Hansford: Mental Defectives in County Indiana 113 
Agnes Cates is a high-grade imbecile from Township 1 
who has been in the Poor Asylum since 1914. She has never 
been self-supporting but managed to live with relatives most 
of her life. She does not know her age but says that she was 
born “before the war'h She is related to Harold Franks, of 
Township 1, who is now a patient of the Southeastern Hos- 
pital. 
Rose Alvis has already been discussed as a part of the 
Lookout Ridge population. 
Rose Moore, a cretinoid imbecile, on desertion by parents, 
was placed in the Orphanage at Plymouth, Ind. When she 
reached the age limit, she was brought back to County H. and 
sent to the County Poor Asylum, where she will probably 
remain until she dies. She belongs to a large family of men- 
tal defectives. Her mental age is about that of a five-year- 
old child, which, added to her bad sex tendencies, tends to 
make her very much of a social problem. 
The records of the institution give an indication that the 
past population has been pretty much like that of the present. 
Of the 498 persons received there, 133 are known to have 
been mental defectives found in this survey or to be mental 
defectives related to those now living. The remaining 365 
are unknown except that not more than a dozen are known 
CO be normal. The average age of this group is much older 
than that of the other, altho the exact figures cannot be given 
because of incomplete records. In the case of the present 
inmates, the age of the normal group is 61.5 years at the 
time of the first admission and that for the defective group 
is 42 years. The number of cases is too small on which to 
base a conclusion, but the indication is that the normal 
paupers go to the Almshouse only when it becomes the only 
thing for them to do, and the other group gets there much 
earlier in life because competition is stronger for them than 
for the normal members of society. Another fact which 
stands out in going over these records is that the feeble- 
minded group does not stay in the institution after being 
placed there. The record shows that one notorious female 
pauper has been admitted 11 times. It seems that they go 
out to try making their own living but soon decide to return. 
There they stay until warm weather comes again or they 
become tired of the discipline. The normal inmates are there, 
8—26177 
