A brief narrative of the events which occasioned the following Trial seems
necessary as an Introduction to it, and are here presented for the kind
reader's candid consideration. It was in a Bible-class in Manteno,
Kankakee County, Illinois, that I defended some religious opinions which
conflicted with the Creed of the Presbyterian Church in that place, which
brought upon me the charge of insanity. It was at the invitation of Deacon
Dole, the teacher of that Bible-class, that I consented to become his
pupil, and it was at his special request that I brought forward my views
to the consideration of the class. The class numbered six when I entered
it, and forty-six when I left it. I was about four months a member of it.
I had not the least suspicion of danger or harm arising in any way, either
to myself or others, from thus complying with his wishes, and thus
uttering some of my honestly cherished opinions. I regarded the principle
of religious tolerance as the vital principle on which our government was
based, and I in my ignorance supposed this right was protected to all
American citizens, even to the wives of clergymen. But, alas! my own sad
experience has taught me the danger of believing a lie on so vital a
question. The result was, I was legally kidnapped and imprisoned three
years simply for uttering these opinions under these circumstances.
I was kidnapped in the following manner.--Early on the morning of the 18th
of June, 1860, as I arose from my bed, preparing to take my morning bath,
I saw my husband approaching my door with our two physicians, both members
of his church and of our Bible-class,--and a stranger gentleman, sheriff
Burgess. Fearing exposure I hastily locked my door, and proceeded with the
greatest dispatch to dress myself. But before I had hardly commenced, my
husband forced an entrance into my room through the window with an axe!
And I, for shelter and protection against an exposure in a state of almost
entire nudity, sprang into bed, just in time to receive my unexpected
guests. The trio approached my bed, and each doctor felt my pulse, and
without asking a single question both pronounced me insane. So it seems
that in the estimation of these two M. D.'s, Dr. Merrick and Newkirk,
insanity is indicated by the action of the pulse instead of the mind! Of
course, my pulse was bounding at the time from excessive fright; and I
ask, what lady of refinement and fine and tender sensibilities would not
have a quickened pulse by such an untimely, unexpected, unmanly, and even
outrageous entrance into her private sleeping room? I say it would be
impossible for any woman, unless she was either insane or insensible to
her surroundings, not to be agitated under such circumstances. This was
the only medical examination I had. This was the only trial of _any kind_
that I was allowed to have, to prove the charge of insanity brought
against me by my husband. I had no chance of _self defence_ whatever. My
husband then informed me that the "forms of law" were all complied with,
and he therefore requested me to dress myself for a ride to Jacksonville,
to enter the Insane Asylum as an inmate. I objected, and protested against
being imprisoned _without any trial_. But to no purpose. My husband
insisted upon it that I had no protection in the law, but himself, and
that he was doing by me just as the laws of the State allowed him to do. I
could not then credit this statement, but now _know_ it to be too sadly
true; for the Statute of Illinois expressly states that a man may put his
wife into an Insane Asylum without evidence of insanity. This law now
stands on the 26th page, section 10, of the Illinois statute book, under
the general head of "charities"! The law was passed February 15, 1851.
I told my husband I should not go voluntarily into the Asylum, and leave
my six children and my precious babe of eighteen months, without some kind
of trial; and that the law of force, brute force, would be the only power
that should thus put me there. I then begged of him to handle me gently,
if he was determined to force me, as I was easily hurt, and should make no
physical resistance. I was soon in the hands of the sheriff, who forced me
from my home by ordering two men to carry me to the wagon which took me to
the depot. Esquire Labrie, our nearest neighbor, who witnessed this scene,
said he was willing to testify before any court under oath, that "Mrs.
Packard was literally kidnapped." I was carried to the cars from the depot
in the arms of two strong men, whom my husband appointed for this purpose,
amid the silent and almost speechless gaze of a large crowd of citizens
who had collected for the purpose of rescuing me from the hands of my
persecutors. But they were prevented from executing their purpose by the
lie Deacon Dole was requested by my husband to tell the excited crowd,
viz: that "The Sheriff has legal papers to defend this proceeding," and
they well knew that for them to resist the Sheriff, the laws would expose
themselves to imprisonment. The Sheriff confessed afterwards to persons
who are now willing to testify under oath, that he told them that he did
not have a sign of a legal paper with him, simply because the probate
court refused to give him any, because, as they affirmed, he had not given
them one evidence of insanity in the case. Sheriff Burgess died while I
was incarcerated.
When once in the Asylum I was beyond the reach of all human aid, except
what could come through my husband, since the law allows no one to take
them out, except the one who put them in, or by his consent; and my
husband determined never to take me out, until I recanted my new opinions,
claiming that I was incurably insane so long as I could not return to my
old standpoint of religious belief. Of course, I could not believe at my
option, but only as light and evidence was presented to my own mind, and I
was too conscientious to act the hypocrite, by professing to believe what
I could not believe. I was therefore pronounced "hopelessly insane," and
in about six weeks from the date of my imprisonment, my husband made his
arrangements to have me, henceforth, legally regarded as hopelessly
insane. In this defenceless, deplorable condition I lay closely imprisoned
three years, being never allowed to step my foot on the ground after the
first four months. At the expiration of three years, my oldest son,
Theophilus, became of age, when he immediately availed himself of his
manhood, by a legal compromise with his father and the trustees, wherein
he volunteered to hold himself wholly responsible for my support for life;
if his father would only consent to take me out of my prison. This
proposition was accepted by Mr. Packard, with this proviso that if ever I
returned to my own home and children he should put me in again for life.
The Trustees had previously notified Mr. Packard that I must be removed,
as they should keep me no longer. Had not this been the case, my son's
proposition would doubtless have been rejected by him.
The reasons why the Trustees took this position was, because they became
satisfied that I was not a fit subject for that institution, in the
following manner: On one of their official visits to the institution, I
coaxed Dr. McFarland, superintendent of the Asylum, to let me go before
them and "fire a few guns at Calvinism," as I expressed myself, that they
might know and judge for themselves whether I deserved a life-long
imprisonment for indulging such opinions. Dr. McFarland replied to my
request, that the Trustees were Calvinists, and the chairman a member of
the Presbyterian Synod of the United States.
"Never mind," said I, "I don't care if they are, I am not afraid to defend
my opinions even before the Synod itself. I don't want to be locked up
here all my lifetime without doing something. But if they are Calvinists,"
I added, "you may be sure they will call me insane, and then you will have
them to back you up in your opinion and position respecting me." This
argument secured his consent to let me go before them. He also let me have
two sheets of paper to write my opinions upon. With my document prepared,
"or gun loaded," as I called it, and examined by the Doctor to see that
all was right, that is, that it contained no exposures of himself, I
entered the Trustees' room, arm in arm with the Doctor, dressed in as
attractive and tasteful a style as my own wardrobe and that of my
attendant's would permit. Mr. Packard was present, and he said to my
friends afterwards that he never saw his wife look so "sweet and
attractive" as I then did. After being politely and formally introduced to
the Trustees, individually, I was seated by the chairman, to receive his
permission to speak, in the following words: "Mrs. Packard, we have heard
Mr. Packard's statement, and the Doctor said you would like to speak for
yourself. We will allow you ten minutes for that purpose."
I then took out my gold watch, (which was my constant companion in my
prison,) and looking at it, said to the Doctor, "please tell me if I
overgo my limits, will you?" And then commenced reading my document in a
quiet, calm, clear, tone of voice. It commenced with these words:
"Gentlemen, I am accused of teaching my children doctrines ruinous in
their tendency, and such as alienate them from their father. I reply, that
my teachings and practice both, are ruinous to Satan's cause, and do
alienate my children from Satanic influences. I teach Christianity, my
husband teaches Calvinism. They are antagonistic systems and uphold
antagonistic authorities. Christianity upholds God's authority; Calvinism
the devil's authority," &c., &c.
Thus I went on, most dauntlessly and fearlessly contrasting the two
systems, as I viewed them, until my entire document was read, without
being interrupted, although my time had more than expired. Confident I
had secured their interest as well as attention, I ventured to ask if I
might be allowed to read another document I held in my hand, which the
Doctor had not seen. The request was voted upon and met not only with an
unanimous response in the affirmative, but several cried out: "Let her go
on! Let us hear the whole!" This document bore heavily upon Mr. Packard
and the Doctor both. Still I was tolerated. The room was so still I could
have heard a clock tick. When I had finished, instead of then dismissing
me, they commenced questioning me, and I only rejoiced to answer their
questions, being careful however not to let slip any chance I found to
expose the darkest parts of this foul conspiracy, wherein Mr. Packard and
their Superintendent were the chief actors. Packard and McFarland both sat
silent and speechless, while I fearlessly exposed their wicked plot
against my personal liberty and my rights. They did not deny or contradict
one statement I made, although so very hard upon them both.
Thus nearly one hour was passed, when Mr. Packard was requested to leave
the room. The Doctor left also, leaving me alone with the Trustees. These
intelligent men at once endorsed my statements, and became my friends.
They offered me my liberty at once, and said that anything I wanted they
stood ready to do for me. Mr. Brown, the Chairman, said he saw it was of
no use for me to go to my husband; but said they would send me to my
children if I wished to go, or to my father in Massachusetts, or they
would board me up in Jacksonville. I thanked them for their kind and
generous offers; "but," said I, "it is of no use for me to accept of any
one of them, for I am still Mr. Packard's wife, and there is no law in
America to protect a wife from her husband. I am not safe from him outside
these walls, on this continent, unless I flee to Canada; and there, I
don't know as a fugitive wife is safe from her husband. The truth is, he
is determined to keep me in an Asylum prison as long as I live, if it can
be done; and since no law prevents his doing so, I see no way for me but
to live and die in this prison. I may as well die here as in any other
prison."
These manly gentlemen apprehended my sad condition and expressed their
real sympathy for me, but did not know what to advise me to do. Therefore
they left it to me and the Doctor to do as we might think best. I
suggested to the Doctor that I write a book, and in this manner lay my
case before the People--the government of the United States--and ask for
the protection of the laws. The Doctor fell in with this suggestion, and
I accordingly wrote my great book of seven hundred pages, entitled "The
Great Drama,--An Allegory," the first installment of which is already in
print and six thousand copies in circulation. This occupied me nine
months, which completed my three years of prison life.
The Trustees now ordered Mr. Packard to take me away, as no one else could
legally remove me. I protested against being put into his hands without
some protection, knowing, as I did, that he intended to incarcerate me for
life in Northampton Asylum, if he ever removed me from this. But, like as
I entered the Asylum against my will, and in spite of my protest, so I was
put out of it into the absolute power of my persecutor again, against my
will, and in spite of my protest to the contrary.
I was accordingly removed to Granville, Putnam County, Illinois; and
placed in the family of Mr. David Field who married my adopted sister,
where my son paid my board for about four months. During this time,
Granville community became acquainted with me and the facts in the case,
and after holding a meeting of the citizens on the subject the result was,
that Sheriff Leaper was appointed to communicate to me their decision,
which was, that I go home to my children taking their voluntary pledge as
my protection; that, should Mr. Packard again attempt to imprison me
without a trial, that they would use their influence to get him imprisoned
in a penitentiary, where they thought the laws of this Commonwealth would
place him. They presented me thirty dollars also to defray the expenses of
my journey home to Manteno. I returned to my husband and little ones, only
to be again treated as a lunatic. He cut me off from communication with
this community, and my other friends, by intercepting my mail; made me a
close prisoner in my own house; refused me interviews with friends who
called to see me, so that he might meet with no interference in carrying
out the plan he had devised to get me incarcerated again for life. This
plan was providentially disclosed to me, by some letters he accidentally
left in my room one night, wherein I saw that I was to be entered, in a
few days, into Northampton Insane Asylum for life; as one of these letters
from Doctor Prince, Superintendent of that Asylum, assured me of this
fact. Another from his sister, Mrs. Marian Severance, of Massachusetts,
revealed the mode in which she advised her brother to transfer me from my
home prison to my Asylum prison. She advised him to let me go to New York,
under the pretence of getting my book published, and have him follow in a
train behind, assuring the conductors that I must be treated as an insane
person, although I should deny the charge, as all insane persons did, and
thus make sure of their aid as accomplices in this conspiracy against my
personal liberty. The conductor must be directed to switch me off to
Northampton, Mass., instead of taking me to New York, and as my through
ticket would indicate to me that all was right, she thought this could be
done without arousing my suspicions; then engage a carriage to transport
me to the Asylum under the pretext of a hotel, and then lock me up for
life as a state's pauper! Then, said she, you will have her out of the
way, and can do as you please with her property, her children, and even
her wardrobe; don't, says she, be even responsible this time for her
clothing. (Mr. Packard was responsible for my body clothing in
Jacksonville prison, but for nothing else. I was supported there three
years as a state pauper. This fact, Mr. Packard most adroitly concealed
from my rich father and family relatives, so that he could persuade my
deluded father to place more of my patrimony in his hands, under the false
pretense that he needed it to make his daughter more comfortable in the
Asylum. My father sent him money for this purpose, supposing Mr. Packard
was paying my board at the Asylum.)
Another letter was from Dr. McFarland, wherein I saw that Mr. Packard had
made application for my readmission there, and Dr. McFarland had consented
to receive me again as an insane patient! But the Trustees put their veto
upon it, and would not consent to his plea that I be admitted there again.
Here is his own statement, which I copied from his own letter:
"Jacksonville, December 18, 1863. Rev. Mr. Packard, Dear Sir: The
Secretary of the Trustees has probably before this communicated to you the
result of their action in the case of Mrs. Packard. It is proper enough to
state that I favored her readmission"! Then follows his injunction to Mr.
Packard to be sure not to publish any thing respecting the matter. Why is
this? Does an upright course seek or desire concealment? Nay, verily: It
is conscious guilt alone that seeks concealment, and dreads agitation lest
his crimes be exposed. Mine is only one of a large class of cases, where
he has consented to readmit a sane person, particularly the wives of men,
whose influence he was desirous of securing for the support of himself in
his present lucrative position.
Yes, many intelligent wives and mothers did I leave in that awful prison,
whose only hope of liberty lies in the death of their lawful husbands, or
in a change of the laws, or in a thorough ventilation of that institution.
Such a ventilation is needed, in order that justice be done to that class
of miserable inmates who are now unjustly confined there.
When I had read these letters over three or four times, to make it sure I
had not mistaken their import, and even took copies of some of them, I
determined upon the following expedient as my last and only resort, as a
self defensive act.
There was a stranger man who passed my window daily to get water from our
pump. One day as he passed I beckoned to him to take a note which I had
pushed down through where the windows come together, (my windows were
firmly nailed down and screwed together, so that I could not open them,)
directed to Mrs. A. C. Haslett, the most efficient friend I knew of in
Manteno, wherein I informed her of my imminent danger, and begged of her
if it was possible in any way to rescue me to do so, forthwith, for in a
few days I should be beyond the reach of all human help. She communicated
these facts to the citizens, when mob law was suggested as the only
available means of rescue which lay in their power to use, as no law
existed which defended a wife from a husband's power, and no man dared to
take the responsibility of protecting me against my husband. And one hint
was communicated to me clandestinely that if I would only break through my
window, a company was formed who would defend me when once outside our
house. This rather unlady-like mode of self defence I did not like to
resort to, knowing as I did, if I should not finally succeed in this
attempt, my persecutors would gain advantage over me, in that I had once
injured property, as a reason why I should be locked up. As yet, none of
my persecutors had not the shadow of capital to make out the charge of
insanity upon, outside of my opinions; for my conduct and deportment had
uniformly been kind, lady-like and Christian; and even to this date,
January, 1866, I challenge any individual to prove me guilty of one
unreasonable or insane act. The lady-like Mrs. Haslett sympathized with me
in these views; therefore she sought council of Judge Starr of Kankakee
City, to know if any law could reach my case so as to give me the justice
of a trial of any kind, before another incarceration. The Judge told her
that if I was a prisoner in my own house, and any were willing to take
oath upon it, a writ of habeas corpus might reach my case and thus secure
me a trial. Witnesses were easily found who could take oath to this fact,
as many had called at our house to see that my windows were screwed
together on the outside, and our front outside door firmly fastened on the
outside, and our back outside door most vigilantly guarded by day and
locked by night. In a few days this writ was accordingly executed by the
Sheriff of the county, and just two days before Mr. Packard was intending
to start with me for Massachusetts to imprison me for life in Northampton
Lunatic Asylum, he was required by this writ to bring me before the court
and give his reasons to the court why he kept his wife a prisoner. The
reason he gave for so doing was, that I was Insane. The Judge replied,
"Prove it!" The Judge then empannelled a jury of twelve men, and the
following Trial ensued as the result. This trial continued five days. Thus
my being made a prisoner at my own home was the only hinge on which my
personal liberty for life hung, independent of mob law, as there is no law
in the State that will allow a married woman the right of a trial against
the charge of insanity brought against her by her husband; and God only
knows how many innocent wives and mothers my case represents, who have
thus lost their liberty for life, by this arbitrary power, unchecked as it
is by no law on the Statute book of Illinois.