• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 1733 0

had her taken by force from her room at Mrs. Baker’s to the Providence Lunatic Asylum on Main Street, an institution under the charge of Sisters of Charity; that the man who took her there were one Watts, a policeman, and one Dr. King; that she was seen there by Dr. Ring, the visiting physician, who did not think her insane; that after several days she escaped, and no efforts were made to retake her; that she put her case into the hands of Mr. Whitney, Esq., an attorney, alleging kidnapping and false imprisonment; that she finally gave up the child, and received $500 from Mr. Cleveland; that the boy, who was named Oscar Folsom, in memory of a friend of Mr. Cleveland, is now living in Buffalo, with the Dr. King who was instrumental in the kidnapping of the mother; and that these are matters of common repute in Buffalo, to substantiate which numerous witnesses can be found, among whom are Mrs. Baker, Col. Byrne, Mr. Whitney, Dr. Ring, (and) Messrs. Flint and Kent.

After Ball read the statement over for accuracy, he signed it “George H. Ball,” and affixed the date: July 20, 1884.

It was twilight that Saturday when the reporter bid Ball farewell. He still had a few hours left before calling it a night and decided to seek out Dr. William Ring. He found Ring at his offices on Niagara Street and informed the doctor that he had come to “inquire” about Maria Halpin.

Ring was on edge during the entire interview. He said he knew “very little about” Maria Halpin and would not recognize her if he saw her on the street today. Her case, he said, was one of hundreds he had dealt with over the years as medical director of the Providence Insane Asylum. When Reverend Ball and John Cresswell of the Evening Telegraph had recently queried him about Maria Halpin, Ring said, he had to look up the asylum records because he could not recall anything about the woman. The records indicated that Maria had definitely been committed: Her name was on the asylum register.

“I have seen it there,” Ring said. The date of commitment was hard to make out because the record book had faded with age. He suggested that the Boston journalist speak with Sister Rosaline, who ran the institution. She could show him the records—“if she chose to.” When he was asked whether Sister Rosaline would cooperate, Ring said that he didn’t know, but she was a “very wise” woman.

What else did he remember from that night?

Ring recalled that Mrs. Halpin had been brought to the asylum by a police officer.

“Was the policeman’s name Watts?”

“Yes, I believe so,” Ring answered.

“Did he exceed his authority in taking the woman there?”

Ring said that was something for Officer Watts to “account for.”

“She was not insane,” Ring said of Maria Halpin, but she did appear to be “boozy,” meaning under the influence, but at all times she had behaved like a lady. And that was all he wished to say about Maria Halpin. End of discussion. As the reporter was packing his things, Ring suddenly told him, “I guess you had better let Cleveland alone in these matters.”

The Boston reporter stared at the doctor. “But I haven’t mentioned Mr. Cleveland to you.”

“Yes, I know, but I understand what you are after. Are you a newspaperman?”

“More or less.”

“Well, don’t say anything about me, or the asylum or Sister Rosaline.” Ring said he was a Republican, and he wanted to keep his name out of the papers and out of this mess. “We shall beat Cleveland in New York by fifty thousand, without regard to such matters as this.”

The reporter’s next interview took him to No. 103 Broadway. He found Maria Halpin’s landlady, Maria Baker, on the second floor above a store where she rented rooms. Mrs. Baker didn’t want to talk. She had already spoken to the Evening Telegraph and didn’t want to get any more involved. She had nothing left to say about Maria Halpin except that she was intelligent and principled and a good woman who had gone through misery when she lived in Buffalo.

“How long ago was she with you?” she was asked.

“About seven years,” Mrs. Baker said. “I cannot tell exactly. Possibly my husband could