Alonzo Blair Richardson. 

 1852-1903. 



The death of Dr. Alonzo Blair Richardson on the night of 

 June 27, 1903, at Washington, D. C, was a profound shock to 

 his wide circle of friends, patients and admirers. So much had 

 been entrusted to him, so much had been done by him, and so 

 important to us all was that experience and skill, which was 

 given with such earnestness and graciousness, that we little 

 apprehended that the spark of life, w^hich had reached but the 

 early part of the fifties and which seemed to burn with new 

 effulgence, would so suddenly go out. 



He was born on a farm in Scioto County, Ohio, September 

 II, 1852, and spent his early days within this environment. 

 This contemplation and close communion of man with nature 

 has given to our republic its greatest characters. He was one 

 of those born to teach and lead and administer. At the early 

 age of sixteen he was the village schoolmaster, and a few years 

 later he took up medicine and graduated from Bellevue Medical 

 College in 1876. The amelioration and betterment of the treat- 

 ment of the insane became the guiding star in the whole after 

 life of Dr. Richardson. Evidently the status of the insane at 

 the time of Dr. Richardson's graduation in medicine had made 

 a wonderful and lasting impression, and secured what soon 

 proved to be his powerful influence for reform. 



On graduation he was appointed assistant in the Athens, 

 Ohio, asylum for the insane, and there, with the cooperation of 

 his superior officer, he soon abolished all mechanical devices 

 of restraint. His greatest w^ork, before coming to Washington 

 as superintendent of the Government Hospital for the Insane, 

 was in originating, planning, and supervising the new Eastern 

 Ohio Hospital for the Insane, located at Massillon, Ohio. This 

 new hospital attracted so general attention and was so favorably 

 commended by all that Dr. Richardson had but shortly been 

 appointed its superintendent when a vacancy occurring by the 

 death of Dr. W. W. Godding at the Government Hospital for 



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