, v. First National Bank.Order General Term reversed, judgment Special Term affirmed with costs in General Term and this court-Mutual Life Insurance Company, respondent, v. Sarah F. Shipman, etc.-Judgment reversed, new granted, costs to abide event-Abel A. Crosby, etc., v. President, etc., of Delaware and Hudson Company, respondent.- -Order affirmed and judgment absolute ordered for respondent on the stipulation with costsSarah Hill, appellant, v. Board of Supervisors of Rensselaer county.--Order affirmed, judgment absolute ordered for defendant on stipulation with costs-Howard Vosburg, appellant, v. John F. Diefendorf.. Order affirmed and judgment ordered for respondent on stipulation with costs-Miriam C. Miller, etc., ap pellant, v. Egbert Rhinehardt. Order of General Term affirmed and motion granted with costs-S. S. Kiddy Cochran, etc., v. William A. Weichers, appellant.-Appeal dismissed with costs-In re petition of J. Newton, commissioner, etc.-Judgments reversed and judgment ordered for defendant on the demurrer with costs-Frank W. Colwell, receiver, v. Garfield National Bauk, appellant. Order affirmed with costs-Richard G. Berford, appellant, v. W. L. Wetmore, etc.-Order affirmed with costs-Joseph Taylor, appellant, v. Charles Hall.-Order affirmed with costs-Ulrice Lesser, appellant, v. Sarah A. Williams.

trial

-Appeal dismissed with costs-W. J. Finlay, appellant, v. R. B. Chapman.-Order General Term reversed; that of Special Term affirmed with costs in this court and the Supreme Court-Corn Exchange Bank of Chicago v. Alphonso W. Blye, receiver, respondent.-Orders of General and Special Terms reversed and the motion to set aside judgment granted with costs in this court and the Supreme Court- Arthur G. Yates v. James J. Guthrie, appellant.-Order affirmed with costs-George L. Whitman and others, v. John R. Haines and others (five cases).Judgment of General Term and decree of surrogate so far as appealed from reversed, order of reference vacated and a new hearing granted, costs to abide event

JUDGMENT REVERSED, NEW TRIAL GRANTED, COSTS

ΤΟ ABIDE EVENT.

Corn Exchange Bank, appellant, v. Farmers' National Bank of Lancaster, Penn., respondent; National City Bank of Brooklyn, respondent, v. Robert E. Wescott, as president, appellant; Robert C. Mar tin, appellant, v. Maria Ann Rector, respondent; H. respondents, v. Horace K. Thurber and others, appelJolsens, Taendstikke, Fabrikker Enebak and Brijn. lants; George H. Brennan, appellant, v. Read Gordon, Jr., and another, respondents; Mary B. Van Cleaf, apCharlotte M. Smith, respondent, v. Agricultural Inpellant, v. Catharine Burns and others, respondents; surance Company, appellant.

OTHER DECISIONS.

Motion for re-argument denied with $10 costs-Elnathan Sweet, Jr., and another, appellants, v. Dorilus Morrison and others, respondents.-Motion for reargument denied with $10 costs-Elizabeth D. Vail, respondent, v. Wm. M. Reynolds, appellant.-Order of General Term reversed and judgment entered on verdict affirmed with costs-Jacob C. Van Wycklin, appellant, v. City of Brooklyn, respondent.-Order affirmed and judgment absolute rendered against appellants with costs-Levi P. Rose, appellant, v. David Hawley and others, respondents. Order affirmed and judgment absolute rendered against appellant with costs-Margaret Slattery, appellant, v. Albert F. Schwannecker and another, respondents.-Order affirmed and judgment absolute rendered against ap. pellant with costs-Elizabeth A. L. Hyatt, appellant, v. Cyrus Clark, respondent.-Order affirmed and judgment absolute rendered against appellant without costs-Cyrus Clark, respondent, v. Elizabetha L. Hyatt, appellant.

The Albany Law Journal.

ALBANY, MARCH 8, 1890.

CURRENT TOPICS.

THE first annual report of the State commission in

McDonald, Goodwin Brown and Henry Reeves, is a document of more than ordinary importance. The principal recommendation of it is to close the twenty remaining county insane asylums, and transfer their inmates to the State asylums. This is based on a thorough investigation of the county asylums and a demonstration of their inadequacy. We have seldom read a public document so strongly appealing to the sympathies as this. There is undoubtedly no intentional cruelty practiced in these asylums, but owing mainly to insufficient pecuniary provision, the poor creatures are there treated worse than a humane and careful farmer treats a valuable cow or horse. Huddled together in cramped and ill-ventilated quarters, without proper water, fire, clothing, food, medicines or bedding, without suitable opportunities for exercise, in filth, squalor and wretchedness, these miserable beings are treated with a shocking disregard of the decencies due to sex, with a callous indifference, and even without an apparent recognition of the fact that they are unfortunate human beings, deserving and demanding the pitiful care of the community to whom God has given them in trust. Their condition would be as bad as that of the Siberian exiles if they had their reason. Lest it should be thought that we exaggerate, we will give some extracts from the report:

**

*

*

mon practice at most of these places to bathe three or
more patients in the same water. Indeed, from the
unreserved admissions of employees and officers it was
ascertained that in many instances four or five are
bathed before the water is changed. *
In view
of the fact that insane people frequently suffer from
ulcerations on the surface of the body and other dis-
orders of the skin, it seems marvellous that such a re-
pulsive practice should have been permitted to exist
for years without arousing the deepest public con-
demnation. *** In one of the county asylums an
assistant freely admitted the bathing of from five to
six patients in the same water, and said in relation
thereto: We cannot afford to waste our water.'
* From personal observation, in a large number
of cases old and feeble patients were found not to be
* ** With some
provided with under-garments.
exceptions, the patients were allowed to eat with their
fingers or often to appropriate each other's food; and
generally speaking, the lack of order and decorum
made it apparent that no proper supervision was exer-
cised over them. In fact, by reason of the insuffici-
ency of attendants, no proper order could be observed.
It is a matter of just complaint that only two meals a
day are served in a number of these institutions.
***Experience has shown that the ratio of trained
nurses or attendants to the insane, and especially to
those who are usually, though often mistakenly, re-
garded as incurable, should be one to not more than
ten or twelve. An examination of the exempted
county poor-houses shows that in them the ratio is far
below this, being one to twenty or over, and that eveu
this is too low a figure in view of the fact that gener-
ally every employee or person about the place is
counted as an attendant.' In the insane department
of one alms-house containing nearly four hundred in-
mates, we found one attendant in charge of seventy-
nine patients. * * *The patients at bed-time are
locked in their rooms or dormitories; they are left
alone and in darkness; the attendants retire to their
rooms, often in a distant part of the building, and from
that time until morning no care or attention whatever
is bestowed upon these unfortunates. * * * These
patients, by reason of lack of night service, are put to
bed and left to lie in their filth aud excrement until
morning, vitiating the atmosphere of the entire ward,
which must be inhaled by the cleanly patients as well
as the filthy. Such a condition of affairs would seem
incredible. It is disgraceful, not only to the counties
but to the State; to call it inhumane is to mildly char-
acterize it.
* The danger from fire in an insti-
tution occupied by the insane is one from which a
trained asylum officer always shrinks in dismay. In
view of the fact that certain of the insane have incen-
diary propensities, and that many of them are prone
to tricks and cunning, and to elude the vigilance of
their care-takers in efforts to burn buildings and de-
stroy themselves and others, it is not surprising that
an experienced asylum officer dreads the danger to
which his charge is thus constantly exposed. * * *
In one instance which the commission observed, the
door of each slatted room was fastened securely by a
padlock. It is due to good fortune that conflagrations,
resulting in the most serious consequences, have not
occurred, considering the almost total lack of provis-
ion, either to discover the presence of fire or to extin-
guish it should it occur. * ** By reason of the
lack of attendance, the patients are not regularly taken

*

*

"An examination showed that some beds, and especially those of the disturbed and filthy patients, were simply too vile for description. In many instances the mattresses were literally reeking with filth, and evidently were not dried from one day's end to another. In a few instances only were woollen blankets provided; in nearly all the cheap cotton quilts, which when they are filthy are so difficult to cleanse, were provided for the patients. In nearly all of these institutions, too, the bedding is not changed as frequently as it should be. The almost uniform reply to the inquiry, How often are the sheets changed?' was, One sheet is changed each week.' And aside from the beds and bedding, the practice which prevails in many instances of permitting or compelling two patients to sleep together cannot be too strongly condemned. The idea of two ordinary sick people being compelled to lie together is sufficiently repugnant; how much worse for two insane people to be required to occupy the same bed. It should in justice be said however that in some of these county alms-houses this practice does not exist at all and in others to only a limited extent. It occurred where there was a lack of beds or where there was crowding. In one institution the commis-out for exercise in the open air, though some of the sion found that a considerable number of the beds were occupied by two patients each. Among the universally recognized necessities of insane asylums is an abundant supply of pure and wholesome water.

It is exceptional to find one of these places adequately supplied with water. * * * It is literally true, however difficult of belief, that it is a comVOL. 41 No. 10.

institutions are provided with small airing courts or yards which are used by the patients in the summer season. During the rest of the time they are compelled to remain on the corridors or wards in idleness, even on pleasant days, with little or nothing beyond the benches and barren, uncolored walls to divert or occupy their attention; while in some cases they are

the chair and fastened to the other by means of a pad-it

fair in the city of New York, it will be a wholesome lesson to legislators and to the community to behold the rottenness under the goodly outside of our social fabric, to be reminded how they live for show and rivalry and luxury, and how neglectful and callous they are to human suffering. We are tender of our criminals in comparison; we give them wholesome food, sufficient clothing, and keep them moderately clean; we compel them to go to church, and we furnish them with good reading. If any of them have deserved death, after loading them down with flowers, we go about to invent some painless and speedy method of taking them off. But for these poor distracted creatures, who have committed no crime, we have nothing better to offer than this re

port discloses. We are glad to learn that a bill has been introduced in both houses of the Legislature to close these chambers of horrors and put their inmates under the care and protection of the State. It ought to pass at once, so that this burning disgrace may be wiped away. And until this is done we had better dispense with grand staircases and other senseless displays of selfish wealth and unfeeling

power.

men are not born free, it suffices to answer that whatever measure of freedom may be implied, all men are equally entitled to it. All are entitled to the same just liberty. Thus considered, there is nothing in the time-honored declaration that is not demonstrably true, and nothing but unworthy quibbling can for a moment darken the beneficent luminousness of the expression.

NOTES OF CASES.

'N People's Bank v. Franklin Bank, Supreme Court

that when a bank pays a forged check without rethe identity of the person to whom it is paid, and quiring identification or preserving any evidence of indorses it, and sends it for payment to the bank upon which it is drawn, the latter bank, upon discovering the forgery after having paid the check, The court said: "The complainant bank, upon reto the credit of defendant, might well rely upon the ceiving such check in due course of mail for deposit exercise of due prudence and diligence on the part of its depositor, the defendant bank, and might well

can recover the amount thereof from the former.

In the Nineteenth Century for January Mr. Hux-regard the latter's indorsement of the check as sig-
ley criticises the phrase, "all men are born free and
equal," which he ascribes to Jean Jacques Rousseau.
He says: "I have seen a considerable number of
new-born infants. Without wishing to speak of
them with the least disrespect a thing no man
can do without, as the proverb says, 'fouling his
own nest' I fail to understand how they can be
affirmed to have any political qualities at all. How
can it be said that these poor little mortals who
have not even the capacity to kick to any definite
end, nor indeed to do any thing but vaguely squirm
and squall, are equal politically, except as all zeros
may be said to be equal. * * * But we may
carry our questions a step farther. If it is mere
abracadabra to speak of men being born in a state
of political freedom and equality, thus fallaciously
confusing positive equality that is to say, equality
of powers-with the equality of impotences, in
what conceivable state is it possible that men should
not merely be born, but pass through childhood and
still remain free?" One might have supposed that
so wise a man as Mr. Huxley would not fall into the
shallow and common misconstruction of this much-
berated declaration. Neither Rousseau nor Jeffer-
son intended to assert for men 66
equality of powers,"
but only equality of rights. "All men are born
free and equal, endowed with certain inalienable
privileges, among which are life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness." This is the phrase, with its
context, and taken together, the declaration means
that all men have the same natural right to life, to
liberty and to happiness. Is not this strictly true?
Are not all men naturally entitled to these? Is any
one man born with a better right to life, liberty and
happiness than another? This is a very different
thing from asserting that all men are born intel-
lectually or morally equal. As to the criticism that

nificant of the fact that such prudence had been exer-
cised, and if not, that the indorsement would stand as
a guaranty to the paying bank from loss that might
otherwise fall upon it by reason of its passing the
amount of the check to the credit of such indorser.
Such would not only seem to be sound in theory, and
supported by authority, but is in accordance with the
proof in this case; and it is a matter of such general
information that perhaps the court might be war-
ranted in taking judicial knowledge of it, that in
dealings between banks, and especially with refer-
ence to clearings and clearing-houses, banks will
adjust and pay differences between each other or
between itself and the clearing-house, upon the
faith of the indorsement by other banks of the
checks involved in such settlement, before they ex-
amine the signature to the check involved or em-
braced in the settlement, relying on such indorse-
ments as protecting it in such payment, should a
subsequent and more careful scrutiny of the signa-
tures disclose forgeries in the making and indorsing
of the checks so paid. Mr. Daniel, in his work on
Negotiable Instruments, after discussing and criti-
cising the cases that are supposed to hold a bank
liable at all hazard, and to the last extremity, where
it pays the check with the signature of its depositor
forged, lays down the rule substantially as we have
stated it. 2 Dan. Neg. Inst., §§ 1655, 1657, with
cases cited in the notes. And the rule is stated by
the learned contributor to the article on forged
checks in 3 Am. & Eng. Cyc. Law, 223, as follows:
'Where however the loss has been traced to the
fault or negligence of the drawer or holder, it will
be fixed upon him.' See cases cited in note 1. And
on page 225 of 3 Am. & Eng. Cyc. Law it is said:
'Also the holder, by indorsing a check, warrants the
genuineness of all prior indorsements.'
See note 1,