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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/36591-h.zip b/36591-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..254eb89 --- /dev/null +++ b/36591-h.zip diff --git a/36591-h/36591-h.htm b/36591-h/36591-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..12ef75a --- /dev/null +++ b/36591-h/36591-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7280 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Marital Power Exemplified in Mrs. Packard's Trial, and Self-Defence from the Charge of Insanity, by E. P. W. Packard. + </title> + + <style type="text/css"> + + p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + + body {margin-left: 12%; margin-right: 12%;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right; font-style: normal;} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center; clear: both;} + + hr {width: 33%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both;} + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + .huge {font-size: 150%} + .large {font-size: 125%} + + .blockquot {margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .poem {margin-left:15%;} + + .right {text-align: right;} + .center {text-align: center;} + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .smcaplc {text-transform: lowercase; font-variant: small-caps;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + a:link {color:#0000ff; text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:#6633cc; text-decoration:none} + + .spacer {padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em;} + + ins.correction {text-decoration:none; border-bottom: thin solid gray;} + + .hang {margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Marital Power Exemplified in Mrs. Packard's +Trial, and Self-Defence from the Charge of Insanity, by Elizabeth Parsons Ware Packard + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Marital Power Exemplified in Mrs. Packard's Trial, and Self-Defence from the Charge of Insanity + +Author: Elizabeth Parsons Ware Packard + +Release Date: July 3, 2011 [EBook #36591] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARITAL POWER EXEMPLIFIED *** + + + + +Produced by Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/frontis.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="center"><strong>The House from which Mrs. Packard was Kidnapped in Manteno, Kankakee County, Illinois.</strong></p> + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="large">MARITAL POWER EXEMPLIFIED</span></p> +<p class="center"><small>IN</small></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">Mrs. Packard’s Trial,</span></p> +<p class="center"><small>AND</small></p> +<p class="center"><span class="large">SELF-DEFENCE FROM THE CHARGE OF INSANITY;</span></p> +<p class="center"><small>OR</small></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">Three Years’ Imprisonment for Religious Belief,</span></p> +<p class="center"><small>BY THE</small></p> +<p class="center"><span class="large">ARBITRARY WILL OF A HUSBAND,</span></p> +<p class="center"><small>WITH</small></p> +<p class="center"><span class="large">AN APPEAL TO THE GOVERNMENT TO SO CHANGE THE LAWS</span></p> +<p class="center"><small>AS TO AFFORD</small></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">Legal Protection to Married Women.</span></p> +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By Mrs. E. P. W. PACKARD.</span></p> +<p> </p> +<p class="center">CHICAGO:<br /> +CLARKE & CO., PUBLISHERS.<br /> +1870.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<h2>TABLE OF CONTENTS.</h2> + +<table width="60%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table"> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right">Page</td></tr> +<tr><td>Introduction,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_3">3</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>The Great Trial of Mrs. Elizabeth P. W. Packard, who was confined Three Years in the State Asylum of Illinois, +charged by her Husband, Rev. Theophilus Packard, with being Insane. Her discharge from the Asylum, and subsequent +Imprisonment at her own House by her Husband. Her release on a Writ of Habeas Corpus, and the question of her Sanity +tried by a Jury. Her Sanity fully established,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_12"><ins class="correction" title="original: 13">12</ins></a></td></tr> +<tr><td>Narrative of events continued,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>Miscellaneous questions answered,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_61">61</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>False Reports corrected,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_85">85</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>Note of thanks to my Patrons and the Press,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>Testimonials,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_117">117</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>Conclusion,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_126">126</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>An Appeal to the Government,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_130">130</a></td></tr></table> + +<p> </p> +<p class="center">Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866,<br /> +by <span class="smcap">Mrs. E. P. W. PACKARD,</span><br /> +In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the District of Connecticut.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> +<h2>INTRODUCTION.</h2> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>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 <i>any kind</i> +that I was allowed to have, to prove the charge of insanity brought +against me by my husband. I had no chance of <i>self defence</i> 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 <i>without any trial</i>. 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 <i>know</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> 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.</p> + +<p>“Never mind,” said I, “I <ins class="correction" title="original: dont">don’t</ins> care if they are, I am not afraid to defend +my opinions even before the Synod itself. I <ins class="correction" title="original: dont">don’t</ins> 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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>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.)</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> 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.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">THE GREAT TRIAL</span><br /> +<small>OF</small><br /> +MRS. ELIZABETH P. W. PACKARD,</p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Who was confined for three years in the State Asylum, of Illinois,<br /> +charged by her husband, Rev. Theophilus Packard, with being<br /> +insane. Her discharge from the Asylum, and subsequent<br /> +imprisonment at her own house by her<br /> +husband. Her release on a writ of</span><br /> +<i>Habeas Corpus</i>, <span class="smcap">and the question<br /> +of her sanity tried<br /> +by a jury.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Her sanity fully established.</span></p> +<p class="center">A FULL REPORT OF THE TRIAL, INCIDENTS, ETC.</p> +<p class="center"><small>BY STEPHEN R. MOORE, ATTORNEY AT LAW.</small></p> + + +<p><br />In preparing a report of this trial, the writer has had but one object in +view, namely, to present a faithful history of the case as narrated by the +witnesses upon the stand, who gave their testimony under the solemnity of +an oath. The exact language employed by the witnesses, has been used, and +the written testimony given in full, with the exception of a letter, +written by Dr. McFarland, to Rev. Theophilus Packard, which letter was +retained by Mr. Packard, and the writer was unable to obtain a copy. The +substance of the letter is found in the body of the report, and has been +submitted to the examination of Mr. Packard’s counsel, who agree that it +is correctly stated.</p> + +<p>This case was on trial before the Hon. Charles R. Starr, at Kankakee City, +Illinois, from Monday, January 11th, 1864, to Tuesday the 19th, and came +up on an application made by Mrs. Packard, under the <i>Habeas Corpus Act</i>, +to be discharged from imprisonment by her husband in their own house.</p> + +<p>The case has disclosed a state of facts most wonderful and startling. +Reverend Theophilus Packard came to Manteno, in Kankakee county, Illinois, +seven years since, and has remained in charge of the Presbyterian Church +of that place until the past two years.</p> + +<p>In the winter of 1859 and 1860, there were differences of opinion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> +between Mr. Packard and Mrs. Packard, upon matters of religion, which +resulted in prolonged and vigorous debate in the home circle. The heresies +maintained by Mrs. Packard were carried by the husband from the fireside +to the pulpit, and made a matter of inquiry by the church, and which soon +resulted in open warfare; and her views and propositions were +misrepresented and animadverted upon, from the pulpit, and herself made +the subject of unjust criticism. In the Bible Class and in the Sabbath +School, she maintained her religious tenets, and among her kindred and +friends, defended herself from the obloquy of her husband.</p> + +<p>To make the case fully understood, I will here remark, that Mr. Packard +was educated in the Calvinistic faith, and for twenty-nine years has been +a preacher of that creed, and would in no wise depart from the religion of +his fathers. He is cold, selfish and illiberal in his views, possessed of +but little talent, and a physiognomy innocent of expression. He has large +self-will, and his stubbornness is only exceeded by his bigotry.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Packard is a lady of fine mental endowments, and blest with a liberal +education. She is an original, vigorous, masculine thinker, and were it +not for her superior judgment, combined with native modesty, she would +rank as a “strong-minded woman.” As it is, her conduct comports strictly +with the sphere usually occupied by woman. She dislikes parade or show of +any kind. Her confidence that Right will prevail, leads her to too tamely +submit to wrongs. She was educated in the same religious belief with her +husband, and during the first twenty years of married life, his labors in +the parish and in the pulpit were greatly relieved by the willing hand and +able intellect of his wife.</p> + +<p>Phrenologists would also say of her, that her self-will was large, and her +married life tended in no wise to diminish this phrenological bump. They +have been married twenty-five years, and have six children, the issue of +their intermarriage, the youngest of whom was eighteen months old when she +was kidnapped and transferred to Jacksonville. The older children have +maintained a firm position against the abuse and persecutions of their +father toward their mother, but were of too tender age to render her any +material assistance.</p> + +<p>Her views of religion are more in accordance with the liberal views of the +age in which we live. She scouts the Calvinistic doctrine of man’s total +depravity, and that God has foreordained some to be saved and others to be +damned. She stands fully on the platform of man’s free agency and +accountability to God for his actions. She believes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> that man, and +nations, are progressive; and that in his own good time, and in accordance +with His great purposes, Right will prevail over Wrong, and the oppressed +will be freed from the oppressor. She believes slavery to be a national +sin, and the church and the pulpit a proper place to combat this sin. +These, in brief, are the points in her religious creed which were +combatted by Mr. Packard, and were denominated by him as “emanations from +the devil,” or “the vagaries of a crazed brain.”</p> + +<p>For maintaining such ideas as above indicated, Mr. Packard denounced her +from the pulpit, denied her the privilege of family prayer in the home +circle, expelled her from the Bible Class, and refused to let her be heard +in the Sabbath School. He excluded her from her friends, and made her a +prisoner in her own house.</p> + +<p>Her reasonings and her logic appeared to him as the ravings of a mad +woman—her religion was the religion of the devil. To justify his conduct, +he gave out that she was insane, and found a few willing believers, among +his family connections.</p> + + +<p><br />This case was commenced by filing a petition in the words following, to +wit:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<table style="margin-left: 0;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table"> +<tr><td>STATE OF ILLINOIS,</td><td rowspan="2"><span class="huge">}</span></td><td rowspan="2"><i>ss.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcaplc">KANKAKEE COUNTY</span>.</span></td></tr></table> + +<p class="hang"><i>To the Honorable</i> <span class="smcap">Charles R. Starr</span>, <i>Judge of the 20th Judicial +Circuit in the State of Illinois</i>.</p> + +<p>William Haslet, Daniel Beedy, Zalmon Hanford, and Joseph Younglove, +of said county, on behalf of Elizabeth P. W. Packard, wife of +Theophilus Packard, of said county, respectfully represent unto your +Honor, that said Elizabeth P. W. Packard is unlawfully restrained of +her liberty, at Manteno, in the county of Kankakee, by her husband, +Rev. Theophilus Packard, being forcibly confined and imprisoned in a +close room of the dwelling-house of her said husband, for a long +time, to wit, for the space of four weeks, her said husband refusing +to let her visit her neighbors and refusing her neighbors to visit +her; that they believe her said husband is about to forcibly convey +her from out the State; that they believe there is no just cause or +ground for restraining said wife of her liberty; that they believe +that said wife is a mild and amiable woman. And they are advised and +believe, that said husband cruelly abuses and misuses said wife, by +depriving her of her winter’s clothing, this cold and inclement +weather, and that there is no necessity for such cruelty on the part +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>of said husband to said wife; and they are advised and believe, +that said wife desires to come to Kankakee City, to make application +to your Honor for a writ of <i>habeas corpus</i>, to liberate herself from +said confinement or imprisonment, and that said husband refused and +refuses to allow said wife to come to Kankakee City for said purpose; +and that these petitioners make application for a writ of <i>habeas +corpus</i> in her behalf, at her request. These petitioners therefore +pray that a writ of <i>habeas corpus</i> may forthwith issue, commanding +said Theophilus Packard to produce the body of said wife, before your +Honor, according to law, and that said wife may be discharged from said imprisonment.</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table"> +<tr><td>(Signed)</td><td><span class="spacer"> </span></td><td>WILLIAM HASLET.</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td>DANIEL BEEDY.</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td>ZALMON HANFORD.</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td>J. YOUNGLOVE.</td></tr></table> + +<table style="margin-left: 0;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table"> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">J. W. Orr</span>,</td><td rowspan="2"><span class="huge">}</span></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">H. Loring</span>,</td><td><i>Petitioners’ Attorney</i>.</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"><span style="margin-left: 6em;"><span class="smcap">Stephen R. Moore</span>, <i>Counsel</i>.</span></td></tr></table> + +<p> </p> +<table style="margin-left: 0;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table"> +<tr><td>STATE OF ILLINOIS,</td><td rowspan="2"><span class="huge">}</span></td><td rowspan="2"><i>ss.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcaplc">KANKAKEE COUNTY</span>.</span></td></tr></table> + +<p>William Haslet, Daniel Beedy, Zalmon Hanford, and Joseph Younglove, +whose names are subscribed to the above petition, being duly sworn, +severally depose and say, that the matters and facts set forth in the +above petition are true in substance and fact, to the best of their +knowledge and belief.</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table"> +<tr><td>WILLIAM HASLET.</td></tr> +<tr><td>DANIEL BEEDY.</td></tr> +<tr><td>ZALMON HANFORD.</td></tr> +<tr><td>J. YOUNGLOVE.</td></tr></table> + +<table style="margin-left: 0;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table"> +<tr><td>Sworn to and subscribed before me, this</td><td rowspan="2"><span class="huge">}</span></td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">11th day of January, A. D. 1864.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"><span style="margin-left: 8em;"><span class="smcap">Mason B. Loomis</span>, <i>J. P.</i></span></td></tr></table> +</div> + +<p>Upon the above petition, the Honorable C. R. Starr, Judge as aforesaid, +issued a writ of <i>habeas corpus</i>, as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<table style="margin-left: 0;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table"> +<tr><td>STATE OF ILLINOIS,</td><td rowspan="2"><span class="huge">}</span></td><td rowspan="2"><i>ss.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcaplc">KANKAKEE COUNTY</span>.</span></td></tr></table> + +<p><i>The People of the State of Illinois, To</i> <span class="smcap">Theophilus Packard</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">We command you</span>, That the body of Elizabeth P. W. Packard, in your +custody detained and imprisoned, as it is said, together with the day +and cause of caption and detention, by whatsoever name the same may +be called, you safely have before Charles R. Starr, Judge of the +Twentieth Judicial Circuit, State of Illinois, at his chambers, at +Kankakee City in the said county, on the 12th instant, at one +o’clock,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> <span class="smcaplc">P. M.</span>, and to do and receive all and singular those things +which the said Judge shall then and there consider of her in this +behalf, and have you then and there this writ.</p> + +<p>Witness, Charles R. Starr, Judge aforesaid, this 11th day of January, A. D. 1864.</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table"> +<tr><td> </td><td> </td><td>CHARLES R. STARR,<span class="spacer"> </span><span class="spacer"> </span>[<span class="smcaplc">SEAL.</span>]</td></tr> +<tr><td>[<i>Revenue Stamp.</i>]</td><td><span class="spacer"> </span></td><td><i>Judge of the 20th Judicial Circuit of the State of Illinois.</i></td></tr></table> + +<p>Indorsed: “By the <i>Habeas Corpus</i> Act.”</p></div> + +<p>To said writ, the Rev. Theophilus Packard made the following return:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>The within named Theophilus Packard does hereby certify, to the +within named, the Honorable Charles R. Starr, Judge of the 20th +Judicial Circuit of the State of Illinois, that the within named +Elizabeth P. W. Packard is now in my custody, before your Honor. That +the said Elizabeth is the wife of the undersigned, and is and has +been for more than three years past insane, and for about three years +of that time was in the Insane Asylum of the State of Illinois, under +treatment, as an insane person. That she was discharged from said +Asylum, without being cured, and is incurably insane, on or about the +18th day of June, A. D. 1863, and that since the 23rd day of October, +the undersigned has kept the said Elizabeth with him in Manteno, in +this county, and while he has faithfully and anxiously watched, cared +for, and guarded the said Elizabeth, yet he has not unlawfully +restrained her of her liberty; and has not confined and imprisoned +her in a close room, in the dwelling-house of the undersigned, or in +any other place or way, but, on the contrary, the undersigned has +allowed her all the liberty compatible with her welfare and safety. +That the undersigned is about to remove his residence from Manteno, +in this State, to the town of Deerfield, in the county of Franklin, +in the State of Massachusetts, and designs and intends to take his +said wife Elizabeth with him. That the undersigned has never <ins class="correction" title="original: misued">misused</ins> +or abused the said Elizabeth, by depriving her of her winter’s +clothing, but, on the contrary, the undersigned has always treated +the said Elizabeth with kindness and affection, and has provided her +with a sufficient, quantity of winter clothing and other clothing; +and that the said Elizabeth has never made any request of the +undersigned, for liberty to come to Kankakee City, for the purpose of +suing out a writ of <i>habeas corpus</i>. The undersigned hereby presents +a letter from Andrew McFarland, Superintendent of the Illinois State +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>Hospital, at Jacksonville, in this State, showing her discharge, and +reasons of discharge, from said institution, which is marked “A,” and +is made a part of this return. And also presents a certificate from +the said Andrew McFarland, under the seal of said hospital, marked +“C,” refusing to readmit the said Elizabeth again into said hospital, +on the ground of her being incurably insane, which is also hereby +made a part of this return.</p> + +<p class="right">THEOPHILUS PACKARD.</p> + +<p>Dated <i>January 12, 1864</i>.</p></div> + +<p>The Court, upon its own motion, ordered an issue to be formed, as to the +sanity or insanity of Mrs. E. P. W. Packard, and ordered a venire of +twelve men, to aid the court in the investigation of said issue. And +thereupon a venire was issued.</p> + +<p>The counsel for the respondent, Thomas P. Bonfield, Mason B. Loomis, and +Hon. C. A. Lake, moved the court to quash the venire, on the ground that +the court had no right to call a jury to determine the question, on an +application to be discharged on writ of <i>habeas corpus</i>. The court +overruled the motion; and thereupon the following jury was selected:</p> + +<p>John Stiles, Daniel G. Bean, V. H. Young, F. G. Hutchinson, Thomas Muncey, +E. Hirshberg, Nelson Jarvais, William Hyer, Geo. H. Andrews, J. F. Mafet, +Lemuel Milk, G. M. Lyons.</p> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">Christopher W. Knott</span> was the first witness sworn by the respondent, to +maintain the issue on his part, that she was insane; who being sworn, +deposed and said:</p> + +<p>I am a practicing physician in Kankakee City. Have been in practice +fifteen years. Have seen Mrs. Packard; saw her three or four years ago. Am +not much acquainted with her. Had never seen her until I was called to see +her at that time. I was called to visit her by Theophilus Packard. I +thought her partially deranged on religious matters, and gave a +certificate to that effect. I certified that she was insane upon the +subject of religion. I have never seen her since.</p> + +<p><i>Cross-examination.</i>—This visit I made her was three or four years ago. I +was there twice—one-half hour each time. I visited her on request of Mr. +Packard, to determine if she was insane. I learned from him that he +designed to convey her to the State Asylum. Do not know whether she was +aware of my object, or not. Her mind appeared to be excited on the subject +of religion; on all other subjects she was perfectly rational. It was +probably caused by overtaxing the mental faculties. She was what might be +called a monomaniac. Monomania<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> is insanity on one subject. Three-fourths +of the religious community are insane in the same manner, in my opinion. +Her insanity was such that with a little rest she would readily have +recovered from it. The female mind is more excitable than the male. I saw +her perhaps one-half hour each time I visited her. I formed my judgment as +to her insanity wholly from conversing with her. I could see nothing +except an unusual zealousness and warmth upon religious topics. Nothing +was said, in my conversation with her, about disagreeing with Mr. Packard +on religious topics. Mr. Packard introduced the subject of religion the +first time I was there: the second time, I introduced the subject. Mr. +Packard and Mr. Comstock were present. The subject was pressed on her for +the purpose of drawing her out. Mrs. Packard would manifest more zeal than +most of people upon any subject that interested her. I take her to be a +lady of fine mental abilities, possessing more ability than ordinarily + +found. She is possessed of a nervous temperament, easily excited, and has +a strong will. I would say that she was insane, the same as I would say +Henry Ward Beecher, Spurgeon, Horace Greely, and like persons, are insane. +Probably three weeks intervened between the visits I made Mrs. Packard. +This was in June, 1860.</p> + +<p><i>Re-examined.</i>—She is a woman of large, active brain, and nervous +temperament. I take her to be a woman of good intellect. There is no +subject which excites people so much as religion. Insanity produces, +oftentimes, ill-feelings towards the best friends, and particularly the +family, or those more nearly related to the insane person—but not so with +monomania. She told me, in the conversation, that the Calvinistic +doctrines were wrong, and that she had been compelled to withdraw from the +church. She said that Mr. Packard was more insane than she was, and that +people would find it out. I had no doubt that she was insane. I only +considered her insane on that subject, and she was not bad at that. I +could not judge whether it was hereditary. I thought if she was withdrawn +from conversation and excitement, she could have got well in a short time. +Confinement in any shape, or restraint, would have made her worse. I did +not think it was a bad case; it only required rest.</p> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">J. W. Brown</span>, being sworn, said:</p> + +<p>I am a physician; live in this city; have no extensive acquaintance with +Mrs. Packard. Saw her three or four weeks ago. I examined her as to her +sanity or insanity. I was requested to make a visit, and had an extended +conference with her: I spent some three hours with her.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> I had no +difficulty in arriving at the conclusion, in my mind, that she was insane.</p> + +<p><i>Cross-examination.</i>—I visited her by request of Mr. Packard, at her +house. The children were in and out of the room; no one else was present. +I concealed my object in visiting her. She asked me if I was a physician, +and I told her no; that I was an agent, selling sewing machines, and had +come there to sell her one.</p> + +<p>The first subject we conversed about was sewing machines. She showed no +signs of insanity on that subject.</p> + +<p>The next subject discussed, was the social condition of the female sex. +She exhibited no special marks of insanity on that subject, although she +had many ideas quite at variance with mine, on the subject.</p> + +<p>The subject of politics was introduced. She spoke of the condition of the +North and the South. She illustrated her difficulties with Mr. Packard, by +the difficulties between the North and the South. She said the South was +wrong, and was waging war for two wicked purposes: first, to overthrow a +good government, and second, to establish a despotism on the inhuman +principle of human slavery. But that the North, having right on their +side, would prevail. So Mr. Packard was opposing her, to overthrow free +thought in woman; that the despotism of man may prevail over the wife; but +that she had right and truth on her side, and that she would prevail.</p> + +<p>During this conversation I did not fully conclude that she was insane.</p> + +<p>I brought up the subject of religion. We discussed that subject for a long +time, and then I had not the slightest difficulty in concluding that she +was hopelessly insane.</p> + +<p><i>Question.</i> Dr., what particular idea did she advance on the subject of +religion that led you to the conclusion that she was hopelessly insane?</p> + +<p><i>Answer.</i> She advanced many of them. I formed my opinion not so much on +any one idea advanced, as upon her whole conversation. She then said that +she was the “Personification of the Holy Ghost.” I did not know what she +meant by that.</p> + +<p><i>Ques.</i> Was not this the idea conveyed to you in that conversation:—That +there are three attributes of the Deity—the Father, the Son, and the Holy +Ghost? Now, did she not say, that the attributes of the Father were +represented in mankind, in man; that the attributes of the Holy Ghost were +represented in woman; and that the Son was the fruit of these two +attributes of the Deity?</p> + +<p><i>Ans.</i> Well, I am not sure but that was the idea conveyed, though I did +not fully get her idea at the time.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span><i>Ques.</i> Was not that a new idea to you in theology?</p> + +<p><i>Ans.</i> It was.</p> + +<p><i>Ques.</i> Are you much of a theologian?</p> + +<p><i>Ans.</i> No.</p> + +<p><i>Ques.</i> Then because the idea was a novel one to you, you pronounced her +insane.</p> + +<p><i>Ans.</i> Well, I pronounced her insane on that and other things that +exhibited themselves in this conversation.</p> + +<p><i>Ques.</i> Did she not show more familiarity with the subject of religion and +the questions of theology, than you had with these subjects?</p> + +<p><i>Ans.</i> I do not pretend much knowledge on these subjects.</p> + +<p><i>Ques.</i> What else did she say or do there, that showed marks of insanity?</p> + +<p><i>Ans.</i> She claimed to be better than her husband—that she was right—and +that he was wrong—and that all she did was good, and all he did was bad; +that she was farther advanced than other people, and more nearly +perfection. She found fault particularly that Mr. Packard would not +discuss their points of difference on religion in an open, manly way, +instead of going around and denouncing her as crazy to her friends and to +the church.</p> + +<p>She had a great aversion to being called insane. Before I got through the +conversation she exhibited a great dislike to me, and almost treated me in +a contemptuous manner. She appeared quite lady-like. She had a great +reverence for God, and a regard for religious and pious people.</p> + +<p><i>Re-examined.</i>—<i>Ques.</i> Dr., you may now state all the reasons you have +for pronouncing her insane.</p> + +<p><i>Ans.</i> I have written down, in order, the reasons which I had, to found my +opinion on, that she was insane. I will read them.</p> + +<p>1. That she claimed to be in advance of the age thirty or forty years.</p> + +<p>2. That she disliked to be called insane.</p> + +<p>3. That she pronounced me a copperhead, and did not prove the fact.</p> + +<p>4. An incoherency of thought. That she failed to illuminate me and fill me +with light.</p> + +<p>5. Her aversion to the doctrine of the total depravity of man.</p> + +<p>6. Her claim to perfection or nearer perfection in action and conduct.</p> + +<p>7. Her aversion to being called insane.</p> + +<p>8. Her feelings towards her husband.</p> + +<p>9. Her belief that to call her insane and abuse her, was blasphemy against +the Holy Ghost.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>10. Her explanation of this idea.</p> + +<p>11. Incoherency of thought and ideas.</p> + +<p>12. Her extreme aversion to the doctrine of the total depravity of +mankind, and in the same conversation, saying her husband was a specimen +of man’s total depravity.</p> + +<p>13. The general history of the case.</p> + +<p>14. Her belief that some calamity would befall her, owing to my being +there, and her refusal to shake hands with me when I went away.</p> + +<p>15. Her viewing the subject of religion from the osteric standpoint of +Christian exegetical analysis, and agglutinating the polsynthetical +ectoblasts of homogeneous asceticism.</p> + +<p>The witness left the stand amid roars of laughter; and it required some +moments to restore order in the court-room.</p> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">Joseph H. Way</span>, sworn, and said:</p> + +<p>I am a practicing physician in Kankakee City, Illinois. I made a medical +examination of Mrs. Packard a few weeks since, at her house; was there +perhaps two hours. On most subjects she was quite sane. On the subject of +religion I thought she had some ideas that are not generally entertained. +At that time I thought her to be somewhat deranged or excited on that +subject; since that time I have thought perhaps I was not a proper judge, +for I am not much posted on disputed points in theology, and I find that +other people entertain similar ideas. They are not in accordance with my +views, but that is no evidence that she is insane.</p> + +<p><i>Cross-examined.</i>—I made this visit at her house, or his house, perhaps, +at Manteno. I conversed on various subjects. She was perfectly sane on +every subject except religion, and I would not swear now that she was +insane. She seemed to have been laboring under an undue excitement on that +subject. She has a nervous temperament, and is easily excited. She said +she liked her children, and that it was hard to be torn from them. That +none but a mother could feel the anguish she had suffered; that while she +was confined in the Asylum, the children had been educated by their father +to call her insane. She said she would have them punished if they called +their own mother insane, for it was not right.</p> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">Abijah Dole</span>, sworn, and says:</p> + +<p>I know Mrs. Packard; have known her twenty-five or thirty years. I am her +brother-in-law. Lived in Manteno seven years. Mrs.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> Packard has lived +there six years. I have been sent for several times by her and Mr. +Packard, and found her in an excited state of mind. I was there +frequently; we were very familiar. One morning early, I was sent for: she +was in the west room; she was in her night clothes. She took me by the +hand and led me to the bed. Libby was lying in bed, moaning and moving her +head. Mrs. Packard now spoke and said, “How pure we are.” “I am one of the +children of heaven; Libby is one of the branches.” “The woman shall bruise +the serpent’s head.” She called Mr. Packard a devil. She said, Brother +Dole, these are serious matters. If Brother Haslet will help me, we will +crush the body. She said, Christ had come into the world to save men, and +that she had come to save woman. Her hair was disheveled. Her face looked +wild. This was over three years ago.</p> + +<p>I was there again one morning after this. She came to me. She pitied me +for marrying my wife, who is a sister to Mr. Packard; said I might find an +agreeable companion. She said if she had cultivated amativeness, she would +have made a more agreeable companion. She took me to another room and +talked about going away; this was in June before they took her to the +State Hospital. She sent for me again; she was in the east room; she was +very cordial. She wanted me to intercede for Theophilus, who was at +Marshall, Michigan; she wanted him to stay there, and it was thought not +advisable for him to stay. We wished him to come away, but did not tell +her the reasons. He was with a Swedenborgian.</p> + +<p>After this I was called there once in the night. She said she could not +live with Mr. Packard, and she thought she had better go away. One time +she was in the Bible class. The question came up in regard to Moses +smiting the Egyptian; she thought Moses had acted too hasty, but that all +things worked for the glory of God. I requested her to keep quiet, and she +agreed to do it.</p> + +<p>I have had no conversation with Mrs. Packard since her return from the +Hospital; she will not talk with me because she thinks I think she is +insane. Her brother came to see her; he said he had not seen her for four +or five years. I tried to have Mrs. Packard talk with him, and she would +not have anything to do with him because he said she was a crazy woman. +She generally was in the kitchen when I was there, overseeing her +household affairs.</p> + +<p>I was superintendent of the Sabbath School. One Sabbath, just at the close +of the school, I was behind the desk, and almost like a vision she +appeared before me, and requested to deliver or read an address to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> the +school. I was much surprised; I felt so bad, I did not know what to do. +(At this juncture the witness became very much affected, and choked up so +that he could not proceed, and cried so loud that he could be heard in any +part of the court-room. When he became calm, he went on and said), I was +willing to gratify her all I could, for I know she was crazy, but I did +not want to take the responsibility myself, so I put it to a vote of the +school, if she should be allowed to read it. She was allowed to read it. +It occupied ten or fifteen minutes in reading.</p> + +<p>I cannot state any of the particulars of that paper. It bore evidence of +her insanity. She went on and condemned the church, all in all, and the +individuals composing the church, because they did not agree with her. She +looked very wild and very much excited. She seemed to be insane. She came +to church one morning just as services commenced, and wished to have the +church act upon her letter withdrawing from the church immediately. Mr. +Packard was in the pulpit. She wanted to know if Brother Dole and Brother +Merrick were in the church, and wanted them to have it acted upon. This +was three years ago, just before she was taken away to the hospital.</p> + +<p><i>Cross-examined.</i>—I supposed when I first went into the room that her +influence over the child had caused the child to become deranged. The +child was nine years old. I believed that she had exerted some mesmeric or +other influence over the child, that caused it to moan and toss its head. +The child had been sick with brain fever; I learned that after I got +there. I suppose the mother had considerable anxiety over the child; I +suppose she had been watching over the child all night, and that would +tend to excite her. The child got well. It was sick several days after +this; it was lying on the bed moaning and tossing its head; the mother did +not appear to be alarmed. Mr. Packard was not with her; she was all alone; +she did not say that Mr. Packard did not show proper care for the sick +child. I suppose she thought Libby would die.</p> + +<p>Her ideas on religion did not agree with mine, nor with my view of the +Bible.</p> + +<p>I knew Mr. Packard thought her insane, and did not want her to discuss +these questions in the Sabbath School. I knew he had opposed her more or +less. This letter to the church was for the purpose of asking for a letter +from the church.</p> + +<p><i>Question.</i> Was it an indication of insanity that she wanted to leave the +Presbyterian Church?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span><i>Answer.</i> I think it strange that she should ask for letters from the +church. She would not leave the church unless she was insane.</p> + +<p>I am a member of the church—I believe the church is right. I believe +everything the church does is right. I believe everything in the Bible.</p> + +<p><i>Ques.</i> Do you believe literally that Jonah was swallowed by a whale, and +remained in its belly three days and was then cast up?</p> + +<p><i>Ans.</i> I do.</p> + +<p><i>Ques.</i> Do you believe literally that Elijah went direct up to Heaven in a +chariot of fire—that the chariot had wheels, and seats, and was drawn by +horses?</p> + +<p><i>Ans.</i> I do—for with God all things are possible.</p> + +<p><i>Ques.</i> Do you believe Mrs. Packard was insane, and is insane?</p> + +<p><i>Ans.</i> I do.</p> + +<p>I never read any of Swedenborg’s works, I do not deem it proper for +persons to investigate new doctrines or systems of theology.</p> + +<p><i>Re-examined.</i>—I became a Presbyterian eight years ago. I was formerly a +Congregationalist; Mr. Packard was a Congregationalist.</p> + +<p><i>Re-cross-examination.</i>—<i>Ques.</i> Was it dangerous for you to examine the +doctrines or theology embraced in the Presbyterian Church, when you left +the Congregational Church, and joined it?</p> + +<p><i>Ans.</i> I will not answer so foolish a question.</p> + +<p>Witness discharged.</p> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">Josephus B. Smith</span>, sworn, says:</p> + +<p>Am aged fifty years; have known Mrs. Packard seven years. I cannot tell +the first appearance of any abnormal condition of her mind. I first saw it +at the Sabbath School. She came in and wished to read a communication. I +do not recollect everything of the communication. She did not read the +letter, but presented it to Brother Dole. She said something about her +small children, and left. She seemed to be excited. There was nothing very +unusual in her appearance. Her voice was rather excited; it could be heard +nearly over the house. I merely recall the circumstance, but recollect +scarce anything else. It was an unusual thing for any person to come in +and read an address. I do not recollect anything unusual in her manner.</p> + +<p>(At this stage of the trial, an incident occurred that for a time stopped +all proceedings, and produced quite an excitement in the court-room; and +this report would not be faithful if it were passed over unnoticed. Mrs. +Dole, the sister of Mr. Packard, came in, leading<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> the little daughter of +Mrs. Packard, and in passing by the table occupied by Mrs. Packard and her +counsel, the child stopped, went up to her mother, kissed and hugged her, +and was clinging to her with all child-like fervor, when it was observed +by Mrs. Dole, who snatched the child up—and bid it “come away from that +woman;” adding, “She is not fit to take care of you—I have you in my +charge;” and thereupon led her away. The court-room was crowded to its +utmost, and not a mother’s heart there but what was touched, and scarce a +dry eye was seen. Quite a stir was made, but the sheriff soon restored +order.)</p> + +<p><i>Cross-examined.</i>—I had charge of the Sunday School; am a member of Mr. +Packard’s church. I knew Mr. Packard had considered her insane; knew they +had had difficulties. I was elected superintendent of the school in place +of Brother Dole, for the special purpose of keeping Mrs. Packard straight.</p> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">Sybil Dole</span>, sworn, and says—</p> + +<p>I am Mr. Packard’s sister; have known her twenty-five years. Her natural +disposition is very kind and sweet. Her education is very good; her morals +without a stain or blemish. I first observed a change in her, after we +came to Manteno. I had a conversation with her, when she talked an hour +without interruption; she talked in a wild, excited manner; the subject +was partly religion. She spoke of her own attainments; she said she had +advanced in spiritual affairs. This was two or three years before she went +to the Asylum.</p> + +<p>The next time was when she was preparing to go to York State. She was +weeping and sick. Her trunk was packed and ready to go, but Mr. Packard +was sick. From her voice, and the manner she talked, I formed an opinion +of her insanity. She talked on various points; the conversation distressed +me very much; I could not sleep. She was going alone; we tried to persuade +her not to go alone. She accused Mr. Packard very strangely of depriving +her of her rights of conscience—that he would not allow her to think for +herself on religious questions, because they disagreed on these topics. +She made her visit to New York. The first time I met her after her return, +her health was much improved; she appeared much better. In the course of a +few weeks, she visited at my house.</p> + +<p>At another time, one of the children came up, and wanted me to go down; I +did so. She was very much excited about her son remaining at Marshall. She +was wild. She thought it was very wrong and tyrannical for Mr. Packard not +to permit her son to remain there. She<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> said very many things which seemed +unnatural. Her voice, manner and ways, all showed she was insane.</p> + +<p>I was there when Mr. Baker came there, to see about Theophilus remaining +at Marshall with him. She was calmer than she was the day before. She said +that she should spend the day in fasting and prayer. She said he had came +in unexpectedly, and they were not prepared to entertain strangers. She +was out of bread, and had to make biscuit for dinner. (One gentleman in +the crowd turned to his wife and said, “Wife, were you ever out of bread, +and had to make biscuit for dinner? I must put you into an Insane Asylum! +No mistake!”) I occupied the same room and bed with her. She went to Mr. +Packard’s room, and when she returned, she said, that if her son was not +permitted to remain at Marshall, it would result in a divorce. She got up +several times during the night. She told me how much she enjoyed the +family circle. She spoke very highly of Mr. Packard’s kindness to her. She +spoke particularly of the tenderness which had once existed between them. +I did not notice anything very remarkable in her conduct toward Mr. +Packard, until just before she was sent to the Hospital.</p> + +<p>One morning afterward, I went to her house with a lady; we wanted to go +in, and were admitted. She seemed much excited. She said, “You regard me +insane. I will thank you to leave my room.” This was two or three months +before she was sent to Jacksonville. Mr. Packard went out. She put her +hand on my shoulder, and said she would thank me to go out too. I went +out.</p> + +<p>I afterward wanted to take the baby home. One morning I went down to see +her, and prepared breakfast for her. She appeared thankful, and +complimented me on my kindness. She consented for me to take the child; I +did so. In a short time, about ten days after, the other children came up, +and said, that she wanted to take her own child. I took the child down. +Her appearance was very wild. She was filled with spite toward Mr. +Packard. She defied me to take the child again, and said that she would +evoke the strong arm of the law to help her keep it.</p> + +<p>At another time, at the table, she was talking about religion, when Mr. +Packard remonstrated with her; she became angry, and told him she would +talk what and when she had a mind to. She rose up from the table, and took +her tea-cup, and left the room in great violence.</p> + +<p><i>Cross-examined.</i>—I am a member of Mr. Packard’s church, and am his +sister. He and I have often consulted together about Mrs. Packard. Mr. +Packard was the first to ever suggest that she was insane; after<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> that, I +would more carefully watch her actions to find out if she was insane. The +religious doctrines she advanced were at variance with those entertained +by our church. She was a good, neat, thrifty and careful housekeeper. She +was economical; kept the children clean and neatly dressed. She was sane +on all subjects except religion. I do not think she would have entertained +these ideas, if she had not been insane. I do not think she would have +wanted to have withdrawn from our church, and unite with another church, +if she had not been insane. She said she would worship with the +Methodists. They were the only other Protestant denomination that held +service at Manteno at the time. I knew when she was taken to Jacksonville +Hospital. She was taken away in the morning. She did not want to go; we +thought it advisable for her to go.</p> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">Sarah Rumsey</span>, sworn, and says:</p> + +<p>Have lived one week in Mrs. Packard’s house. I was present at the +interview when Mrs. Packard ordered us to leave the room. Mrs. Packard was +very pale and angry. She was in an undress, and her hair was down over her +face. It was 11 o’clock in the forenoon—I staid at the house; Mrs. +Packard came out to the kitchen. She was dressed then. She said she had +come to reveal to me what Mr. Packard was. She talked very rapidly; she +would not talk calm. She said Mr. Packard was an arch deceiver; that he +and the members of his church had made a conspiracy to put her into the +Insane Asylum; she wanted me to leave the conspirators. Soon after dinner +she said, “Come with me, I have something to tell you.” She said she had a +new revelation; it would soon be here; and that she had been chosen by God +for a particular mission. She said that all who decided with her, and +remained true to her, would be rewarded by the millennium, and if I would +side with her, that I would be a chief apostle in the millennium. She +wanted to go to Batavia, but that Mr. Packard would give her no money to +take her there; that Mr. Packard called her insane. She started to go out, +and Mr. Packard made her return; took her into Mr. Comstock’s, and Mr. +Comstock made her go home.</p> + +<p>I saw her again when Libby had the brain fever. She was disturbed because +the family called her insane. She and Libby were crying together; they +cried together a long time. This was Tuesday. She would not let me into +the room. The next morning while at breakfast Mr. Labrie passed the window +and came in. He said that Georgie had been over for him, and said that +they were killing his mother. She acted very strangely all the time; was +wild and excited.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span><i>Cross-examined.</i>—Knew Mr. Packard two years before I went there to live. +He was the pastor of our church. I am a member of the church. I did not +attend the Bible class. Brother Dole came to me and said somebody of the +church should go there, and stay at the house, and assist in packing her +clothes and getting her ready to take off to the Hospital, and stay and +take care of the children. I consented to go; I heard that Brother Packard +requested Brother Dole to come for me. I never worked out before. They had +a French servant, before I went there; Mr. Packard turned her off when I +came, the same day. I did not want to take Mrs. Packard away. I did not +think she exhibited any very unusual excitement, when the men came here to +take her away. Doctors Merrick and Newkirk were the physicians who came +there with Sheriff Burgess. She did not manifest as much excitement, when +being taken away, as I would have done, under the same circumstances; any +person would have naturally been opposed to being carried away.</p> + +<p>The church had opposed her, in disseminating her ideas in the church; I +was opposed to her promulgating her religious ideas in the church; I +thought them wrong, and injurious. I was present at the Sabbath School +when she read the paper to the school; I thought that bore evidence of +insanity. It was a refutation of what Mrs. Dixon had written; I cannot +give the contents of the paper now.</p> + +<p>I was present when she read a confession of her conduct to the church; she +had had her views changed partially, from a sermon preached upon the +subject of the sovereignty and immutability of God. I did not think it +strange conduct that she changed her views; and never said so. This was in +the spring before the June when they took her away.</p> + +<p>The article she read in the school was by the permission of the school.</p> + +<p>I was present when she presented a protest against the church for refusing +to let her be heard; I have only an indistinct recollection of it; it was +a protest because they refused to listen to her.</p> + +<p>Mr. Dole was the only person who came to the house when she was taken +away, except the men with Burgess.</p> + +<p>She said that Mr. Packard had deprived her of the liberty of conscience in +charging her to be insane, when she only entertained ideas new to him.</p> + +<p>I thought it was an evidence of insanity, because she maintained these +ideas. I do not know that many people entertain similar ideas. I suppose a +good many do not think the Calvinistic doctrine is right, they are not +necessarily insane because they think so.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>When she found I was going to stay in the house, and that the French +servant had been discharged, she ordered me into the kitchen; before that, +she had treated me kindly as a visitor.</p> + +<p>I thought it was an evidence of insanity for her to order me into the +kitchen; she ought to have known that I was not an ordinary servant. The +proper place for the servant is in the kitchen at work, and not in the +parlor; I took the place of the servant girl for a short time.</p> + +<p>She wanted the flower beds in the front yard cleaned out, and tried to get +Mr. Packard to do it; he would not do it. She went and put on an old dress +and went to work, and cleaned the weeds out, and worked herself into a +great heat. It was a warm day; she staid out until she was almost melted +down with the heat.</p> + +<p><i>Question.</i> What did she do then?</p> + +<p><i>Answer.</i> She went to her room and took a bath, and dressed herself, and +then lay down exhausted. She did not come down to dinner.</p> + +<p><i>Ques.</i> And did you think that was an evidence of insanity?</p> + +<p><i>Ans.</i> I did—the way it was done.</p> + +<p><i>Ques.</i> What would you have done under similar circumstances? Would you +have set down in the clothes you had worked in?</p> + +<p><i>Ans.</i> No.</p> + +<p><i>Ques.</i> Probably you would have taken a bath and changed your clothes too. +And so would any lady, would they not?</p> + +<p><i>Ans.</i> Yes.</p> + +<p><i>Ques.</i> Then would you call yourself insane?</p> + +<p><i>Ans.</i> No. But she was angry and excited, and showed ill-will. She was +very tidy in her habits; liked to keep the house clean, and have her yard +and flowers look well. She took considerable pains with these things.</p> + +<p>I remained there until she was taken away; I approved taking her away; I +deemed her dangerous to the church; her ideas were contrary to the church, +and were wrong.</p> + +<p>The baby was eighteen months old when she was taken away. She was very +fond of her children and treated them very kindly. Never saw her misuse +them. Never heard that she had misused them. Never heard that she was +dangerous to herself or to her family. Never heard that she had threatened +or offered to destroy anything, or injure any person.</p> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">Judge Bartlett</span> was next called to the stand.</p> + +<p>Am acquainted with Mrs. Packard. Had a conversation with her on religious +topics. We agreed very well in most things. She did not say<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> she believed +in the transmigration of souls; she said some persons had expressed that +idea to her, but she did not believe it. It was spoken of lightly. She did +not say ever to me, that Mr. Packard’s soul would go into an ox. She did +not say anything about her being related to the Holy Ghost. I thought +then, and said it, that religious subjects were her study, and that she +would easily be excited on that subject. I could not see that she was +insane. I would go no stronger than to say, that her mind dwelt on +religious subjects. She could not be called insane, for thousands of +people believe as she does, on religion.</p> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">Mrs. Sybil Dole</span>, recalled.</p> + +<p>At the time she got up from the table she went out. She said, “I will have +no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. No! not so much as to +eat with them.”</p> + +<p><i>Re-cross-examined.</i>—<i>Question.</i> Did you deem that an evidence of +insanity?</p> + +<p><i>Answer.</i> I did.</p> + +<p><i>Ques.</i> She called Mr. Packard the unfruitful works of darkness?</p> + +<p><i>Ans.</i> I suppose so.</p> + +<p><i>Ques.</i> Did she also include you?</p> + +<p><i>Ans.</i> She might have done so.</p> + +<p><i>Ques.</i> This was about the time that her husband was plotting to kidnap +her, was it not?</p> + +<p><i>Ans.</i> It was just before she was removed to the Asylum.</p> + +<p><i>Ques.</i> He had been charging her with insanity, had he not, at the table?</p> + +<p><i>Ans.</i> He had.</p> + + +<p><br />The prosecution now wished to adjourn the court for ten days, to enable +them to get Dr. McFarland, Superintendent of the State Hospital, who, they +claimed, would testify that she was insane. Counsel stated, he had been +telegraphed to come, and a reply was received, that he was in Zanesville, +Ohio, and would return in about ten days. They claimed his testimony would +be very important. This motion the counsel of Mrs. Packard opposed, as it +was an unheard-of proceeding to continue a cause after the hearing was +commenced, to enable a party to hunt up testimony.</p> + +<p>The matter was discussed on each side for a considerable length of time, +when the court held that the defense should go on with their testimony, +and after that was heard, then the court would determine about continuing +the case to get Dr. McFarland, and perhaps he could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> be got before the +defense was through, and if so, he might be sworn; and held that the +defense should go on now.</p> + +<p>The counsel of Mrs. Packard withdrew for consultation, and in a brief time +returned, and announced to the court that they would submit the case +without introducing any testimony, and were willing to submit it without +argument. The counsel for Mr. Packard objected to this, and renewed the +motion for a continuance; which the court refused.</p> + +<p>The counsel for Mr. Packard then offered to read to the jury a letter from +Dr. McFarland, dated in the month of December, 1863, written to Rev. +Theophilus Packard; and also a certificate, under the seal of the State +Hospital at Jacksonville, certifying that Mrs. Packard was discharged from +the institution in June, 1863, and was incurably insane, which certificate +was signed by Dr. McFarland, the Superintendent. To the introduction of +this to the jury, the counsel for Mrs. Packard objected, as being +incompetent testimony, and debarred the defense of the benefit of a +cross-examination. The court permitted the letter and certificate to be +read to the jury.</p> + +<p>These documents were retained by Rev. Theophilus Packard, and the reporter +has been unable to obtain copies of them. The letter is dated in December, +1863, at the State Hospital, Jacksonville, Illinois, and written to Rev. +Theophilus Packard, wherein Dr. McFarland writes him that Mrs. Packard is +hopelessly insane, and that no possible good could result by having her +returned to the Hospital; that the officers of the institution had done +everything in their power to effect a cure, and were satisfied she could +not be cured, and refused to receive her into the institution.</p> + +<p>The certificate, under the seal of the Hospital, was a statement, dated in +June, 1863, at Jacksonville, Illinois, setting forth the time (three +years) that Mrs. Packard had been under treatment, and that she had been +discharged, as beyond a possibility of being cured.</p> + +<p>The above is the import of these documents, which the reporter regrets he +cannot lay before the public in <ins class="correction" title="original: ful">full</ins>.</p> + +<p>The prosecution now announced that they closed their case.</p> + + +<p class="center"><br />DEFENSE.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">J. L. Simington</span> was the first witness called for the defense. Being sworn, +he said</p> + +<p>I live in Manteno; lived there since 1859, early in the spring. Knew Rev. +Mr. Packard and Mrs. Packard. First became acquainted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> with them in 1858; +I was then engaged in the ministry of the Methodist Church. I have +practiced medicine eleven years.</p> + +<p>I was consulted as a family physician by Mrs. Packard in 1860. Was quite +well acquainted with Mrs. Packard, and with the family. Lived fifty or +sixty rods from their house. Saw her and the family almost daily. I did +not see anything unusual in her, in regard to her mind. I never saw +anything I thought insanity with her. So far as I know she was a sane +woman. I have seen her since she came from the Hospital; have seen nothing +since to indicate she was insane. My opinion is, she is a sane woman.</p> + +<p>No cross-examination was made.</p> + + +<p><br />Dr. <span class="smcap">J. D. Mann</span>, sworn, and says:</p> + +<p>I live in Manteno; have lived there nine years. Practiced medicine there +six years. I am not very intimately acquainted with either Mr. or Mrs. +Packard. Mr. Packard invited me to go to his house to have an interview +with Mrs. Packard. I went at his request. He requested me to make a second +examination, which I did. There had been a physician there before I went. +The last time, he wanted me to meet Dr. Brown, of this city, there. This +was late in November last. He introduced me to Mrs. Packard. I had known +her before she was taken to the Hospital, and this was the first time I +had seen her since she had returned. I was there from one to two hours. I +then made up my mind, as I had made up my mind from the first interview, +that I could find nothing that indicated insanity. I did not go when Dr. +Brown was there. Mr. Packard had told me she was insane, and my prejudices +were, that she was insane. He wanted a certificate of her insanity, to +take East with him. I would not give it.</p> + +<p>The witness was not cross-examined.</p> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">Joseph E. Labrie</span>, sworn, and says:</p> + +<p>Have known Mrs. Packard six years; lived fifteen or twenty rods from their +house. Knew her in spring of 1860. Saw her nearly every day—sometimes two +or three times a day. I belong to the Catholic Church. Have seen her since +her return from Jacksonville. I have seen nothing that could make me think +her insane. I always said she was a sane woman, and say so yet.</p> + +<p><i>Cross-examined.</i>—I am not a physician. I am not an expert. She might be +insane, but no common-sense man could find it out.</p> + +<p><i>Re-examined.</i>—I am a Justice of the Peace, and Notary Public. Mr. +Packard requested me to go to his house and take an acknowledgment<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> of a +deed from her. I went there, and she signed and acknowledged the deed. +This was within the past two months.</p> + +<p><i>Re-cross-examined.</i>—I was sent for to go to the house in the spring of +1860. My wife was with me. It was about taking her to Jacksonville. Mrs. +Packard would not come to the room where I was. I stayed there only about +twenty minutes.</p> + +<p>Have been there since she returned from the Hospital. The door to her room +was locked on the outside. Mr. Packard said, he had made up his mind to +let no one into her room.</p> + + +<p><br />The counsel for Mrs. Packard offered to read to the jury the following +paper, which had been referred to by the witnesses, as evidence of Mrs. +Packard’s insanity, and which Deacon Smith refused to hear read. The +counsel for Mr. Packard examined the paper, and admitted it was the same +paper.</p> + +<p>The counsel for Mrs. Packard then requested permission of the court for +Mrs. Packard to read it to the jury, which was most strenuously opposed. +The court permitted Mrs. Packard to read it to the jury. Mrs. Packard +arose, and read in a distinct tone of voice, so that every word was heard +all over the court-room.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="center">HOW GODLINESS IS PROFITABLE</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Deacon Smith</span>—A question was proposed to this class, the last Sabbath +Brother Dole taught us, and it was requested that the class consider +and report the result of their investigations at a future session. +May I now bring it up? The question was this:</p> + +<p>“Have we any reason to expect that a Christian farmer, <i>as a +Christian</i>, will be any more successful in his farming operations, +than an impenitent sinner—and if <i>not</i>, how is it that godliness is +profitable unto all things? Or, in other words, does the <i>motive</i> +with which one prosecutes his secular business, other things being +equal, make any difference in the <i>pecuniary</i> results?”</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dixon gave it as her opinion, at the time, that the motive <i>did</i> +affect the pecuniary results.</p> + +<p>Now the <i>practical</i> result to which this conclusion leads, is such as +will justify us in our judging of Mrs. Dixon’s true <i>moral</i> +character, next fall, by her <i>success</i> in her farming operations this +summer.</p> + +<p>My opinion differs from hers on this point; and my <i>reasons</i> are here +given in writing since I deem it necessary for <i>me</i>, under the +existing state of feeling toward me, to put into a written form <i>all</i> +I have to say, in the class, to prevent misrepresentation.</p> + +<p>Should I be appropriating an unreasonable share of time, as a pupil, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>Mr. Smith, to occupy four minutes of your time in reading them? I +should like very much to read them, that the class may pass their +honest criticisms upon them.</p> + +<p class="center"><br />AN ANSWER TO THE QUESTION.</p> + +<p>I think we have no <i>intelligent</i> reason for believing that the +motives with which we prosecute our secular business, have any +influence in the <i>pecuniary</i> results.</p> + +<p>My reasons are <i>common sense</i> reasons, rather than strictly Bible +proofs, viz.: I regard man as existing in three distinct departments +of being, viz., his physical or animal, his mental or intellectual, +his moral or spiritual; and each of these three distinct departments +are under the control of <i>laws</i>, peculiar to itself; and these +different laws do not interchange with, or affect each <ins class="correction" title="original: other">other’s</ins> +department.</p> + +<p>For instance, a very <i>immoral</i> man may be a very <i>healthy</i>, +long-lived man; for, notwithstanding he violates the <i>moral</i> +department, he may live in conformity to the <i>physical</i> laws of his +animal nature, which secure to him his physical health. And, on the +other hand, a very moral man may suffer greatly from a diseased body, +and be cut off in the very midst of his usefulness by an early death, +in consequence of having violated the physical laws of his animal +constitution. But on the moral plane he is the <i>gainer</i>, and the +immoral man is the <i>loser</i>.</p> + +<p>So our success in business depends upon our conformity to <i>those +laws</i> on which success depends—<i>not</i> upon the <i>motives</i> which act +<i>only</i> on the moral plane.</p> + +<p>On <i>this</i> ground, the Christian farmer has no more <i>reason</i> to expect +success in his farming operations, than the impenitent sinner. In +either case, the foundation for success must depend upon the degree +of <i>fidelity</i> with which the <i>natural laws</i> are applied, which cause +the natural result—<i>not</i> upon the <i>motives</i> of the operator; since +these moral acts receive their penalty and reward on an entirely +different plane of his being.</p> + +<p>Now comes in the question, how then is it true, that “godliness is +<i>profitable</i> unto all things,” if godliness is no guarantee to +success in business pursuits?</p> + +<p>I reply, that the profits of godliness cannot mean, simply, +<i>pecuniary</i> profits, because this would limit the gain of godliness +to this world, alone; whereas, it is profitable not only for <i>this +life</i>, but also for the <i>life to come</i>. Gain and loss, dollars and +cents, are not the coins current in the spiritual world.</p> + +<p>But happiness and misery are coins which are current in <i>both</i> +worlds. Therefore, it appears to me, that happiness is the profit +attendant upon godliness, and for this reason, a <i>practically godly</i> +person, who lives in conformity to all the various laws of his entire +being, may expect to secure to himself, as a natural result, a +greater amount of happiness than the ungodly person.</p> + +<p>So that, in this sense, “Godliness is profitable unto all things,” to +every department of our being.</p> + +<p class="right">E. P. W. PACKARD.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Manteno</span>, March 22, 1860.</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>Mrs. Packard then stated that the above was presented to the class, the +15th day of the following April, and was <i>rejected</i> by the teacher Deacon +Smith, on the ground of its being irrelevant to the subject, since she had +not confined herself to the Bible alone for proof of her position.</p> + +<p>As she took her seat, a murmur of applause arose from every part of the +room, which was promptly suppressed by the sheriff.</p> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">Daniel Beedy</span>, sworn, and says:</p> + +<p>I live in Manteno. Have known Mrs. Packard six years; knew her in the +spring of 1860. I lived a mile and a half from them. Have seen her very +frequently since her return from Jacksonville. Had many conversations with +her before she was taken away, and since her return. She always appeared +to me like a sane woman. I heard she was insane, and my wife and I went to +satisfy ourselves. I went there soon after the difficulties in the Bible +class.</p> + +<p>She is not insane. We talked about religion, politics, and various +matters, such as a grey-haired old farmer could talk about, and I saw +nothing insane about her.</p> + + +<p><br />Mr. <span class="smcap">Blessing</span>, sworn, and says:</p> + +<p>I live in Manteno; have known Mrs. Packard six years; knew her in the +spring of 1860; lived eighty rods from their house. She visited at my +house. I have seen her at church. She attended the Methodist church for a +while after the difficulties commenced, and then I saw her every Sunday. I +never thought her insane.</p> + +<p>After the word was given out by her husband that she was insane, she +claimed my particular protection, and wanted me to obtain a trial for her +by the laws of the land, and such an investigation she said she was +willing to stand by. She claimed Mr. Packard was insane, if any one was. +She begged for a trial. I did not then do anything, because I did not like +to interfere between man and wife. I never saw anything that indicated +insanity. She was always rational. Had conversations with her since her +return. She first came to my house. She claimed a right to live with her +family. She considered herself more capable of taking care of her family +than any other person.</p> + +<p>I saw her at Jacksonville. I took Dr. Shirley with me to test her +insanity. Dr. Shirley told me she was not insane.</p> + +<p>Cross-examination waived.</p> + + +<p><br /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>Mrs. <span class="smcap">Blessing</span>, sworn, and says:</p> + +<p>Have known Mrs. Packard seven years; knew her in 1860. Lived near them; we +visited each other as neighbors. She first came to our house when she +returned from Jacksonville. I did not see anything that indicated that she +was insane. I saw her at Jacksonville. She had the keys, and showed me +around. I heard the conversation there with Dr. Shirley; they talked about +religion; did not think she talked unnatural. When I first went in, she +was at work on a dress for Dr. McFarland’s wife. I saw her after she +returned home last fall, quite often, until she was locked in her room. On +Monday after she got home, I called on her; she was at work; she was +cleaning up the feather beds; they needed cleaning badly. I went there +afterward; her daughter let me in. On Saturday before the trial commenced, +I was let into her room by Mr. Packard; she had no fire in it; we sat +there in the cold. Mr. Packard had a handful of keys, and unlocked the +door and let me in. Mrs. Hanford was with me. Before this, Mrs. Hanford +and myself went there to see her; he would not let us see her; he shook +his hand at me, and threatened to put me out.</p> + + +<p><br />Mrs. <span class="smcap">Haslet</span>, sworn, and said:</p> + +<p>Know Mrs. Packard very well; have known her since they lived in Manteno; +knew her in the spring of 1860; and since she returned from Jacksonville, +we have been on intimate terms. I never saw any signs of insanity with +her. I called often before she was kidnapped and carried to Jacksonville, +and since her return.</p> + +<p>I recollect the time Miss Rumsey was there; I did not see anything that +showed insanity. I called to see her in a few days after she returned from +Jacksonville; she was in the yard, cleaning feather beds. I called again +in a few days; she was still cleaning house. The house needed cleaning; +and when I again called, it looked as if the mistress of the house was at +home. She had no hired girl. I went again, and was not admitted. I +conversed with her through the window; the window was fastened down. The +son refused me admission. The window was fastened with nails on the +inside, and by two screws, passing through the lower part of the upper +sash and the upper part of the lower sash, from the outside. I did not see +Mr. Packard this time.</p> + +<p><i>Cross-examination.</i>—She talked about getting released from her +imprisonment. She asked if filing a bill of complaint would lead to a +divorce. She said she did not want a divorce; she only wanted protection +from Mr. Packard’s cruelty. I advised her to not stand it quietly, but get +a divorce.</p> + + +<p><br /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>Dr. <span class="smcap">Duncanson</span>, sworn, and said:</p> + +<p>I live here; am a physician; have been a clergyman; have been a practicing +physician twenty-one years. Have known Mrs. Packard since this trial +commenced. Have known her by general report for three years and upwards. I +visited her at Mr. Orr’s. I was requested to go there and have a +conversation with her and determine if she was sane or insane. Talked +three hours with her, on political, religious and scientific subjects, and +on mental and moral philosophy. I was educated at and received diplomas +from the University of Glasgow, and Anderson University of Glasgow. I went +there to see her, and prove or disprove her insanity. I think not only +that she is sane, but the most intelligent lady I have talked with in many +years. We talked religion very thoroughly. I find her an expert in both +departments, Old School and New School theology. There are thousands of +persons who believe just as she does. Many of her ideas and doctrines are +embraced in Swedenborgianism, and many are found only in the New School +theology. The best and most learned men of both Europe and this country, +are advocates of these doctrines, in one shape or the other; and some +bigots and men with minds of small calibre may call these great minds +insane; but that does not make them insane. An insane mind is a diseased +mind. These minds are the perfection of intellectual powers, healthy, +strong, vigorous, and just the reverse of diseased minds, or insane. Her +explanation of woman representing the Holy Ghost, and man representing the +male attributes of the Father, and that the Son is the fruit of the Father +and the Holy Ghost, is a very ancient theological dogma, and entertained +by many of our most eminent men. On every topic I introduced, she was +perfectly familiar, and discussed them with an intelligence that at once +showed she was possessed of a good education, and a strong and vigorous +mind. I did not agree with her in sentiment on many things, but I do not +call people insane because they differ from me, nor from a majority, even, +of people. Many persons called Swedenborg insane. That is true; but he had +the largest brain of any person during the age in which he lived; and no +one now dares call him insane. You might with as much propriety call +Christ insane, because he taught the people many new and strange things; +or Galileo; or Newton; or Luther; or Robert Fulton; or Morse, who +electrified the world; or Watts or a thousand others I might name. Morse’s +best friends for a long time thought him mad; yet there was a magnificent +mind, the embodiment of health and vigor.</p> + +<p>So with Mrs. Packard; there is wanting every indication of insanity<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> that +is laid down in the books. I pronounce her a sane woman, and wish we had a +nation of such women.</p> + +<p>This witness was cross-examined at some length, which elicited nothing +new, when he retired.</p> + + +<p><br />The defense now announced to the court that they had closed all the +testimony they wished to introduce, and inasmuch as the case had occupied +so much time, they would propose to submit it without argument. The +prosecution would not consent to this arrangement.</p> + +<p>The case was argued ably and at length, by Messrs. Loomis and Bonfield for +the prosecution, and by Messrs. Orr and Loring on the part of the defense.</p> + +<p>It would be impossible to give even a statement of the arguments made, and +do the attorneys justice, in the space allotted to this report.</p> + +<p>On the 18th day of January, 1864, at 10 o’clock, <span class="smcaplc">P. M.</span>, the jury retired +for consultation, under the charge of the sheriff. After an absence of +seven minutes, they returned into court, and gave the following verdict:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<table style="margin-left: 0;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table"> +<tr><td>STATE OF ILLINOIS,</td><td rowspan="2"><span class="huge">}</span></td><td rowspan="2"><i>ss.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcaplc">KANKAKEE COUNTY</span>.</span></td></tr></table> + +<p>We, the undersigned, Jurors in the case of Mrs. Elizabeth P. W. +Packard, alleged to be insane, having heard the evidence in the case, +are satisfied that said Elizabeth P. W. Packard is <span class="smcaplc">SANE</span>.</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table"> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">John Stiles</span>, <i>Foreman</i>. </td> + <td><span class="smcap">H. Hirshberg.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Daniel G. Bean.</span></td> + <td><span class="smcap">Nelson Jervais.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">F. G. Hutchinson.</span></td> + <td><span class="smcap">William Hyer.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">V. H. Young.</span></td> + <td><span class="smcap">Geo. H. Andrews.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">G. M. Lyons.</span></td> + <td><span class="smcap">J. F. Mafit.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Thomas Muncey.</span></td> + <td><span class="smcap">Lemuel Milk.</span></td></tr></table> +</div> + +<p>Cheers rose from every part, of the house; the ladies waved their +handkerchiefs, and pressed around Mrs. Packard, and extended her their +congratulations. It was sometime before the outburst of applause could be +checked. When order was restored, the counsel for Mrs. Packard moved the +court, that she be discharged. Thereupon the court ordered the clerk to +enter the following order:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p> + +<table style="margin-left: 0;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table"> +<tr><td>STATE OF ILLINOIS,</td><td rowspan="2"><span class="huge">}</span></td><td rowspan="2"><i>ss.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcaplc">KANKAKEE COUNTY</span>.</span></td></tr></table> + +<p>It is hereby ordered that Mrs. Elizabeth P. W. Packard be relieved +from all restraint incompatible with her condition as a sane woman.</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 12em;">C. R. STARR,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;"><i>Judge of the 20th Judicial Circuit of the State of Illinois</i></span><br /> +January 18, 1864.</p></div> + +<p>Thus ended the trial of this remarkable case. During each day of the +proceedings the court-room was crowded to excess by an anxious audience of +ladies and gentlemen, who are seldom in our courts. The verdict of the +jury was received with applause, and hosts of friends crowded upon Mrs. +Packard to congratulate her upon her release.</p> + +<p>During the past two months, Mr. Packard had locked her up in her own +house, fastened the windows outside, and carried the key to the door, and +made her a close prisoner. He was maturing a plan to immure her in an +Asylum in Massachusetts, and for that purpose was ready to start on the +Thursday before the writ was sued out, when his plan was disclosed to Mrs. +Packard by a letter he accidentally dropped in her room, written by his +sister in Massachusetts, telling him the route he should take, and that a +carriage would be ready at the station to put her in and convey her to the +Asylum.</p> + +<p>Vigorous action became necessary, and she communicated this startling +intelligence through her window to some ladies who had come to see her, +and were refused admission into the house.</p> + +<p>On Monday morning, and before the defense had rested their case, Mr. +Packard left the State, bag and baggage, for parts unknown, having first +mortgaged his property for all it is worth to his sister and other +parties.</p> + + +<p><br />We cannot do better than close this report with the following editorial +from the Kankakee Gazette, of January 21, 1864:</p> + +<p class="center">MRS. PACKARD.</p> + +<p>The case of this lady, which has attracted so much attention and excited +so much interest for ten days past, was decided on Monday evening last and +resulted, as almost every person thought it must, in a complete +vindication of her sanity. The jury retired on Monday evening, after +hearing the arguments of the counsel; and after a brief consultation, they +brought in a verdict that Mrs. Packard is a <i>sane</i> woman.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>Thus has resulted an investigation which Mrs. Packard has long and always +desired should be had, but which her cruel husband has ever sternly +refused her. She has always asked and earnestly pleaded for a jury trial +of her case, but her relentless persecutor has ever turned a deaf ear to +her entreaties, and flagrantly violated all the dictates of justice and +humanity.</p> + +<p>She has suffered the alienation of friends and relatives; the shock of a +kidnapping by her husband and his posse when forcibly removed to the +Asylum; has endured three years incarceration in that Asylum—upon the +general treatment, in which there is severe comment in the State, and +which in her special case was aggravatingly unpleasant and ill-favored; +returning to her home she found her husband’s saintly blood still +congealed, a winter of perpetual frown on his face, and the sad dull +monotony of “insane, insane,” escaping his lips in all his communications +to and concerning her; her young family, the youngest of the four at home +being less than four years of age, these children—over whose slumbers she +had watched, and whose wailings she had hushed with all a mother’s care +and tenderness—had been taught to look upon her as insane, and they were +not to respect the counsels or heed the voice of a maniac just loosed from +the Asylum, doom sealed by official certificates.</p> + +<p>Soon her aberration of mind led her to seek some of her better clothing +carefully kept from her by her husband, which very woman-like act was +seized by him as an excuse for confining her in her room, and depriving +her of her apparel, and excluding her lady friends. Believing that he was +about to again forcibly take her to an asylum, four responsible citizens +of that village made affidavit of facts which caused the investigation as +to her sanity or insanity. During the whole of the trial she was present, +and counseled with her attorneys in the management of the case.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the severe treatment she has received for nearly four +years past, the outrages she has suffered, the wrong to her nature she has +endured, she deported herself during the trial as one who is not only not +insane, but as one possessing intellectual endowments of a high order, and +an equipoise and control of mind far above the majority of human kind. Let +the sapient Dr. Brown, who gave a certificate of insanity after a short +conversation with her, and which certificate was to be used in aid of her +incarceration for life—suffer as she has suffered, endure what she has +endured, and the world would be deprived of future clinical revealings +from his gigantic mind upon the subject of the spleen, and he would, to a +still greater extent than in the past,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> “fail to illuminate” the public as +to the virtues and glories of the martyr who is “watching and waiting” in +Canada.</p> + +<p>The heroic motto: “suffer and be strong,” is fairly illustrated in her +case. While many would have opposed force to his force, displayed frantic +emotions of displeasure at such treatment, or sat convulsed and “maddened +with the passion of her part,” she meekly submitted to the tortures of her +bigoted tormentor, trusting and believing in God’s Providence the hour of +her vindication and her release from thraldom would come. And now the +fruit of her suffering and persecution have all the autumn glory of +perfection.</p> + +<p class="poem"><span style="margin-left: 4em;">“One who walked</span><br /> +From the throne’s splendor to the bloody block,<br /> +Said: ‘This completes my glory’ with a smile<br /> +Which still illuminates men’s thoughts of her.”</p> + +<p>Feeling the accusations of his guilty conscience, seeing the meshes of the +net with which he had kept her surrounded were broken, and a storm-cloud +of indignation about to break over his head in pitiless fury, the +intolerant Packard, after encumbering their property with trust-deeds, and +despoiling her of her furniture and clothing, left the country. Let him +wander! with the mark of infamy upon his brow, through far-off States, +where distance and obscurity may diminish till the grave shall cover the +wrongs it cannot heal.</p> + +<p>It is to be hoped Mrs. Packard will make immediate application for a +divorce, and thereby relieve herself of a repetition of the wrongs and +outrages she has suffered by him who for the past four years has only used +the marriage relation to persecute and torment her in a merciless and +unfeeling manner.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p> +<h2>NARRATIVE OF EVENTS—CONTINUED.</h2> + +<p>When this Trial terminated, I returned to my home in Manteno, where five +days previous I had bestowed the parting kiss upon my three youngest +children, little thinking it would be the last embrace I should be allowed +to bestow upon these dear objects of my warmest affections. But alas! so +it proved to be. Mr. Packard had fled with them to Massachusetts, leaving +me in the court room a childless widow. He could not but see that the tide +of popular indignation was concentrating against him, as the revelations +of the court ventilated the dreadful facts of this conspiracy, and he +“fled his country,” a fugitive from justice. He, however, left a letter +for me which was handed me before I left the Court-house, wherein he +stated that he had moved to Massachusetts, and extended to me an +invitation to follow him, with the promise that he would provide me a +suitable home. But I did not feel much like trusting either to his +humanity or judgment in providing me another home. Indeed, I did not think +it safe to follow him, knowing that Massachusetts’ laws gave him the +absolute custody of my person as well as Illinois’ laws. He went to South +Deerfield, Massachusetts, and sought shelter for himself and his children +in the family of his sister, Mrs. Severance, one of his co-conspirators. +Here he found willing ears to credit his tale of abuses he had suffered in +this interference of his rights to do as he pleased with his lawful +wife—and in representing the trial as a “mock trial,” an illegal +interference with his rights as head of his own household, and a “mob +triumph,”—and in short, he was an innocent victim of a persecution +against his legally constituted rights as a husband, to protect his wife +in the way his own feelings of bigotry and intolerance should dictate!</p> + +<p>This was the region of his nativity and former pastorate, which he had +left about eleven years previously, with an unblemished external +character, and sharing, to an uncommon degree, the entire confidence of +the public as a Christian man and a minister. Nothing had <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>occurred, <i>to +their knowledge</i>, to disturb this confidence in his present integrity as +an honest reporter, and the entire community credited his testimony as +perfectly reliable, in his entire misrepresentations of the facts in the +case, and the character of the trial. His view was the only view the +community were allowed to hear, so far as it was in his power to prevent +it. The press also lent him its aid, as his organ of communication. He met +also his old associates in the ministry, and by his artfully arranged web +of lies, and his cunning sophistries, he deluded them also into a belief +of his views, so that they, unanimously, gave him their certificate of +confidence and fraternal sympathy. Yea, even my own father and brothers +became victims also of his sophisms and misrepresentations, so that they +honestly believed me to be insane, and that the Westerners had really +interfered with Mr. Packard’s rights and kind intents towards his wife, in +intercepting as they had, his plans to keep her incarcerated for life.</p> + +<p>Thus this one-sided view of the facts in the case so moulded public +sentiment in this conservative part of New England, that he even obtained +a certificate from my own dear father, a retired orthodox clergyman in +Sunderland, Massachusetts, that, so far as he knew, he had treated his +daughter generally with propriety!! This certificate served as a passport +to the confidence of Sunderland people in Mr. Packard as a man and a +minister, and procured for him a call to become their minister in holy +things. He was accordingly hired, as stated supply, and paid fifteen +dollars a Sabbath for one year and a half, and was boarded by my father in +his family, part of the time, free of charge.</p> + +<p>The condition in which Mr. Packard left me I will now give in the language +of another, by inserting here a quotation from one of the many Chicago +papers which published an account of this trial with editorial remarks +accompanying it. The following is a part of one of these Editorial +Articles, which appeared under the caption:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="center">“A HEARTLESS CLERGYMAN.”</p> + +<p class="right"><i>Chicago, March 6, 1864.</i></p> + +<p>“We recently gave an extended account of the melancholy case of Mrs. +Packard, of Manteno, Ill., and showed how she was persecuted by her +husband, Rev. Theophilus Packard, a bigoted Presbyterian minister of +Manteno. Mrs. Packard became liberal in her views, in fact, avowed +Universalist sentiments; and as her husband was unable to answer her +arguments, he thought he could silence her tongue, by calling her +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span><i>insane</i>, and having her incarcerated in the Insane Asylum at +Jacksonville, Illinois. He finally succeeded in finding one or two +orthodox physicians, as bigoted as himself, ready to aid him in his +nefarious work, and she was confined in the asylum, under the charge +(?) of Dr. McFarland, who kept her there three years. She at last +succeeded in having a jury trial, and was pronounced <i>sane</i>. +Previous, however, to the termination of the trial, this persecutor +of his wife, mortgaged his property, took away his children from the +mother, and left her penniless and homeless, without a cent to buy +food, or a place where to lay her head! And yet he pretended to +believe that she was <i>insane</i>! Is this the way to treat an insane +wife! Abandon her, turn her out upon the world without a morsel of +bread, and no home? Her husband calls her <i>insane</i>. Before the case +is decided by the jury, he starts for parts unknown. Was there ever +such a case of heartlessness? If Mr. Packard <i>believed</i> his wife to +be hopelessly <i>insane</i>, why did he abandon her? Is this the way to +treat a companion afflicted with insanity? If he believed his own +story, he should, like a devoted husband, have watched over her with +tenderness, his heart full of love should have gone out towards the +poor, afflicted woman, and he should have bent over her and soothed +her, and spent the last penny he had, for her recovery! But instead +of this, he gathers in his funds, “packs up his duds,” and leaves his +poor, <i>insane</i> wife, as <i>he</i> calls her, in the court room, without +food or shelter. He abandons her, leaving her penniless, homeless and +childless!</p> + +<p>“Mrs. Packard is now residing with Mr. Z. Handford, of Manteno, who +writes to the Kankakee <i>Gazette</i> as follows:</p> + +<p>“In the first place, Mrs. Packard is now penniless. After having +aided her husband for twenty-one years, by her most indefatigable +exertions, to secure for themselves a home, with all its clustering +comforts, he, with no cause, except a difference in religious +opinions, exiled her from her home, by forcing her into Jacksonville +Insane Asylum, where he hoped to immure her for life, or until she +would abandon what <i>he</i> calls her ‘insane notions.’</p> + +<p>“But in the overruling providence of a just God, her case has been +ventilated, at last, by a jury trial, the account of which is already +before the public.</p> + +<p>“From the time of her banishment into exile, now more than three and +a half years, he has not allowed her the control of one dollar of +their personal property. And she has had nothing to do with their +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>real estate, within that time, excepting to sign one deed for the +transfer of some of their real estate in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, which +she did at her husband’s earnest solicitations, and his promise to +let her have her ‘defense,’ long enough to copy, which document he +had robbed her of three years before, by means of Dr. McFarland as +agent. Her signature, <i>thus obtained</i>, was acknowledged as a valid +act, and the deed was presented to the purchaser as a valid +instrument, even after Mr. Packard had just before taken an <i>oath</i> +that his wife was an <i>insane</i> woman!</p> + +<p>“He has robbed her of all her patrimony, including not only her +furniture, but her valuable clothing also, and a note of six hundred +dollars on interest, which he gave her seven years before, as an +equivalent for this amount of patrimony which her father, Rev. Samuel +Ware, of Sunderland, Massachusetts, sent Mrs. Packard for her special +benefit, and to be used for her and her children as her own judgment +should dictate. He has taken her furniture and clothing, or the +avails of them, with him to Massachusetts, without allowing her a +single article of furniture for her own individual comfort and use. +Thus he has left her without a single penny of their common property +to procure for herself the necessaries of life.</p> + +<p>“He has left her homeless. Before the court closed, Mr. Packard left +this scene of revelations, and mortgaged and rented their home in +Manteno, and dispossessed it by night of its furniture, so that when +the court closed, Mrs. Packard had no sort of home to return to, the +new renter having claimed possession of her home, and claiming a +legal right to all its privileges, excluding her from its use +entirely as a home, without leaving her the least legal claim to any +of the avails of the rent or sales for the supply of her present +necessities.</p> + +<p>“Again, she is childless. Her cruel husband, not satisfied with +robbing his wife of all her rightful property, has actually +<i>kidnapped</i> all her dear children who lived at home, taking them with +him, clandestinely, to Massachusetts, leaving her a ‘childless +widow,’ entirely dependent for her living, either upon her own +exertions, or the charities of the public. We will not attempt to +describe the desolation of her maternal heart, when she returned to +her deserted home, to find it despoiled of all her dearest earthly +treasures; with no sweet cherub, with its smiling, joyous face to +extend to her the happy, welcome kiss of a mother’s return.</p> + +<p>“But one short week previous, Mrs. Packard had bestowed the parting +kiss upon her three youngest children, little dreaming it would be +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>the last embrace the mother would ever be allowed to bestow upon her +dear offspring, in their own dear home. But now, alas! where is her +only daughter, Elizabeth, of thirteen years, and her George Hastings, +of ten years, and her darling baby, Arthur Dwight, of five years? +Gone! gone! never to return, while the mandate of their father’s iron +will usurps supreme control of this household!</p> + +<p>“Yes, the mother’s home and heart are both desolate, for her +heart-treasures—her dear children—are no more to be found. At +length, rumor reaches her that her babe, Arthur, is at their brother +Dole’s. The anxious mother hastens to seek for it there. But all in +vain. The family, faithful to their brother’s wishes, keep the babe +carefully hid from the mother, so that she cannot get even one +glimpse of her sweet, darling boy. Her cruel husband, fearing her +attempts to secure the child might prove successful, has sent for it +to be brought to him in Massachusetts, where he now is fairly out of +the mother’s reach.”</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Z. Hanford</span>.</p></div> + +<p><br />I made various attempts to recover my furniture, which I found was stored +at Deacon Doles’ house, a brother-in-law of Mr. Packard’s, under the +pretense, that he had bought it, although he could never show one paper as +proof of property transferred. I took counsel of the Judge and lawyers at +Kankakee, to see if I could in any way recover my stolen furniture, which +I had bought with my own patrimony. “Can I replevy it as stolen property?” +said I. “No,” said my advisers, “you cannot replevy anything, for you are +a married woman, and a married woman has no legal existence, unless she +holds property independent of her husband. As this is not your case, you +are nothing and nobody in law. Your husband has a legal right to all your +common property—you have not even a right to the hat on your head!” +“Why?” said I, “I have bought and paid for it with my own money.” “That is +of no consequence—you can hold nothing, as you are <i>nothing and nobody</i> +in law! You have a moral right to your own things, and your own children, +but no legal right at all; therefore you, a married woman, cannot replevy, +although any one else could under like circumstances.” “Is this so? Has a +married woman no identity in Statute Book of Illinois?” “It is so. Her +interests are all lost in those of her husband, and he has the absolute +control of her home, her property, her children, and her personal +liberty.”</p> + +<p>Yes, all this is but too true, as my own sad experience fully +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>demonstrates. Now I can realize the sad truths so often iterated, +reiterated to me by my husband, namely: “You have no <i>right</i> to your home, +I have let you live with me twenty-one years in my home as a favor to you. +You have no <i>right</i> to your children. I let you train them, as far as I +think it is proper to trust your judgment—this privilege of training and +educating your own children is a favor bestowed upon you by me, which I +can withhold or grant at my own option. You have no <i>right</i> to your money +patrimony after you intrusted it to my care, and I gave you a note for it +on interest which I can either pay you or not at my own option. You have +no <i>right</i> to your personal liberty if I feel disposed to christen your +opinions insane opinions, for I can then treat you as an insane person or +not, just at my own option.” Yes, Mr. Packard has only treated me as he +said the laws of Illinois allowed him to do, and how can he be blamed +then? Did not “wise men” make the laws, as he often used to assert they +did? And can one be prosecuted for doing a legal act? Nay—verily—no law +can reach him; even his kidnapping me as he did is legalized in Illinois +Statute Book, as the following article which was published in several +Boston papers in the winter of 1865, demonstrates, namely:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="center">“LEGAL KIDNAPPING,” OR PROVISION FOR A SANE PERSON’S IMPRISONMENT.</p> + +<p>“From the ‘Disclosures’ of Mrs. Packard’s book, it appears a +self-evident fact that one State of our Union has an express +provision for the imprisonment of married women who are not insane. +And this process of legal kidnapping is most strikingly illustrated +in the facts developed in Mrs. Packard’s own experience, as +delineated in her book entitled ‘The Great Drama.’</p> + +<p>“The following is a copy of the Law, as it now stands on the Illinois +Statute Book:—</p> + +<p class="center">“AMENDATORY ACT.”</p> + +<p class="center">“Session Laws 15, 1851. Page 96.”</p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">Sec. 10.</span> Married women and infants who, in the judgment of the +Medical Superintendent, [meaning the Superintendent of the +‘Illinois State Hospital’ for the insane] are evidently insane or +distracted, may be entered or detained in the Hospital on the +request of the husband, or the woman or guardian of the infants, +<i>without</i> the evidence of insanity required in other cases.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>“Hon. S. S. Jones of St. Charles, Illinois, thus remarks upon this Act:—</p> + +<p>“Thus we see a corrupt husband, with money enough to corrupt a +Superintendent, can get rid of a wife as effectually as was ever +done in a more barbarous age. The Superintendent may be corrupted +either with money or influence, that he thinks will give him +position, place, or emoluments. Is not this a pretty statute to be +incorporated into our laws no more than thirteen years ago? Why +not confine the husband at the instance of the wife, as well as +the wife at the instance of the husband? The wife evidently had no +voice in making the law.</p> + +<p>“Who, being a man, and seeing this section in the Statute Book of +Illinois, under the general head of ‘Charities,’ does not blush +and hang his head for very shame at legislative perversion of so +holy a term? I have no doubt, if the truth of the matter were +known, this act was passed at the special instance of the +Superintendent. A desire for power. I do not know why it has not +been noted by me and others before.”</p> + +<p>“And we would also venture to inquire, what is the married woman’s +protection under such a Statute law? Is she not allowed counter +testimony from a physician of her own choice, or can she not demand a +trial of some kind, to show whether the charge of insanity brought +against her is true or false? Nay, verily. The Statute expressly +states that the judgment of the medical Superintendent, to whom the +husband’s request is made, is <i>all</i> that is required for him to +incarcerate his wife for any indefinite period of time. Neither she, +her children, nor her relatives have any voice at all in the matter. +Her imprisonment may be life-long, for anything she or her friends +can do for her to prevent it. If the husband has money or influence +enough to corrupt the officials, he can carry out his single wishes +concerning his wife’s life-destiny.</p> + +<p>“Are not the ‘Divorce Laws’ of Illinois made a necessity, <ins class="correction" title="original: o">to</ins> meet the +demands of the wife, as her only refuge from this exposure to a +‘false imprisonment’ for life in an Insane Asylum?</p> + +<p>“We hope our readers will be able to read Mrs. Packard’s book for +themselves; especially her ‘Self-defence from the charge of +Insanity,’ wherein the barbarities of this statute are made to appear +in their true light, as being merely a provision for ‘Legal +Kidnapping.’”</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Boston</span>, Feb. 24, 1865.</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>Satisfied as I was that there was no legal redress for me in the laws, and +no hope in appealing to Mr. Packard’s mercy or manliness, I determined to +do what I could to obtain a self-reliant position, by securing if possible +the protection of greenbacks, confident that this kind of protection is +better than none at all. I concluded, therefore, to publish the first +installment of “The Great Drama,” an allegorical book I wrote while in the +Asylum, consisting of twelve parts. But how could this be done in my +penniless condition? was the great question to be practically settled. I +accordingly borrowed ten dollars of Mr. Z. Hanford, of Manteno, a noble, +kind hearted man, who offered me a home at his house after the trial, and +went to Chicago to consult the printers in reference to the expense of +printing one thousand copies of this book, and get it stereotyped. I found +it would cost me five hundred dollars. I then procured a few thousand +tickets on which was printed—“The bearer is entitled to the first volume +of Mrs. Packard’s book, entitled the Great Drama. None are genuine without +my signature. Mrs. E. P. W. Packard.” And commenced canvassing for my +unborn book, by selling these tickets for fifty cents each, assuring the +purchaser I would redeem the ticket in three month’s time, by giving them +a book worth fifty cents. When I had sold about eight or nine hundred +tickets, I went to Chicago to set my printers and stereotypers, engravers +and binders, at work on my book. But I now met with a new and unlooked for +difficulty, in the sudden inflation of prices in labor and material. My +book could not now be printed for less than seven hundred dollars; so that +my first edition would not pay for itself into two hundred dollars. As the +case now was, instead of paying for my book by selling one thousand +tickets, I must sell fourteen hundred, besides superintending the various +workmen on the different departments of my book. Nothing daunted by this +reverse, instead of raising the price of my tickets to seventy-five cents +to meet this unfortunate turn in my finances, I found I must fall back +upon the only sure guarantee of success, namely: patient perseverance. By +the practical use of this great backbone of success, perseverance, I did +finally succeed in printing my book, and paying the whole seven hundred +dollars for it in three months’ time, by selling four hundred tickets in +advance on another edition. I sold and printed, and then printed and sold, +and so on, until I have printed and sold in all, twelve thousand books in +fifteen months’ time. Included in this twelve thousand are several +editions of smaller pamphlets, varying in price from five to twenty-five +cents each.</p> + + +<p class="center"><br /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>INTERVIEW WITH MAYOR SHERMAN.</p> + +<p>At this stage of my Narrative it may not be inappropriate to narrate my +interview with Mayor Sherman, of Chicago, since it not only discloses one +of the dangers and the difficulties I had to encounter, in prosecuting my +enterprise, but also serves as another exemplification of that marital +power which is legally guaranteed to the husband, leaving the wife utterly +helpless, and legally defenceless.</p> + +<p>I called upon him at his office in the court house, and was received with +respectful, manly courtesy. After introducing myself as the Mrs. Packard +whose case had recently acquired so much notoriety through the Chicago +press, and after briefly recapitulating the main facts of the persecution, +I said to him:</p> + +<p>“Now, Mr. Sherman, as the Mayor of this city, I appeal to you for +protection, while printing my book in your city. Will you protect me +here?”</p> + +<p>“Why, Mrs. Packard, what protection do you need? What dangers do you +apprehend?”</p> + +<p>“Sir, I am a married woman, and my husband is my persecutor, therefore I +have no legal protection. The husband is, you probably know, the wife’s +only protector in the law, therefore, what I want now, Sir, is protection +against my protector!”</p> + +<p>“Is he in this city?”</p> + +<p>“No, Sir; but his agents are, and he can delegate his power to them, and +authorize them what to do.”</p> + +<p>“What do you fear he will do?”</p> + +<p>“I fear he may intercept the publication of my book; for you probably +know, Sir, he can come either himself, or by proxy, and, with his Sheriff, +can demand my manuscript of my printer, and the printer, nor you, Sir, +have no legal power to defend it. He can demand it, and burn it, and I am +helpless in legal self-defense. For, Sir, my identity was legally lost in +his, when I married him, leaving me nothing and nobody in law; and +besides, all I have is his in law, and of course no one can prosecute him +for taking his own things—my manuscript is his, and entirely at his +disposal. I have no right in law even to my own thoughts, either spoken or +written—he has even claimed the right to superintend my written thoughts +as well as post office rights. I can not claim these rights—they are mine +only as he grants me them as his gifts to me.”</p> + +<p>“What does your printer say about it?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>“He says if the Sheriff comes to him for the book he shall tell him he +must get the book where he can find it; <i>I</i> shall not find it for him. I +then said to my printer, supposing he should come with money, and offer to +buy the manuscript, what then?” “I say, it will take more money than there +is in Chicago to buy that manuscript of us,” replied my printer.</p> + +<p>“I think that sounds like protection, Mrs. Packard. I think you have +nothing to fear.”</p> + +<p>“No, Mr. Sherman, I have nothing to fear from the manliness of my printer, +for this is my sole and only protection—but as one man to whom I trusted +even myself, has proved a traitor to his manliness, is there not a +possibility another may. I should not object to a double guard, since the +single guard of manliness has not even protected me from imprisonment.”</p> + +<p>“Well, Mrs. Packard, you shall have my protection; and I can also assure +you the protection of my counsel, also. If you get into trouble, apply to +us, and we will give you all the help the laws will allow.”</p> + +<p>“I beg you to consider, Sir; the laws do not allow you to interfere in +such a matter. Are you authorized to stop a man from doing a <i>legal</i> act?”</p> + +<p>“No, Mrs. Packard, I am not. I see you are without any legal protection. +Still I think you are safe in Chicago.”</p> + +<p>“I hope it may so prove, Sir. But one thing more I wish your advice about; +how can I keep the money I get for my book from Mr. Packard, the legal +owner of it?”</p> + +<p>“Keep it about your person, so he can’t get it.”</p> + +<p>“But, Sir; Mr. Packard has a right to my person in law, and can take it +anywhere, and put it where he pleases; and if he can get my person, he can +take what is on it.”</p> + +<p>“That’s so—you are in a bad case, truly—I must say, I never before knew +that any one under our government was so utterly defenceless as you are. +Your case ought to be known. Every soldier in our army ought to have one +of your books, so as to have our laws changed.”</p> + +<p>Soldiers of our army! receive this tacit compliment from Mayor Sherman. +<i>You</i> are henceforth to hold the reins of the American Government. And it +is my candid opinion, they could not be in better or safer hands. And in +your hands would I most confidently trust my sacred cause—the cause of +Married Woman; for, so far as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> my observation extends, no class of +American citizens are more manly, than our soldiers. I am inclined to +cherish the idea, that gallantry and patriotism are identified; at least, +I find they are almost always associated together in the same manly heart.</p> + +<p>When I had sold about half of my twelve thousand books, I resolved to +visit my relatives in Massachusetts, who had not seen me for about twelve +years. I felt assured that my dear father, and brothers, and my kind +step-mother, were all looking at the facts of my persecution from a wrong +stand-point; and I determined to risk my exposure to Mr. Packard’s +persecuting power again, so far as to let my relatives see me once for +themselves; hoping thus the scales might drop from their eyes, so far at +least as to protect me from another kidnapping from Mr. Packard.</p> + +<p>I arrived first at my brother Austin Ware’s house in South Deerfield, who +lives about two miles from Mr. Severance, where were my three youngest +children, and where Mr. Packard spent one day of each week. I spent two +nights with him and his new wife, who both gave me a very kind and patient +hearing; and the result was, their eyes were opened to see their error in +believing me to be an insane person, and expressed their decided +condemnation of the course Mr. Packard had pursued towards me. Brother +became at once my gallant and manly protector, and the defender of my +rights. “Sister,” said he, “you have a right to see your children, and you +shall see them. I will send for them to-day.” He accordingly sent a team +for them twice, but was twice refused by Mr. Packard, who had heard of my +arrival. Still, he assured me I should see them in due time. He carried me +over to Sunderland, about four miles distant, to my father’s house, +promising me I should meet my dear children there; feeling confident that +my father’s request joined with his own, would induce Mr. Packard to let +me see once more my own dear offspring. As he expected, my father at once +espoused my cause, and assured me I should see my children; “for,” added +he, “Mr. Packard knows it will not do for him to refuse me.” He then +directed brother to go directly for them himself, and say to Mr. Packard: +“Elizabeth’s father requests him to let the children have an interview +with their mother at his house.” But, instead of the children, came a +letter from brother, saying, that Mr. Packard has refused, in the most +decided terms, to let sister see her own children; or, to use his own +language, he said, “I came from Illinois to <ins class="correction" title="original: Massachusets">Massachusetts</ins> to protect the +children from their mother, and I shall do it, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> spite of you, or father +Ware, or any one else!” Brother adds, “the mystery of this dark case is +now solved, in my mind, completely. Mr. Packard is a monomaniac on this +subject; there is no more reason in his treatment of sister, than in a +brute.”</p> + +<p>These facts of his refusal to let me see my children, were soon in +circulation in the two adjacent villages of Sunderland and South +Deerfield, and a strongly indignant feeling was manifested against Mr. +Packard’s defiant and unreasonable position; and he, becoming aware of the +danger to his interests which a conflict with this tide of public +sentiment might occasion, seemed forced, by this pressure of public +opinion, to succumb; for, on the following Monday morning, (this was on +Saturday, P. M.,) he brought all of my three children to my father’s +house, with himself and Mrs. Severance, as their body-guard, and with both +as my witnesses, I was allowed to talk with them an hour or two. He +refused me an interview with them alone in my room.</p> + +<p>I remained at my father’s house a few days only, knowing that even in +Massachusetts the laws did not protect me from another similar outrage, if +Mr. Packard could procure the certificate of two physicians that I was +insane; for, with these alone, without any chance at self-defense, he +could force me into some of the Private Asylums here, as he did into a +State Asylum in Illinois.</p> + +<p>I knew that, as I was Mr. Packard’s wife, neither my brother nor father +could be my legal protectors in such an event, as they could command no +influence in my defense, except that of public sentiment or mob-law. I +therefore felt forced to leave my father’s house in self-defence, to seek +some protection of the Legislature of Massachusetts, by petitioning them +for a change in their laws on the mode of commitment into Insane Asylums. +As a preparatory step, I endeavored to get up an agitation on the subject, +by printing and selling about six thousand books relative to the subject; +and then, trusting to this enlightened public sentiment to back up the +movement, I petitioned Massachusetts Legislature to make the needed change +in the laws. Hon. S. E. Sewall, of Boston, drafted the Petition, and I +circulated it, and obtained between one and two hundred names of men of +the first standing and influence in Boston, such as the Aldermen, the +Common Council, the High Sheriff, and several other City Officers; and +besides, Judges, Lawyers, Editors, Bank Directors, Physicians, &c. Mr. +Sewall presented this petition to the Legislature, and they referred it to +a committee, and this committee had seven special meetings on the subject. +I was invited to meet with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> them each time, and did so, as were also Mrs. +Phelps and Mrs. Denny, two ladies of Boston who had suffered a term of +false imprisonment in a private institution at Sommersville, without any +previous trial. Hon. S. E. Sewall and Mr. Wendell Phillips both made a +plea in its behalf before this committee, and the gallantry and manliness +of this committee allowed me a hearing of several hour’s time in all, +besides allowing me to present the two following Bills, which they +afterwards requested a copy of in writing. The three Superintendents, Dr. +Walker, Dr. Jarvis, and Dr. Tyler, represented the opposition. And my +reply to Dr. Walker constituted the preamble to my bills.</p> + + +<p class="center"><br />MRS. PACKARD’S BILLS.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcaplc">PREAMBLE.</span></p> + +<p><i>Gentlemen of the Committee</i>:</p> + +<p>I feel it my duty to say one word in defence of the Petitioners, in reply +to Dr. Walker’s statement, that, “in his opinion, nineteen twentieths of +the petitioners did not know nor care what they petitioned for, and that +they signed it out of compliment to the lady.”</p> + +<p>I differ from Dr. Walker in opinion on this point, for this reason. I +obtained these names by my own individual appeals, except from most of the +members of the “Common Council,” who signed it during an evening session, +by its being passed around for their names. I witnessed their signing, and +saw them read it, carefully, before signing it. And I <i>think</i> they signed +it intelligently, and from a desire for safer legislation. The others I +<i>know</i> signed intelligently, and for this reason. And I could easily have +got one thousand more names, had it been necessary; for, in selling my +books, I have conversed with many thousand men on this subject, and among +them all, I have only found one man who defends the present mode of +commitment, by leaving it all to the physicians.</p> + +<p>I spent a day in the Custom House, and a day and a half in the Navy Yard, +and these men, like all others, defend our movement. I have sold one +hundred and thirty-nine books in the Navy Yard within the last day and a +half, by conversing personally with gentlemen in their counting-rooms on +this subject, and they are carefully watching your decision on this +question.</p> + +<p>Now, from this stand-point of extensive observation, added to my own +personal experience, I feel fully confident these two Bills are needed to +meet the public demand at this crisis.</p> + + +<p class="center"><br /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span><span class="smcap">Bill No. 1.</span></p> + +<p>No person shall be regarded or treated as an Insane person, or a +Monomaniac, simply for the <i>expression of opinions</i>, no matter how absurd +these opinions may appear to others.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcaplc">REASONS.</span></p> + +<p>1st. This Law is needed for the personal safety of Reformers. We are +living in a Progressive Age. Everything is in a state of transmutation, +and, as our laws now are, the Reformer, the Pioneer, the Originator of any +new idea is liable to be treated as a Monomaniac, with <i>imprisonment</i>.</p> + +<p>2d. It is a <i>Crime</i> against human progress to allow Reformers to be +treated as Monomaniacs; for, who will dare to be true to the inspirations +of the divinity within them, if the Pioneers of truth are thus liable to +lose their personal liberty for life by so doing?</p> + +<p>3d. It is <i>Treason</i> against the principles of our Government to treat +opinions as Insanity, and to imprison for it, as our present laws allow.</p> + +<p>4th. There always are those in every age who are opposed to every thing +<i>new</i>, and if allowed, will persecute Reformers with the stigma of +Insanity. This has been the fate of all Reformers, from the days of +Christ—the Great Reformer—until the present age.</p> + +<p>5th. Our Government, of all others, ought especially to guard, by +legislation, the vital principle on which it is based, namely: +<i>individuality</i>, which guarantees an individual right of opinion to all +persons.</p> + +<p>Therefore, gentlemen, <i>protect your thinkers!</i> by a law, against the +charge of Monomania, and posterity shall bless our government, as a model +government, and Massachusetts as the Pioneer State, in thus protecting +individuality as the vital principle on which the highest development of +humanity rests.</p> + + +<p class="center"><br /><span class="smcap">Bill No. 2.</span></p> + +<p>No person shall be imprisoned, and treated as an insane person, except for +<i>irregularities of conduct</i>, such as indicate that the individual is so +lost to reason, as to render him an unaccountable moral agent.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcaplc">REASONS.</span></p> + +<p>Multitudes are now imprisoned, without the least evidence that reason is +dethroned, as indicated by this test. And I am a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>representative of this +class of prisoners; for, when Dr. McFarland was driven to give his reasons +for regarding me as insane, on <i>this</i> basis, the only reason which he +could name, after closely inspecting my conduct for three years, was, that +I once “<i>fell down stairs</i>!”</p> + +<p>I do insist upon it, gentlemen, that no person should be imprisoned +without a <i>just cause</i>; for personal liberty is the most blessed boon of +our existence and ought therefore to be reasonably guarded as an +inalienable right. But it is <i>not</i> reasonably protected under our present +legislation, while it allows the simple <i>opinion</i> of two doctors to +imprison a person for life, without one <i>proof</i> in the <i>conduct</i> of the +accused, that he is an unaccountable moral agent. We do not hang a person +on the simple <i>opinion</i> that he is a murderer, but <i>proof</i> is required +from the accused’s <i>own actions</i>, that he is guilty of the charge which +forfeits his life. So the charge which forfeits our personal liberty ought +to be <i>proved</i> from the individual’s own conduct, before imprisonment.</p> + +<p>So long as insanity is treated as a <i>crime</i>, instead of a <i>misfortune</i>, as +our present system <i>practically</i> does so treat it, the protection of our +individual liberty imperatively demands such an enactment. Many contend +that <i>every</i> person is insane on some point. On this ground, <i>all</i> persons +are liable to be legally imprisoned, under our present system; for +intelligent physicians are everywhere to be found, who will not scruple to +give a certificate that an individual is a Monomaniac on <i>that</i> point +where he differs from <i>him</i> in opinion! This Monomania in many instances +is not Insanity, but individuality, which is the highest <i>natural</i> +development of a human being.</p> + +<p>Gentlemen, I know, and have felt, the horrors—the untold <i>soul</i> +agonies—attendant on such a persecution. Therefore, as Philanthropists, I +beg of you to guard your own liberties, and those of your countrymen, by +recommending the adoption of these two Bills as an imperative necessity.</p> + +<p>The above Bills were presented to the Committee on the Commitment of the +Insane, in Boston State house, March 29, 1865, by</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Mrs. E. P. W. PACKARD.</span></p> + + +<p><br />The result was, the petition triumphed, by so changing the mode of +commitment, that, instead of the husband being allowed to enter his wife +at his simple request, added to the certificate of two physicians, he must +now get ten of her nearest relatives to join with him in this request; and +the person committed, instead of not being allowed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> to communicate by +writing to any one outside of the Institution, except under the censorship +of the Superintendent, can now send a letter to each of these ten +relatives, and to any other two persons whom the person committed shall +designate. This the Superintendent is required to do within two days from +the time of commitment.</p> + +<p>This Law is found in Chapter 268, Section 2, of the General Laws of +Massachusetts. I regard my personal liberty in Massachusetts now as not +absolutely in the power of my husband; as my family friends must now +co-operate in order to make my commitment legal. And since my family +relatives are now fully satisfied of my sanity, after having seen me for +themselves, I feel now comparatively safe, while in Massachusetts. I +therefore returned to my father’s house in Sunderland, and finding both of +my dear parents feeble, and in need of some one to care for them, and +finding myself in need of a season of rest and quiet, I accepted their +kind invitation to make their house my home for the present. At this point +my father indicated his true position in relation to my interests, by his +self-moved efforts in my behalf, in writing and sending the following +letter to Mr. Packard.<small><a name="f1.1" id="f1.1" href="#f1">[1]</a></small></p> + + +<p class="center"><br />COPY OF FATHER WARE’S LETTER TO MR. PACKARD.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="right">“<i>Sunderland, Sept. 2, 1865.</i></p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">Rev. Sir</span>: I think the time has fully come for you to give up to +Elizabeth her clothes. Whatever reason might have existed to justify +you in retaining them, has, in process of time, entirely vanished. +There is not a shadow of excuse for retaining them. It is my +presumption there is not an individual in this town who would justify +you in retaining them a single day. Elizabeth is about to make a home +at my house, and I must be her protector. She is very destitute of +clothing, and greatly needs all those articles which are hers. I hope +to hear from you soon, before I shall be constrained to take another +<span class="smcaplc">step. Yours, Respectfully,</span></p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 8em;">“<span class="smcap">Rev. T. Packard.</span><span class="spacer"> </span><span class="spacer"> </span><span class="smcap">Samuel Ware.”</span></span></p></div> + +<p>The result of this letter was, that in about twenty-four hours after the +letter was delivered, Mr. Packard brought the greater part of my wardrobe +and delivered it into the hands of my father.</p> + +<p>In a few weeks after this event, Mr. Packard’s place in the pulpit in +Sunderland was filled by a candidate for settlement, and he left the +place. The reasons why he thus left his ministerial charge in this place, +cannot perhaps be more summarily given than by transcribing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> the following +letter which father got me to write for him, in answer to Rev. Dr. +Pomeroy’s letter, inquiring of my father <i>why</i> Mr. Packard had left +Sunderland.</p> + + +<p class="center"><br />LETTER TO REV. DR. POMEROY.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="right"><i>Sunderland, Oct. 28, 1865.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dr. Pomeroy, Dear Sir</span>: I am sorry to say that my dear father feels +too weak to reply to your kind and affectionate letter of the +twenty-third instant, and therefore I cheerfully consent to reply to +it myself.</p> + +<p>As to the subject of your letter, it is as you intimated. We have +every reason to believe that father’s defence of me, has been the +indirect cause of Mr. Packard’s leaving Sunderland; although we knew +nothing of the matter until he left, and a candidate filled his +place. Neither father, mother, nor I, have used any direct influence +to undermine the confidence of this people in Mr. Packard. But where +this simple fact, that I have been imprisoned three years, is known, +to have become a demonstrated truth, by the decision of a jury, after +a thorough legal investigation of five day’s trial, it is found to be +rather of an unfortunate truth for the public sentiment of the +present age to grapple with. And Mr. Packard and his persecuting +party may yet find I uttered no fictitious sentiment, when I remarked +to Dr. McFarland in the Asylum, that I shall yet <i>live down</i> this +slander of Insanity, and also live down my persecutors. And Mr. +Packard is affording me every facility for so doing, by his +continuing strenuously to insist upon it, that I am, now, just as +insane as when he incarcerated me in Jacksonville Insane Asylum. And +he still insists upon it, that an Asylum Prison is the only suitable +place for me to spend the residue of my earth-life in. But, +fortunately for me, my friends judge differently upon seeing me for +themselves. Especially fortunate is it for me, that my own dear +father feels confident that his house is a more suitable home for me, +notwithstanding the assertion of Mrs. Dickinson, (the widow with whom +Mr. Packard boards,) that, “it is such a pity that Mrs. Packard +should come to Sunderland, where Mr. Packard preaches!” Mr. Johnson +replied in answer to this remark, that he thought Mrs. Packard had a +right to come to her father’s house for protection, and also that her +father had an equal right to extend protection to his only daughter, +when thrown adrift and pennyless upon the cold world without a place +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>to shelter her defenceless head.</p> + +<p>Mr. Packard has withdrawn all intercourse with us all since he was +called upon by father to return my wardrobe to me. Would that Mr. +Packard’s eyes might be opened to see what he is doing, and repent, +so that I might be allowed to extend to him the forgiveness my heart +longs to bestow, upon this gospel condition.</p> + +<p>Thankful for all the kindness and sympathy you have bestowed upon my +father and mother, as well as myself, I subscribe myself your true +friend,</p> + +<p class="right">E. P. W. PACKARD.</p> + +<p>P. S. Father and mother both approve of the above, which I have +written at father’s urgent request.</p> + +<p class="right">E. P. W. P.</p></div> + +<p>Fidelity to the truth requires me to add one more melancholy fact, in +order to make this narrative of events complete, and that is, that Mr. +Packard has made merchandise of this stigma of Insanity he has branded me +with, and used it as a lucrative source of gain to himself, in the +following manner. He has made most pathetic appeals to the sympathies of +the public for their charities to be bestowed upon him, on the plea of his +great misfortune in having an insane wife to support—one who was +incapable of taking care of herself or her six children—and on this false +premise he has based a most pathetic argument and appeal to their +sympathies for pecuniary help, in the form of boxes of clothing for +himself and his destitute and defenceless children. These appeals have +been most generously responded to from the American Home Missionary +Society. So that when I returned to my home from the Asylum, I counted +twelve boxes of such clothing, some of which were very large, containing +the spoils he had thus purloined from this benevolent society, by entirely +false representations.</p> + +<p>My family were not destitute. But on the contrary, were abundantly +supplied with a supernumerary amount of such missionary gifts, which had +been lavished upon us, at his request, before I was imprisoned. I had +often said to him, that I and my children had already more than a supply +for our wants until they were grown up. Now, what could he do with twelve +more such boxes? My son, Isaac, now in Chicago, and twenty-one years of +age, told me he had counted fifty new vests in one pile, and he had as +many pants and coats, and overcoats, and almost every thing else, of men’s +wearing apparel, in like ratio. He said I had a pile of dress patterns +accumulated from these boxes, to one yard in depth in one solid pile. And +this was only one sample of all kinds of ladies’ apparel which he had thus +accumulated, by his cunningly devised begging system.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>Still, to this very date, he is pleading want and destitution as a basis +for more charities of like kind. He has even so moved the benevolent +sympathies of the widow Dickinson with whom he boarded, as to make her +feel that he was an honest claimant upon their charities in this line, on +the ground of poverty and destitution. She accordingly started a +subscription to procure him a suit of clothes, on the ground of his +extreme destitution, and finally succeeded in begging a subscription of +one hundred and thirteen dollars for his benefit, and presented it to him +as a token of sympathy and regard.</p> + +<p>Another fact, he has put his property out of his hands, so that he can say +he has nothing. And should I sue him for my maintainance, I could get +nothing. His rich brother-in-law, George Hastings, supports the three +youngest children, mostly, thus leaving scarcely no claimants upon his own +purse, except his own personal wants. His wife and six children he has so +disposed of, as to be almost entirely independent of him of any support. +And it is my honest opinion, that had Sunderland people known of these +facts in his financial matters, they would not have presented him with one +hundred and thirteen dollars, as a token of their sympathy and esteem. +Still, looking at the subject from their stand-point, I have no doubt they +acted conscientiously in this matter. I have never deemed it my duty to +enlighten them on this subject, except as the truth is sought for from me, +in a few individual isolated cases. I do not mingle with the people +scarcely at all, and have sold none of my books among them. Self-defence +does not require me to seek the protection of enlightened public sentiment +now that the laws protect my personal liberty, while in Massachusetts.</p> + +<p>But fidelity to the cause of humanity, especially the cause of “Married +Woman,” requires me to make public the facts of this notorious +persecution, in order to have her true legal position known and fully +apprehended. And since my case is a practical illustration of what the law +is on this subject—showing how entirely destitute she is of any legal +protection, except what the will and wishes of her husband secures to +her—and also demonstrates the fact, that the common-law, everywhere, in +relation to married woman, not only gravitates towards an absolute +despotism, but even protects and sustains and defends a despotism of the +most arbitrary and absolute kind. Therefore, in order to have her social +position changed legally, the need of this change must first be seen and +appreciated by the common people—the law-makers of this Republic. And +this need or necessity<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> for a revolution on this subject can be made to +appear in no more direct manner, than by a practical case such as my own +furnishes. As the need of a revolution of the law in relation to negro +servitude was made to appear, by the practical exhibition of the Slave +Code in “Uncle Tom’s” experience, showing that all slaves were <i>liable</i> to +suffer to the extent he did; so my experience, although like “Uncle +Tom’s,” an extreme case, shows how all married women are <i>liable</i> to +suffer to the same extent that I have. Now justice to humanity claims that +such liabilities should not exist in any Christian government. The laws +should be so changed that such another outrage could not possibly take +place under the sanction of the laws of a Christian government.</p> + +<p>As Uncle Tom’s case aroused the indignation of the people against the +slave code, so my case, so far as it is known, arouses this same feeling +of indignation against those laws which protect married servitude. Married +woman needs legal emancipation from married servitude, as much as the +slave needed legal emancipation from his servitude.</p> + +<p>Again, all slaves did not suffer under negro slavery, neither do all +married women suffer from this legalized servitude. Still, the principle +of slavery is wrong, and the principle of emancipation is right, and the +laws ought so to regard it. And this married servitude exposes the wife to +as great suffering as negro servitude did. It is my candid opinion, that +no Southern slave ever suffered more spiritual agony than I have suffered; +as I am more developed in my moral and spiritual nature than they are, +therefore more capable of suffering. I think no slave mother ever endured +more keen anguish by being deprived of her own offspring than I have in +being legally separated from mine. God grant that married woman’s +emancipation may quickly follow in the wake of negro emancipation!</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<h2>MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS ANSWERED.</h2> + +<p>In canvassing for my books various important questions have been +propounded to me, which the preceding Narrative of Events does not fully +answer.</p> + +<p class="center"><br /><span class="smcap">First Question.</span></p> + +<p>“Why, Mrs. Packard, do you not get a divorce?”</p> + +<p>Because, in the first place, I do not want to be a divorced woman; but, on +the contrary, I wish to be a married woman, and have my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> husband for my +protector; for I do not like this being divorced from my own home. I want +a home to live in, and I prefer the one I have labored twenty one years +myself to procure, and furnished to my own taste and mind. Neither do I +like this being divorced from my own children. I want to live with my dear +children, whom I have borne and nursed, reared and educated, almost +entirely by my own unwearied indefatigable exertions; and I love them, +with all the fondness of a mother’s undying love, and no place is home to +me in this wide world without them. And again, I have done nothing to +<i>deserve</i> this exclusion from the rights and privileges of my own dear +home; but on the contrary, my untiring fidelity to the best interests of +my family for twenty-one years of healthful, constant service, having +never been sick during this time so as to require five dollars doctor’s +bill to be paid for me or my six children, and having done all the +housework, sewing, nursing, and so forth, of my entire family for +twenty-one years, with no hired girl help, except for only nine months, +during all this long period of constant toil and labor. I say, this +self-sacrifizing devotion to the best interests of my family and home, +deserve and claim a right to be protected in it, at least, so long as my +good conduct continues, instead of being divorced from it, against my own +will or consent. In short, what I want is, <i>protection in my home</i>, +instead of a divorce from it. I do not wish to drive Mr. Packard from his +own home, and exclude him from all its rights and privileges—neither do I +want he should treat me in this manner, especially so long as he himself +claims that I have <i>always</i> been a most kind, patient, devoted wife and +mother. He even claims as his justification of his course, that I am so +<i>good</i> a woman, and he <i>loves</i> me so well, that he wants to save me from +fatal errors!</p> + +<p>It is my opinions—my religious opinions—and those alone, he makes an +occasion for treating me as he has. He frankly owned to me, that he was +putting me into an Asylum so that my reputation for being an insane person +might destroy the influence of my religious opinions; and I see in one +letter which he wrote to my father, he mentions this as the chief evidence +of my insanity. He writes: “Her many excellences and past services I +highly appreciate; but she says she has widely departed from, or +progressed beyond, her former religious views and sentiments—and I think +it is too true!!” Here is all the insanity he claims, or has attempted to +prove.</p> + +<p>Now comes the question: Is this a crime for which I ought to be divorced +from all the comforts and privileges of my own dear home?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>To do this,—that is, to get a divorce—would it not be becoming an +accomplice in crime, by doing the very deed which he is so desirous of +having done, namely: to remove me from my family, for fear of the +contaminating influence of my new views? Has a married woman no rights at +all? Can she not even think her own thoughts, and speak her own words, +unless her thoughts and expressions harmonize with those of her husband? I +think it is high time the merits of this question should be practically +tested, on a proper basis, the basis of truth—of facts. And the fact, +that I have been not only practically divorced from my own home and +children, but also incarcerated for three years in a prison, simply for my +religious belief, by the arbitrary will of my husband, ought to raise the +question, as to what are the married woman’s rights, and what is her +protection? And it is to this practical issue I have ever striven to force +this question. And this issue I felt might be reached more directly and +promptly by the public mind, by laying the necessities of the case before +the community, and by a direct appeal to them for personal +protection—instead of getting a divorce for my protection. I know that by +so doing, I have run a great risk of losing my liberty again. Still, I +felt that the great cause of married woman’s rights might be promoted by +this agitation; and so far as my own feelings were concerned, I felt +willing to suffer even another martyrdom in this cause, if so be, my +sisters in the bonds of marital power might be benefited thereby.</p> + +<p>I want and seek protection, <i>as a married woman</i>—not divorce, in order to +escape the abuses of marital power—that is, I want protection from the +abuse of marital power, not a divorce from it. I can live in my home with +my husband, if he will only let me do so; but he will not suffer it, +unless I recant my religious belief. Cannot religious bigotry under such +manifestations, receive <i>some</i> check under our government, which is +professedly based on the very principle of religious tolerance to all? +Cannot there be laws enacted by which a married woman can stand on the +same platform as a married man—that is, have an equal right, at least, to +the protection of her inalienable rights? And is not this our petition for +protection founded in justice and humanity?</p> + +<p>Is it just to leave the weakest and most defenceless of these two parties +wholly without the shelter of law to shield her, while the strongest and +most independent has all the aid of the legal arm to strengthen his own? +Nay, verily, it is not right or manly for our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> man government thus to +usurp the whole legal power of self-protection and defence, and leave +confiding, trusting woman wholly at the mercy of this gigantic power. For +perverted men will use this absolute power to abuse the defenceless, +rather than protect them; and abuse of power inevitably leads to the +contempt of its victim. A man who can trample on all the inalienable +rights of his wife, will, by so doing, come to despise her as an +inevitable consequence of wrong doing. Woman, too, is a more spiritual +being than a man, and is therefore a more sensitive being, and a more +patient sufferer than a man; therefore she, more than any other being, +needs protection, and she should find it in that government she has +sacrificed so much to uphold and sustain.</p> + +<p>Again, I do not believe in the divorce principle. I say it is a +“Secession” principle. It undermines the very vital principle of our +Union, and saps the very foundation of our social and civil obligations. +For example. Suppose the small, weak and comparatively feeble States in +our Union were not protected by the Government in any of their State +rights, while the large, strong, and powerful ones had their State rights +fully guaranteed and secured to them. Would not this state of the Union +endanger the rights of the defenceless ones? and endanger the Union also? +Could these defenceless States resort to any other means of self-defence +from the usurpation of the powerful States than that of secession? But +secession is death to the Union—death to the principles of love and +harmony which ought to bind the parts in one sacred whole.</p> + +<p>Now, I claim that the Marriage Union rests on just this principle, as our +laws now stand. The woman has no alternative of resort from any kind of +abuse from her partner, but divorce, or secession from the Marriage Union. +Now the weak States have rights as well as the strong ones, and it is the +rights of the weak, which the government are especially bound to respect +and defend, to prevent usurpation and its legitimate issue, secession from +the Union. What we want of our government is to prevent this usurpation, +by protecting us equally with our partners, so that we shall not need a +divorce at all.</p> + +<p>By equality of rights, I do not mean that woman’s rights and man’s rights +are one and the same. By no means; we do not want the man’s rights, but +simply our own, natural, womanly rights. There are man’s rights and +woman’s rights. Both different, yet both equally inalienable. There must +be a head in every firm; and the head in the Marriage Firm or Union is the +man, as the Bible and nature both<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> plainly teach. We maintain that the +senior partner, the man, has rights of the greatest importance, as regards +the interests of the marriage firm, which should not only be respected and +protected by our government, but also enforced upon them as an obligation, +if the senior is not self-moved to use his rights practically—and one of +these his rights, is a right to protect his own wife and children. The +junior partner also has rights of equal moment to the interests of the +firm, and one of these is her right to be protected by her senior partner. +Not protected in a prison, but in her own home, as mistress of her own +house, and as a God appointed guardian of her infant children. The +government would then be protecting the marriage union, while it now +practically ignores it.</p> + +<p>To make this matter still plainer, suppose this government was under the +control of the female instead of the male influence, and suppose our +female government should enact laws which required the men when they +entered the marriage union to alienate their right to hold their own +property—their right to hold their future earnings—their right to their +own homes—their right to their own offspring, if they should have +any—their right to their personal liberty—and all these rights be passed +over into the hands of their wives for safe keeping, and so long as they +chose to be married men, all their claims on our womanly government for +protection should be abrogated entirely by this marriage contract. Now, I +ask, how many men would venture to get married under these laws? Would +they not be tempted to ignore the marriage laws of our woman government +altogether? Now, gentlemen, we are sorry to own it, this is the very +condition in which your man government places us. We, women, looking from +this very standpoint of sad experience, are tempted to exclaim, where is +the manliness of our man government!</p> + +<p>Divorce, I say, then, is in itself an evil—and is only employed as an +evil to avoid a greater one, in many instances. Therefore, instead of +being forced to choose the least of two evils, I would rather reject both +evils, and choose a good thing, that of being protected in my own dear +home from unmerited, unreasonable abuse—a restitution of my rights, +instead of a continuance of this robbery, sanctioned by a divorce.</p> + +<p>In short, we desire to live under such laws, as will <i>oblige</i> our husbands +to treat us with decent respect, so long as our good conduct merits it, +and then will they be made to feel a decent regard for us as their +companions and partners, whom the laws protect from their abuse.</p> + + +<p class="center"><br /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span><span class="smcap">Second Question.</span></p> + +<p>“What are your opinions, Mrs. Packard, which have caused all this rupture +in your once happy family?”</p> + +<p>My first impulse prompts we to answer, pertly, it is no <ins class="correction" title="original: one s">one’s</ins> business +what I <i>think</i> but my own, since it is to God alone I am accountable for +my thoughts. Whether my thoughts are right or wrong, true or false, is no +one’s business but my own. It is my own God given right to superintend my +own thoughts, and this right I shall never guarantee to any other human +being—for God himself has authorized me to “judge ye not of your own +selves what is right?” Yes, I do, and shall judge for myself what is right +for me to think, what is right for me to speak, and what is right for me +to do—and if I do wrong, I stand amenable to the laws of society and my +country; for to human tribunals I submit all my actions, as just and +proper matter for criticism and control. But my thoughts, I shall never +yield to any human tribunal or oligarchy, as a just and proper matter for +arbitration or discipline. It is my opinion that the time has gone by for +thoughts to be chained to any creeds or oligarchys; but on the contrary, +these chains and restraints which have so long bound the human reason to +human dictation, must be broken, for the reign of individual, spiritual +freedom is about dawning upon our progressive world.</p> + +<p>Yes, I insist upon it, that it is my own individual right to superintend +my own thoughts; and I say farther, it is not my right to superintend the +thoughts or conscience of any other developed being. It is none of my +business what Mr. Packard, my father, or any other developed man or woman +believe or think, for I do not hold myself responsible for their views. I +believe they are as honest and sincere as myself in the views they +cherish, although so antagonistic to my own; and I have no wish or desire +to harass or disturb them, by urging my views upon their notice. Yea, +further, I <i>prefer</i> to have them left entirely free and unshackled to +believe just as their own developed reason dictates. And all I ask of them +is, that they allow me the same privilege. My own dear father does kindly +allow me this right of a developed moral agent, although we differ as +essentially and materially in our views as Mr. Packard and I do. We, like +two accountable moral agents, simply agree to differ, and all is peace and +harmony.</p> + +<p>My individuality has been naturally developed by a life of practical +godliness, so that I now know what I do believe, as is not the case with +that class in society who dare not individualize themselves. This<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> class +are mere echoes or parasites, instead of individuals. They just flow on +with the tide of public sentiment, whether right or wrong; whereas the +individualized ones can and do stem or resist this tide, when they think +it is wrong, and in this way they meet with persecution. It is my +misfortune to belong to this unfortunate class. Therefore I am not ashamed +or afraid to avow my honest opinions even in the face of a frowning world. +Therefore, when duty to myself or others, or the cause of truth requires +it, I willingly avow my own honest convictions. On this ground, I feel not +only justified, but authorized, to give the question under consideration, +a plain and candid answer, knowing that this narrative of the case would +be incomplete without it.</p> + +<p>Another thing is necessary as an introduction, and that is, I do not +present my views for others to adopt or endorse as their own. They are +simply my individual opinions, and it is a matter of indifference to me, +whether they find an echo in any other individual’s heart or not. I do not +arrogate to myself any popish right or power to enforce my opinions upon +the notice of any human being but myself. While at the same time I claim +that I have just as good a right to my opinions as Scott, Clark, Edwards, +Barnes, or Beecher, or any other human being has to theirs. And +furthermore, these theologians have no more right to dictate to me what I +must think and believe, than I have to dictate to them what they must +think and believe. All have an equal right to their own thoughts.</p> + +<p>And I know of no more compact form in which to give utterance to my +opinions, than by inserting the following letter, I wrote from my prison, +to a lady friend in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, and sent out on my “under ground +railroad.” The only tidings I ever got from this letter, was a sight of it +in one of the Chicago papers, following a long and minute report of my +jury trial at Kankakee. I never knew how it found its way there; I only +knew it was my own identical letter, since I still retain a true copy of +the original among my Asylum papers. The following is a copy of the +original letter, as it now stands in my own hand-writing. The friend to +whom it was written has requested me to omit those portions of the letter +which refer directly to herself. In compliance with her wishes, I leave a +blank for such omissions. In other respects it is a true copy. The candid +reader can judge for himself, whether the cherishing of such radical +opinions is not a <i>crime</i> of sufficient magnitude, to justify all my +wrongs and imprisonment! Is not my persecutor guiltless in this matter?</p> + + +<p class="center"><br /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span><span class="smcap">Copy of the Letter.</span></p> + +<p class="right"><i>Jacksonville, Ill., Oct. 23d, 1861.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mrs. Fisher. My Dear old Friend</span>:—</p> + +<p>My love and sympathy for you is undiminished. Changes do not sever our +hearts. I cannot but respect your self-reliant, independent, and therefore +progressive efforts to become more and more assimilated to Christ’s +glorious image. I rejoice whenever I find one who dares to rely upon their +own organization, in the investigation of truth. In other words, one who +dares to be an independent thinker. * * *</p> + +<p>Yes, you, Mrs. Fisher, in your individuality, are just what God made you +to be. And I respect every one who respects himself enough not to try to +pervert their organization, by striving to remodel it, and thus defile +God’s image in them. To be natural, is our highest praise. To let God’s +image shine through our individuality, should be our highest aim. Alas, +Mrs. Fisher, how few there are, who dare to be true to their God given +nature!</p> + +<p>That terrible dogma that our natures are depraved, has ruined its +advocates, and led astray many a guileless, confiding soul. Why can we not +accept of God’s well done work as perfect, and instead of defiling, +perverting it, let it stand in all its holy proportions, filling the place +God designed it to occupy, and adorn the temple it was fitted for? I, for +one, Mrs. Fisher, am determined to be a woman, true to my nature. I regard +my nature as holy, and every deviation from its instinctive tendency, I +regard as a perversion—a sin. To live a natural, holy life, as Christ +did, I regard as my highest honor, my chief glory.</p> + +<p>I know this sentiment conflicts with our educated belief—our Church +creeds—and the honestly cherished opinions of our relatives and friends. +Still I believe a “thus saith the Lord” supports it. Could Christ take +upon himself our nature, and yet know no sin, if our natures are +necessarily sinful? Are not God’s simple, common sense teachings, +authority enough for our opinions? It is, to all honest souls.</p> + +<p>Indeed, Mrs. Fisher I have become so radical, as to call in question every +opinion in my educated belief, which conflicts with the dictates of reason +and common sense. I even believe that God has revealed to his creatures no +practical truth, which conflicts with the common instincts of our common +natures. In other words, I believe that God has adapted our natures to his +teachings. Truth and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> nature harmonize. I believe that all truth has its +source in God, and is eternal. But some perceive truth before others, +because some are less perverted in their natures than others, by their +educational influences, so that the light of the sun of righteousness +finds less to obstruct its beams in some than in others. Thus they become +lights in the world, for the benefit of others less favored. * * *</p> + +<p>You preceded me, in bursting the shackles of preconceived opinions and +creeds, and have been longer basking in the liberty wherewith Christ makes +his people free, and have therefore longer been taught of him in things +pertaining to life and godliness. Would that I had had the mental courage +sooner to have imitated you, and thus have broken the fetters which bound +me to dogmas and creeds. O, Mrs. Fisher, how trammelled and crippled our +consciences have been! O, that we might have an open Bible, and an +unshackled conscience! And these precious boons we shall have, for God, by +his providence, is securing them to us. Yes, Mrs. Fisher, the persecutions +through which we are now passing is securing to us spiritual freedom, +liberty, a right, a determination to call no man master, to know no +teacher but the Spirit, to follow no light or guide not sanctioned by the +Word of God and our conscience—to know no “ism” or creed, but truthism, +and no pattern but Christ.</p> + +<p>Henceforth, I am determined to use my own reason and conscience in my +investigation of truth, and in the establishment of my own opinions and +practice I shall give my own reason and conscience the preference to all +others. * * *</p> + +<p>I know, also, that I am a sincere seeker after the simple truth. I know I +am not willful, but conscientious, in my conduct. And, notwithstanding +others deny this, I know their testimony is false. The Searcher of hearts +knows that I am as honest with myself, as I am with others. And, although +like Paul, I may appear foolish to others in so doing, yet my regard for +truth, transcends all other considerations of minor importance. God’s good +work of grace in me shall never be denied by me, let others defame it, and +stigmatize it as insanity, as they will. They, not I, are responsible for +this sacrilegious act. God himself has made me dare to be honest and +truthful, even in defiance of this heaven daring charge, and God’s work +will stand in spite of all opposition. “He always wins, who sides with +God.” Mrs. Fisher, I am not now afraid or ashamed to utter my honest +opinions. The worst that my enemies can do to defame my character, they +have done, and I fear them no more. I am now<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> free to be true and honest, +for this persecution for opinion and conscience’ sake, has so strengthened +and confirmed me in the free exercise of these inalienable rights in +future, that no opposition can overcome me. For I stand by faith in what +is true and right. I feel that I am born into a new element—freedom, +spiritual freedom. And although the birth throes are agonizing, yet the +joyous results compensate for all.</p> + +<p>How mysterious are God’s ways and plans! My persecutors verily thought +they could compel me to yield these rights to human dictation, when they +have only fortified them against human dictation. God saw that suffering +for my opinions, was necessary to confirm me in them. And the work is +done, and well done, as all God’s work always is. No fear of any human +oligarchy will, henceforth, terrify me, or tempt me to succumb to it.</p> + +<p>I am not now afraid that I shall be called insane, if I avow my belief +that Christ died for all mankind, and that this atonement will be +effectual in saving all mankind from endless torment—that good will +ultimately overcome all evil—that God’s benevolent purposes concerning +his creatures will never be thwarted—that no rebellious child of God’s +great family will ever transcend his ability to discipline into entire +willing obedience to his will. Can I ever believe that God loves his +children less than I do mine? * * * And has God less power to execute his +kind plans than I have? Yes, I do and will rejoice to utter with a trumpet +tongue, the glorious truth, that God is infinitely benevolent as well as +infinitely wise and just.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Fisher, what can have tempted us ever to doubt this glorious truth? +And do we not practically deny it, when we endorse the revolting doctrine +of endless punishment? I cannot but feel that the Bible, literally +interpreted, teaches the doctrine of endless punishment; yet, since the +teachings of nature, and God’s holy character and government, seem to +contradict this interpretation, I conclude we must have misinterpreted its +holy teachings. For example, Jonah uses the word everlasting with a +limited meaning, when he says, “thine everlasting bars are about me.” +Although to <i>his</i> view his punishment was everlasting, yet the issue +proved that in reality, there was a limit to the time he was to be in the +whale’s belly. So it may be in the case of the incorrigible; they may be +compelled to suffer what <i>to them</i> is endless torment, because they see no +hope for them in the future. Yet the issue will prove God’s love to be +infinite, in rescuing them from eternal <ins class="correction" title="original: pedition">perdition</ins>.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>Again, Mrs. Fisher, my determination and aim is, to become a perfect +person in <i>Christ’s</i> estimation, although by so doing, I may become the +filth and off-scouring of all perverted humanity. What consequence is it +to us to be judged of man’s judgment, when the cause of our being thus +condemned by them as insane, is the very character which entitles us to a +rank among the archangels in heaven?</p> + +<p>Again, I am calling in question my right to unite myself to any Church of +Christ militant on earth; fearing I shall be thereby entrammelled by some +yoke of bondage—that the liberty wherewith Christ makes his people free +may thus be circumscribed. There is so much of the spirit of bigotry and +intolerance in every denomination of Christians now on earth, that they do +not allow us an open Bible and an unshackled conscience. Or, in other +words, there are some to be found in almost every church, to whom we shall +become stumbling blocks or rocks of offence, if we practically use the +liberty which Christ offers us. Now what shall I do? I do want to obey +Christ’s direct command to come out from the world and be separate, while +at the same time I feel that there is more Christian liberty and charity +out of the Church than in it. I am now waiting and seeking the Spirit’s +aid in bringing this question to a practical test and issue.</p> + +<p>And, Mrs. Fisher, I fully believe, from God’s past care of me, that he will +lead me to see the true and living way in which I ought to walk. I will +not hide my light under a bushel, but put it upon a candlestick, that it +may give light to others. I will also live out, practically, my honestly +cherished opinions, believing “that they that <i>do</i> his commandments shall +<i>know</i> of the doctrine.” I also fully believe that the more fully and +exclusively I <i>live out</i> the teachings of the Holy Spirit, the more +persecution I shall experience. For they that will live godly, in Christ’s +estimation, “shall suffer persecution.”</p> + +<p>Mrs. Fisher, I fully believe that Christ’s coming cannot be far distant. +His coming will restore all things, which we have lost for his sake. Our +cause will then find an eloquent pleader in Christ himself, and through +our Advocate, the Judge, Himself, will acknowledge us to be his true, +loyal subjects, and we shall enter into the full possession of our +promised inheritance. With this glorious prospect in full view to the eye +of faith, let us “gird up the loins of our mind.” In other words, let us +dare to pursue the course of the <i>independent thinker</i>, and let us run +with patience the race set before us. Let us carry uncomplainingly the +mortifying cross, which is laid upon us, so long as God suffers it to +remain; remembering that it is enough for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> the servant that he be as his +Master. For “as they have persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” +“Be of good cheer.” Mrs. Fisher, “I have overcome the world.” Blessed +consolation! Mrs. Fisher, the only response I expect to get from this +letter, is your silent heartfelt sympathy in my sorrows. No utterance is +allowed for my alleviation. And the only way that I am allowed to +administer consolation through the pen is by stratagem. I shall employ +this means so far as lies in my power, so that when the day of revelation +arrives, it may be said truthfully of me, “she hath done what she could.” +Impossibilities are not required of us.</p> + +<p>Please tell Theophilus, my oft repeated attempts to send him a motherly +letter, have been thwarted. And he, poor persecuted boy! cannot be allowed +a mother’s tender, heartfelt sympathy. O, my God, protect my precious boy! +and carry him safely through this pitiless storm of cruel persecution. Do +be to him a mother and a sister, and God shall bless you. Please deliver +this message, charged to overflowing with a mother’s undying love. Be true +to Jesus. Ever believe me your true friend and sympathizing sister,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">E. P. W. Packard.</span></p> + + +<p class="center"><br /><span class="smcap">Third Question.</span></p> + +<p>“Do you think, Mrs. Packard, that your husband really believes you are an +insane person?”</p> + +<p>I do not. I really believe he knows I am a sane person; and still, he is +struggling with all his might to make himself and others believe this +delusion, because his own conscience is accusing him constantly with this +lie against it. With all his accumulated testimonials that I am insane, +and all his sophistries and reasoning upon false premises to establish +this lie, he cannot silence this accusing monitor within himself, +testifying to the contrary. Either this is in reality the case, or he has +at last reached that point, where a person has made such a sinner of his +own conscience as to believe his own lies; or, in other words, he has so +perverted his conscience as to become <i>conscientiously wrong</i>. But it is +not for me to judge his heart, only from the standpoint of his own +actions, and from this basis, I give the above as my honest opinion on +this point.</p> + +<p>Two facts alone may be sufficient to give some corroboration in support of +this opinion. After taking me from my asylum prison, and while his +prisoner at my own house, he asked me to sign a deed for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> transfer of +some of his real estate in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, and finding I could not be +induced to do it, without returning to me my note of six hundred dollars +he had robbed me of, and also some of my good clothing, he sought to +transfer it, as the law allows one to do, in case the needed witness is +legally incapacitated by insanity to give their signature; and for this +purpose he was obliged to take an <i>oath</i> that I was insane. He did take +this oath that I was insane, and thereby outlawed as a legal witness. It +was administered by Justice Labrie. A few days after this, he called this +same Justice in to our house to witness my signing this deed, and used it +as a valid signature. Now to say under oath one thing one day, and to deny +it the next, is rather crooked business for a healthy Christian conscience +to sanction.</p> + +<p>Another fact. When he was preparing to put me into an Insane Asylum, I +asked him why he was so very anxious to put the stigma of insanity upon +me, when he knew I was not insane? Said he, “I am doing it so that your +opinions need not be believed. I must protect the cause of Christ.”</p> + +<p>Cause of Christ! I felt like exclaiming, if <i>your</i> cause of Christ needs +<i>such</i> a defence, I think it must be in a sad condition. If it can’t stand +before the opinions of a woman, I shouldn’t think a man would attempt to +protect it! The truth is, the cause of Christ <i>to him</i> is his creed—a set +of human opinions. While the real cause of Christ is <i>humanity</i>; and a +very important part of this cause of Christ to a true man, is the +protection of his own wife.</p> + + +<p class="center"><br /><span class="smcap">Fourth Question.</span></p> + +<p>“Could you forgive Mr. Packard, and live with him again as his wife?”</p> + +<p>Yes, I could, freely, promptly and fully forgive him, on the gospel +condition of <i>practical repentance</i>. This condition could secure it, and +this alone. As I understand Christ’s teachings, he does not allow me to +forgive him until he does repent, and in some sense make restitution. He +directs me to forgive my brother <i>if he repent</i>—yea, if he sins and +repents seventy times seven, I must forgive as many times. But if he does +not repent, I am not allowed to forgive him. And so long as he insists +upon it, both by word and deed, that he has done only what was right for +him to do, and that he shall do the same thing again, if he has a chance +to, I do not see any chance for me to bestow my forgiveness upon a +penitent transgressor.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>He feels that I am the one to ask forgiveness, for not yielding my +opinions to his dictation, instead of causing him so much trouble in +trying to bring me under subjection to his will, in this particular. He +does not claim that I ever resisted his will in any other particular—and +I have not felt it my duty to do so. I had rather yield than quarrel any +time, where conscience is not concerned. He knows I have done so, for +twenty-one years of married life. But to tell a lie, and be false to my +honest convictions, by saying, I believed what I did not believe, I could +not be made to do.</p> + +<p>My truth loving nature could never be subjected to falsify itself—I must +and shall be honest and truthful. And although King David said in his +haste, “all <i>men</i> are liars,” I rejoice he did not say all <i>women</i> were, +for then there would have been no chance for my vindication of myself as a +<i>truthful</i> woman! This one thing is certain, I have been imprisoned three +years because I could not tell a lie, and now I think it would be bad +business for me to commence at this late hour.</p> + +<p>I cannot love oppression, wrong, or injustice under any circumstances. But +on the contrary, I do hate it, while at the same time I can love the +sinner who thus sins; for I find it in my heart to forgive to any extent +the <i>penitent</i> transgressor. I am not conscious of feeling one particle of +revengeful feeling towards Mr. Packard, while at the same time I feel the +deepest kind of indignation at his abuses of me. And furthermore, I really +feel that if any individual ever <i>deserved</i> penitentiary punishment, Mr. +Packard does, for his treatment of me. Still, <i>I</i> would not inflict <i>any</i> +punishment, upon him—for this business of punishing my enemies I am +perfectly content to leave entirely with my Heavenly Father, as he +requires me to do, as I understand his directions. And my heart daily +thanks God that it is not my business to punish him. One sinner has no +right to punish another sinner. God, our Common Father, is the only being +who holds this right to punish any of his great family of human children.</p> + +<p>All that is required of me is, to do him good, and to protect myself from +his abuse as best I can; and it is not doing him good to forgive him +before he repents. It is reversing God’s order. It is not to criminate him +that I have laid the truth before the public. Duty demands it as an act of +self-defence on my part, and a defence of the rights of that oppressed +class of married women which my case represents. I do not ask for him to +be punished at any human tribunal; all I ask is, protection for myself, +and also the class I represent.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>One other fact it may be well here to mention, and that is: I have +withdrawn all fellowship with him in his present attitude towards me. I do +not so much as speak or write to him, and this I do from the principle of +self-defence, and not from a spirit of revenge. I know all my words and +actions are looked upon through a very distorted medium, and whatever I +say or do, he weaves into capital to carry on his persecution with. And I +think I have Christ’s example too as my defence in this course; for when +he was convinced his persecutors questioned him only for the purpose of +catching him in his words, “he was speechless.” I have said all I have to +say to Mr. Packard in his present character. But when he repents, I will +forgive him, and restore him to full communion.</p> + + +<p class="center"><br /><span class="smcap">Fifth Question.</span></p> + +<p>“In what estimation is Mr. Packard held in the region where these scenes +were enacted?”</p> + +<p>Where the truth is known, and as the revelations of the court room +developed the facts exactly as they were found to exist, the popular +verdict is decidedly against him. Indeed, the tide of popular indignation +rises very high among that class, who defend religious liberty and equal +rights, free thought, free speech, free press.</p> + +<p>I state this as a fact which my own personal observation demonstrates. In +canvassing for my book in many of the largest cities in the State of +Illinois, I had ample opportunity to test this truth, and were I to +transcribe a tithe of the expressions of this indignant feeling which I +alone have heard, it would swell this pamphlet to a mammoth size. A few +specimen expressions must therefore be taken as a fair representation of +this popular indignation. “Mr. Packard cannot enter our State without +being in danger of being lynched,” is an expression I have often heard +made from the common people.</p> + +<p>From the soldiers I have often heard these, and similar expressions; “Mrs. +Packard, if you need protection again, just let us know it, and we will +protect you with the bullet, if there is no other defence.” “If he ever +gets you into another Asylum, our cannon shall open its walls for your +deliverance,” &c.</p> + +<p>The Bar in Illinois may be represented by the following expressions, made +to me by the Judges of the Supreme Court, in Ottawa Court house. “Mrs. +Packard, this is the foulest outrage we ever heard of in real life; we +have read of such deep laid plots in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> romances, but we never knew one +<i>acted out</i> in real life before. We did not suppose such a plot could be +enacted under the laws of our State. But this we will say, if ever you are +molested again in our State, let us know it, and we will put Mr. Packard +and his conspiracy where they ought to be put.”</p> + +<p>The pulpit of Illinois almost universally condemns the outrage, as a crime +against humanity and human rights. But fidelity to the truth requires me +to say that there are some exceptions. The only open defenders I ever +heard for Mr. Packard, came from the Church influence, and the pulpit. +Among all the ministers I have conversed with on this subject, I have +found only two ministers who uphold his course. One Presbyterian minister +told me, he thought Mr. Packard had done right in treating me as he had; +“you have no right,” said he, “to cherish opinions which he does not +approve, and he did right in putting you in an Asylum for it. I would +treat my wife just so, if she did so!” The name and residence of this +minister I could give if I chose, but I forbear to do so, lest I expose +him unnecessarily.</p> + +<p>The other clergyman was a Baptist minister. “I uphold Mr. Packard in what +he has done, and I would help him in putting you in again should he +attempt it.” The name and place of this minister I shall withold unless +self-defence requires the exposure.</p> + +<p>When I have added one or two more church members to those two just named, +it includes the whole number I ever heard defend, in my presence, Mr. +Packard’s course. Still, I have no doubt but that these four represent a +minority in Illinois, who are governed by the same popish principles of +bigotry and intolerance as Mr. Packard is. And I think it may be said of +this class, as a Chicago paper did of Mr. Packard, after giving an account +of the case, the writer said: “The days of bigotry and oppression are not +yet past. If three-fourths of the people of the world were of the belief +of Rev. Packard and his witnesses, the other fourth would be burned at the +stake.”</p> + +<p>The opinion of his own church and community in Manteno, where he preached +at the time I was kidnapped, is another class whose verdict the public +desire to know also. I will state a few facts, and leave the public to +draw their own inferences. When he put me off, his church and people were +well united in him, and as a whole, the church not only sustained him in +his course, but were active co-conspirators. When I returned, he preached +nowhere. He was closeted at his own domicil on the Sabbath, cooking the +family dinner, while his children were at church and sabbath school. His +society was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> almost entirely broken up. I was told he preached until none +would come to hear him; and his deacons gave as their reason for not +sustaining him, that the trouble in his family had destroyed his influence +in that community. Multitudes of his people who attended my trial, whom I +know defended him at the time he kidnapped me, came to me with these +voluntary confessions: “Mrs. Packard, I always knew you were not insane.” +“I never believed Mr. Packard’s stories.” “I always felt that you was an +abused woman,” &c., &c.</p> + +<p>These facts indicated some change even in the opinion of his own allies +during my absence. As I said, I leave the public to draw their own +inferences. I have done my part to give them the premises of facts, to +draw them from.</p> + + +<p class="center"><br /><span class="smcap">Sixth Question.</span></p> + +<p>“Mrs. Packard, is your husband’s real reason for treating you as he has, +merely a difference in your religious belief, or is there not something +back of all this? It seems unaccountable to us, that mere bigotry should +so annihilate all human feeling.”</p> + +<p>This is a question I have never been able hitherto to answer, +satisfactorily, either to myself or others; but now I am fully prepared to +answer it with satisfaction to myself, at least; that is, facts, stubborn +facts, which never before came to my knowledge until my visit home, compel +me to feel that my solution of this perplexing question, is now based on +the unchangeable truth of facts. For I have read with my own eyes the +secret correspondence which he has kept up with my father, for about eight +years past, wherein this question is answered by himself, by his own +confessions, and in his own words.</p> + +<p>And as a very natural prelude to this answer, it seems to me not +inappropriate to answer one other question often put to me first, namely: +“has he not some other woman in view?”</p> + +<p>I can give my opinion now, not only with my usual promptness, but more +than my usual confidence that I am correct in my opinion. I say +confidently, he has <i>not</i> any other woman in view, nor never had; and it +was only because I could not fathom to <i>the cause</i> of this “Great Drama,” +that this was ever presented to my own mind, as a question. I believe that +if ever there was a man who <i>practically</i> believed in the monogamy +principle of marriage, he is the man. Yes, I believe, with only one degree +of faith less than that of knowledge, that the only Bible reason for a +divorce never had an existence in our case.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>And here, as the subject is now opened, I will take occasion to say, that +as I profess to be a Bible woman both in spirit and practice, I cannot +conscientiously claim a Bible right to be divorced. I never have had the +first cause to doubt his fidelity to me in this respect, and he never has +had the first cause to doubt my own to him.</p> + +<p>But fidelity to the truth of God’s providential events compel me to give +it as my candid opinion, that the only key to the solution of this +mysterious problem will yet be found to be concealed in the fact, that Mr. +Packard is a <i>monomaniac</i> on the subject of woman’s rights, and that it +was the triumph of bigotry over his manliness, which occasioned this +public manifestation of this peculiar mental phenomenon. Some of the +reasons for this opinion, added to the facts of this dark drama which are +already before the public, lie in the following statement.</p> + +<p>In looking over the correspondence above referred to, I find the +“confidential” part all refers to dates and occasions wherein I can +distinctly recollect we had had a warm discussion on the subject of +woman’s rights; that is, I had taken occasion from the application of his +insane dogma, namely, that “<i>a woman has no rights that a man is bound to +respect</i>,” to defend the opposite position of equal rights. I used +sometimes to put my argument into a written form, hoping thus to secure +for it a more calm and quiet consideration. I never used any other weapons +in self-defence, except those paper pellets of the brain. And is not that +man a coward who cannot stand before such artillery?</p> + +<p>But not to accuse Mr. Packard of cowardice, I will say, that instead of +boldly meeting me as his antagonist on the arena of argument and +discussion, and there openly defending himself against my knockdown +arguments, with his Cudgel of Insanity, I find he closed off such +discussions with his secret “confidential” letters to my relatives and +dear friends, saying, that he had sad reason to fear his wife’s mind was +getting out of order; she was becoming insane on the subject of woman’s +rights; “but be sure to keep this fact a profound secret—especially, +never let Elizabeth hear that <i>I</i> ever intimated such a thing.”</p> + +<p>I presume this is not the first time an opponent in argument has called +his conqueror insane, or lost to reason, simply because his logic was too +sound for him to grapple with, and the will of the accuser was too +obstinate to yield, when conscientiously convinced. But it certainly is +more honorable and manly, to accuse him of insanity <i>to his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> face</i>, than +it is to thus <i>secretly</i> plot against him an imprisonable offence, without +giving him the least chance at self-defence.</p> + +<p>Again, I visited Hon. Gerrit Smith, of Peterborough, New York, about three +years before this secret plot culminated, to get light on this subject of +woman’s rights, as I had great confidence in the deductions of his noble, +capacious mind; and here I found my positions were each, and all, indorsed +most fully by him. Said he, “Mrs. Packard, it is high time that you +<i>assert your rights</i>, there is no other way for you to live a Christian +life with such a man.” And, as I left, while he held my hand in his, he +remarked, “You may give my love to Mr. Packard, and say to him, if he is +as developed a man as I consider his wife to be a woman, I should esteem +it an honor to form his acquaintance.” So it appears that Mr. Smith did +not consider my views on this subject as in conflict either with reason or +common sense.</p> + +<p>Again, his physician, Dr. Fordice Rice, of Cazenovia, New York, to whom I +opened my whole mind on this subject, said to me in conclusion—“I can +unravel the whole secret of your family trouble. Mr. Packard is a +monomaniac on the treatment of woman. I don’t see how you have ever lived +with so unreasonable a man.”</p> + +<p>I replied, “Doctor, I can live with any man—for I will never quarrel with +any one, especially a man, and much less with my husband. I can respect +Mr. Packard enough, notwithstanding, to do him good all the days of my +life, and no evil do I desire to do him; and moreover, I would not +exchange him for any man I know of, even if I could do so, simply by +turning over my hand; for I believe he is just the man God appointed from +all eternity to be my husband. Therefore, I am content with my appointed +portion and lot of conjugal happiness.”</p> + +<p>Again. It was only about four years before I was kidnapped, that Mr. O. S. +Fowler, the great Phrenologist, examined his head, and expressed his +opinion of his mental condition in nearly these words. “Mr. Packard, you +are losing your mind—your faculties are all dwindling—your mind is fast +running out—in a few years you will not even know your own name, unless +your tread-mill habits are broken up. Your mind now is only working like +an old worn out horse in a tread mill.”</p> + +<p>Thus our differences of opinion can be accounted for on scientific +principles. Here we see his sluggish, conservative temperament, rejecting +light, which costs any effort to obtain or use—clinging, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>serf-like, to +the old paths, as with a death grasp; while my active, radical +temperament, calls for light, to bear me onward and upward, never +satisfied until all available means are faithfully used to reach a more +progressive state. Now comes the question. Is activity and progression in +knowledge and intelligence, an indication of a sane, natural condition, or +is it an unnatural, insane indication? And is a stagnant, torpid, and +retrogressive state of mentality, a natural or an unnatural condition—a +sane, or an insane state?</p> + +<p>In our mental states we simply grew apart, instead of together. He was +dwindling, dying; I was living, growing, expanding. And this natural +development of intellectual power in me, seemed to arouse this morbid +feeling of jealousy towards me, lest I outshine him. That is, it +stimulated his monomania into exercise, by determining to annihilate or +crush the victim in whose mental and moral magnetism he felt so uneasy and +dissatisfied with himself. While, at the same time, the influence of my +animal magnetism, was never unpleasant to him; but, on the contrary, +highly gratifying. Yea, I have every reason to believe he ever regarded me +as a model wife, and model mother, and housekeeper. He often made this +remark to me: “I never knew a woman whom I think could equal you in +womanly virtues.”</p> + +<p>Again. While on this recruiting tour, I made it my home for several weeks +at Mr. David Field’s, who married my adopted sister, then living in Lyons, +New York. I made his wife my confidant of my family trials, to a fuller +degree than I ever had to any other human being, little dreaming or +suspecting that she was noting my every word and act, to detect if +possible, some insane manifestations. But, to her surprise, eleven weeks +observation failed to develop the first indication of insanity. The reason +she was thus on the alert, was, that my arrival was preceded by a letter +from Mr. Packard, saying his wife was insane, and urged her to regard all +my representations of family matters as insane statements. Then he added, +“Now, Mrs. Field, I must require of you one thing, and that is, that you +burn this letter as soon as you have read it; don’t even let your husband +see it at all, or know that you have had a letter from me, and by all +means, keep this whole subject a profound secret from Elizabeth.”</p> + +<p>My sister, true to Mr. Packard’s wishes, burned this letter, and buried +the subject entirely in oblivion. But when she heard that I was +incarcerated in an Asylum, then, in view of all she did know, and in view +of what she did not know, she deeply suspected there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> was foul play in the +transaction, and felt it to be her duty to tell her husband all she knew. +He fully indorsed her suspicions, and they both undertook a defence for +me, when she received a most insulting and abusive letter from Mr. +Packard, wherein he, in the most despotic manner, tried to browbeat her +into silence. Many tears did this devoted sister shed in secret over this +letter and my sad fate—as this letter revealed Mr. Packard’s true +character to her in an unmasked state. “O, how could that dear, kind woman +live with such a man!” was her constant thought.</p> + +<p>Nerved and strengthened by her husband’s advice, she determined to visit +me in the Asylum, and, if possible, obtain a personal interview. She did +so. She was admitted to my room. There she gave me the first tidings I +ever heard of that letter. While at the Asylum, my attendants, amongst +others, asked her this question: “Mrs. Field, can you tell us why such a +lady as Mrs. Packard, is shut up in this Asylum; we have never seen the +least exhibition of insanity in her; and one in particular said, I saw her +the first day she was entered, and she was then just the same quiet, +perfect lady, you see her to be to day—now do tell us why she is here?”</p> + +<p>Her reply I will not give, since her aggravated and indignant feelings +prompted her to clothe it in very strong language against Mr. Packard, +indicating that he ought to be treated as a criminal, who deserved capital +punishment. In my opinion, sister would have come nearer the truth, had +she said he ought to be treated just as he is treating his wife—as a +monomaniac.</p> + +<p>And I hope I shall be pardoned, if I give utterance to brother’s indignant +feelings, in his own words, for the language, although strong, does not +conflict with Christ’s teachings or example. Among the pile of letters +above alluded to, which Mr. Packard left accidentally in my room, was one +from this Mr. Field, which seemed to be an answer to one Mr. Packard wrote +him, wherein it seemed he had been calling Mr. Field to account for having +heard that he had called him a “devil,” and demanded of him satisfaction, +if he had done so; for Mr. Field makes reply: “I do believe men are +possessed with devils now a days, as much as they were in Christ’s days, +and I believe too that some are not only possessed with one devil, but +even seven devils, and I believe <i>you are the man</i>!” I never heard of his +denying the charge as due Mr. Field afterwards!</p> + +<p>From my own observations in an insane asylum, I am fully satisfied<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> that +Mr. Field is correct in his premises, and I must also allow that he has a +right of opinion in its application.</p> + +<p>Looking from these various stand-points, it seems to me self-evident, that +this Great Drama is a woman’s rights struggle. From the commencement to +its present stage of development, this one insane idea seems to be the +backbone of the rebellion: A married woman has no rights which her husband +is bound to respect.</p> + +<p>While he simply defended his insane dogma as an <i>opinion</i> only, no one had +the least right to call him a monomaniac; but when this insane idea became +a <i>practical</i> one, then, and only till then, had we any right to call him +an insane person. Now, if the course he has taken with me is not +insanity—that is, an unreasonable course, I ask, what is insanity?</p> + +<p>Now let this great practical truth be for one moment considered, namely, +All that renders an earth-life desirable—all the inalienable rights and +privileges of one developed, moral, and accountable, sensitive being, lie +wholly suspended on the arbitrary will of this intolerant man, or +monomaniac. No law, no friend, no logic, can defend me in the least, +<i>legally</i>, from this despotic, cruel power; for the heart which controls +this will has become, as it respects his treatment of me, “without +understanding, a covenant breaker, without natural affection, implacable, +unmerciful.”</p> + +<p>And let another truth also be borne in mind, namely, that this one man +stands now as a fit representative of all that class in society, and God +grant it may be found to be a very small class! who claim that the +subjection of the wife, instead of the protection of the wife, is the true +law of marriage. This marriage law of subjection has now culminated, so +that it has become a demonstrated fact, that its track lies wholly in the +direction of usurpation; and therefore this track, on which so many +devoted, true women, have taken a through or life ticket upon, is one +which the American government ought to guard and protect by legal +enactments; so that such a drama as mine cannot be again legally tolerated +under the flag of our protective government. God grant, that this one mute +appeal of <i>stubborn fact</i>, may be sufficient to nerve up the woman +protectors of our manly government, to guard us, in some manner, against +woman’s greatest foe—the women subjectors of society.</p> + +<p>It may be proper here to add the result of this recruiting tour. After +being absent eleven weeks from my home, and this being the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> first time I +had left my husband during all my married life, longer than for one week’s +time, I returned to my home, to receive as cordial and as loving a welcome +as any wife could desire. Indeed, it seemed to me, that the home of my +husband’s heart had become “empty, swept, and garnished,” during my +absence, and that the foul spirits of usurpation had left this citadel, as +I fondly hoped, forever. Indeed, I felt that I had good reason to hope, +that my logic had been calmly and impassionately digested and indorsed, +during my absence, so that now this merely practical recognition of my +womanly rights, almost instantly moved my forgiving heart, not only to +extend to him, unasked, my full and free forgiveness for the past, but all +this abuse seemed to be seeking to find its proper place in the grave of +forgetful oblivion.</p> + +<p>This radical transformation in the bearing of my husband towards me, +allowing me not only the rights and privileges of a junior partner in the +family firm, but also such a liberal portion of manly expressed love and +sympathy, as caused my susceptible, sensitive, heart of affection fairly +to leap for joy. Indeed, I could now say, what I could never say in truth +before, I am happy in my husband’s love—happy in simply being treated as +a true woman deserves to be treated—with love and confidence. All the +noblest, purest, sensibilities of woman’s sympathetic nature find in this, +her native element, room for full expansion and growth, by stimulating +them into a natural, healthful exercise. It is one of the truths of God’s +providential events, that the three last years of married life were by far +the happiest I ever spent with Mr. Packard.</p> + +<p>So open and bold was I in this avowal, during these three happy years, +that my correspondence of those days is radiant with this truth. And it +was not three months, and perhaps not even two months, previous to my +being kidnapped, that I made a verbal declaration of this fact, in Mr. +Packard’s presence, to Deacon Dole, his sister’s husband, in these words. +The interests of the Bible class had been our topic of conversation, when +I had occasion to make this remark: “Brother,” said I, “don’t you think +Mr. Packard is remarkably tolerant to me these days, in allowing me to +bring my radical views before your class? And don’t you think he is +changing as fast as we can expect, considering his conservative +organization? We cannot, of course, expect him to keep up with my radical +temperament. I think we shall make a man of him yet!”</p> + +<p>Mr. Packard laughed outright, and replied, “Well, wife, I am glad<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> you +have got so good an opinion of me. I hope I shall not disappoint your +expectations!”</p> + +<p>But, alas! where is he now? O, the dreadful demon of bigotry, was allowed +to enter and take possession of this once garnished house, through the +entreaties, and persuasions, and threats, of his Deacon Smith, and his +perverted sister, Mrs. Dole. These two spirits united, were stronger than +his own, and they overcame him, and took from him all his manly armor, so +that the demon he let in, “brought with him seven other spirits more +wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there,” still; so that I +sadly fear “the last state of that man will be worse than the first.”</p> + +<p>I saw and felt the danger of the vortex into which his sister and deacon +were dragging him, and I tried to save him, with all the logic of love, +and pure devotion to his highest and best interests; but all in vain. +Never shall I forget this fatal crisis. When, just three weeks before he +kidnapped me, I sat alone with him in his study, and while upon his lap, +with my arms encircling his neck, and my briny cheek pressed against his +own, I begged of him to be my protector, in these words: “O, husband! +don’t yield to their entreaties! Do be true to your marriage vow—true to +yourself—true to God. Instead of taking the side of bigotry, and going +against your wife, do just protect to me my right of opinion, which this +deacon and sister seem determined to wrest from me. Just say to the class, +“My wife has as good a right to her opinion as the class have to +theirs—and I shall <i>protect</i> her in this right—you need not believe her +opinions unless you choose; but she shall have her rights of opinion, +unmolested, for I shall be my wife’s protector.” I added, “Then, husband, +you will be a <i>man</i>. You will deserve honor, and you will be sure to have +it; but if you become my persecutor, you will become a traitor to your +manliness; you will deserve dishonor, and you will surely get it in full +measure.”</p> + +<p>My earnestness he construed into anger. He thrust me from him. He +determined, at all hazard, to subject my rights of opinion to his will, +instead of protecting them by his manliness. The plot already laid, eight +years previous, now had a rare opportunity to culminate, sure as he was of +all needed help in its dreadful execution. In three short weeks I was a +State’s prisoner of Illinois Lunatic Asylum, being supported as a State +pauper!</p> + +<p>From this fatal evening all appeals to his reason and humanity have been +worse than fruitless. They have only served to aggravate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> his maddened +feelings, and goad him on to greater deeds of desperation. Like +Nebuchadnezzar, his reason is taken from him, on this one subject; and +unrestrained, maddened, resentment fills his depraved soul—his manliness +is dead. Is he not a monomaniac?</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<h2>FALSE REPORTS CORRECTED.</h2> + +<p>I find in circulation various false reports and misrepresentations, so +slanderous in their bearing upon my character and reputation, and that of +my family relatives, that I think they demand a passing notice from me, in +summing up this brief record of events.</p> + + +<p class="center"><br /><span class="smcap">First Report.</span></p> + +<p>“Mrs. Packard’s mother was an insane woman, and several of her relatives +have been insane; and, therefore, Mrs. Packard’s insanity is hereditary, +consequently, she is hopelessly insane.”</p> + +<p>This base and most cruel slander originated from Mr. Packard’s own heart; +was echoed before the eyes of the public, by Dr. McFarland, Superintendent +of the Insane Asylum, through the Chicago Tribune, in a letter which he +wrote to the Tribune in self-defence, after my trial. The verdict of the +jury virtually impeached Dr. McFarland as an accomplice in this foul +drama, and as one who had prostituted his high public trust, in a most +notorious manner. This presentation of him and his institution before the +public, seemed to provoke this letter, as a vindication of his course. And +the most prominent part of this defence seemed to depend upon his making +the people believe that the opinion of the jury was not correct, in +pronouncing me sane. And he used this slander as the backbone of his +argument, to prove that I was hopelessly insane, there having been no +change either for the better or worse, while under his care, and that I +left the institution just as I entered it, incurably insane.</p> + +<p>I think I cannot answer this slander more summarily and concisely, than by +quoting, verbatim, Mr. Stephen R. Moore’s, my attorney, reply to this +letter, as it was published at the time in the public papers.</p> + +<p class="center">MR. MOORE’S REPLY TO DR. MCFARLAND’S SLANDER.</p> + +<p>“Your letter starts out with a statement of an error, which I believe, to +be wholly unintentional, and results from placing too much confidence in +the statements of your friend, Rev. Theophilus Packard.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> You say, “Mrs. +P., as one of the results of a strongly inherited predisposition, (her +mother having been for a long period of her life insane,) had an attack of +insanity previous to her marriage.” Such are <i>not</i> the facts. Neither the +mother, nor any blood relations of Mrs. Packard, were ever suspected or +charged with being insane. And it is a slander of one of the best and most +pious mothers of New England, and her ancestry, to charge her and them +with insanity; and could have emanated only from the heart of the pious +——, who would incarcerate the companion of his bosom for three years, +with gibbering idiots and raving maniacs.</p> + +<p>“Nor had Mrs. Packard an attack of insanity before her marriage. The pious +Packard has fabricated this story to order, from the circumstance, that +when a young lady, Mrs. Packard had a severe attack of brain fever, and +under which fever she was for a time delirious, and no further, has this a +semblance of truth.”</p> + +<p>This is the simple truth, which all my relatives are ready, and many of +them very anxious to certify to; but the limits of this pamphlet will not +admit any more space in answer to this slander.</p> + + +<p class="center"><br /><span class="smcap">Second Report.</span></p> + +<p>“Mrs. Packard is very adroit in concealing her insanity.”</p> + +<p>This report originated from the same source, and I will answer it in the +words of the same writer, as found in his printed reply: “You say, ‘Mrs. +Packard is very adroit in concealing her insanity.’ She has indeed been +most adroit in this concealment, when her family physician of seven year’s +acquaintance, and all her friends and neighbors, with whom she visited +daily, and her children, and the domestics, and lastly, the court and jury +had not, and could not, discover any traces of insanity; and the only +persons who say they find her insane, were Dr. McFarland, your pious +friend Rev. Packard, his sister, and her husband, one deacon of the +church, and a fascinating young convert—all members of his church—and a +doctor. These witnesses each and every one swore upon the stand, “That it +was evidence of insanity in Mrs. Packard, because she wished to leave the +Presbyterian church, and join the Methodist.” I quote the reasons given by +these “Lambs of the Church,” that you may know what weight their opinions +are entitled to. The physician, upon whose certificate you say you held +Mrs. Packard, swore upon the trial, that three-fourths of the religious +community were just as insane as Mrs. Packard.”</p> + + +<p class="center"><br /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span><span class="smcap">Third Report.</span></p> + +<p>“All her family friends, almost without exception, sustain Mr. Packard in +his course.”</p> + +<p>Not one of my family friends ever <i>intelligently</i> sustained Mr. Packard in +his course. But they did sustain him ignorantly and undesignedly, for a +time, while his tissue of lies held them back from investigating the +merits of the case for themselves. But as soon as they did know, they +became my firm friends and defenders, and Mr. Packard’s private foes and +public adversaries. I do not mean by this, that they manifest any +revengeful feelings towards him, but simply a God-like resentment of his +inhuman course towards me. All my relatives, without exception, who have +heard my own statement from my own lips, now unite in this one opinion, +that Mr. Packard has had no right nor occasion for putting me into an +insane asylum.</p> + +<p>But fidelity to the truth requires me to say in this connection, that +among my family relatives, are three families of Congregational +ministers—that each of these families have refused me any hearing, so +that they are still in league with, and defenders of, Mr. Packard. All I +have to say for them is, “May the Lord forgive them, for they know not +what they do.”</p> + +<p>But it may be urged that the published certificates of her friends +contradict this statement. This is not the case. Those certificates which +have appeared in print since my return to my friends, all bear date to the +time they were given previous to my return.</p> + +<p>And in this connection I feel conscientiously bound, in defence of my +kindred, to say, that some of these certificates are mere forgeries in its +strict sense; that is, they were drafted by Mr. Packard, himself, and most +adroitly urged upon the individual whose signature he desired to obtain, +and thus his logic, being based in a falsehood, which was used as a truth, +and received as such, they are thus made to certify to what was not the +real truth. My minor children’s certificates are the mere echoes of their +father’s will and dictation. He has tried to buy the signatures of my two +oldest sons, now of age, in Chicago, by offering them some of his abundant +surplus clothing, from his missionary boxes, if they would only certify +that their mother was insane. But these noble sons have too much moral +rectitude to sell their consciences for clothes or gold. Instead of being +abettors in their father’s crimes, they have, and do still, maintain a +most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> firm stand in defence of me. And for this manly act of filial piety +towards me, their father has disinherited both of them, as he has me, from +our family rights.</p> + +<p>Another thing, it is no new business for Mr. Packard to practice forgery. +This assertion I can prove by his own confession. Not long before I was +exiled from my home, he said to me one day, “I have just signed a note, +which, if brought against me in law, would place me in a penitentiary; but +I think I am safe, as I have fixed it.” Again, Mr. Packard sent a great +many forged letters to the Superintendent of the Asylum, while I was +there, professing to come from a different source, wherein the writer +urged, very strongly, the necessity of keeping me in an asylum, and +begging him, most pathetically, to <i>keep me there</i>, not only for Mr. +Packard’s sake, but also for his children’s sake, and community’s sake, +and, lastly, for the cause of Christ’s sake! Dr. McFarland used to come to +me for an explanation of this singular phenomenon. I would promptly tell +him the letters are a forgery—the very face of them so speaks—for who +would think of a minister in Ohio writing, self-moved, to a Superintendent +in Illinois, begging of him to keep another man’s wife in his Asylum! +Either these letters were exact copies of Mr. Packard’s, with the +exception of the signature, or, they were entirely drafted from Mr. +Packard’s statement, and made so as to be an echo of Mr. Packard’s wishes, +but seeming to be a self-moved act of the writer’s own mind and wishes.</p> + +<p>O, how fruitful is a depraved heart in devising lies, and masking them +with the semblance of truth! and how many lies it takes to defend one! The +lie he was thus trying to defend was, that I was insane, when I was not, +and all this gigantic frame work of certificates and testimony became +necessary as props to sustain it.</p> + +<p>I now give the testimony of my lawyer, who, after witnessing the +revelations of the court room, thus alludes to this subject in his reply +to Dr. McFarland’s letter. “The certificates produced, fully attesting her +insanity, before she was admitted, I suspect were forgeries of the pious +Packard, altered to suit the occasion, and your too generous disposition +to rely upon the statements made to you, was taken advantage of again, and +they were imposed upon you, without the critical examination their +importance demanded.”</p> + + +<p class="center"><br /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span><span class="smcap">Fourth Report.</span></p> + +<p>“Mrs. Packard is alienated from her kindred, and even her own father and +husband.”</p> + +<p>I will confess I am alienated from <i>such</i> manifestations of love as they +showed me while in the Asylum; that is, from none at all. Not one, except +my adopted sister, and my two sons at Chicago, ever made an attempt to +visit me, or even wrote me scarcely one line. I do say, this was rather +cold sympathy for one passing through such scenes as I was called to pass +through. This fact was not only an enigma to myself, but it was so to all +my Asylum friends, and even to the Doctor himself, if I can believe his +own words. He would often say to me, “Mrs. Packard, who are your friends? +have you any in the wide world? If so, why do they not look after you?”</p> + +<p>I used at first to say, I have many friends, and no enemies, except Mr. +Packard, that I know of in the whole world. All my relatives love me +tenderly. But after watching in vain for three years of prison life for +them to show me some proof of it, I changed my song, and owned up, I had +no friends worth the name; for my adversity had tried or tested their +love, and it had all been found wanting—entirely wanting. So it looked to +me from <i>that</i> stand point. And I still insist upon it, this was a sane +conclusion. For what is that love worth, that can’t defend its friend in +adversity? I say it is not worth the name of love.</p> + +<p>But it must be remembered, I saw then only one side of the picture. The +other side I could not see until I saw my friends, and looked from <i>their</i> +standpoint. Then I found that the many letters I had written had never +reached them; for Mr. Packard had instructed Dr. McFarland, and had +insisted upon it, that not a single letter should be sent to any of my +friends, not even my father, or sons, without reading it himself, and then +sending it to him to read, before sending it; and so he must do with all +the letters sent to me; and the result was, scarcely none were delivered +to me, nor were mine sent to my friends. But instead of this, a brisk +correspondence was kept up between Dr. McFarland and Mr. Packard, who both +agreed in representing me as very insane; so much so, that my good +demanded that I be kept entirely aloof from their sympathy. I have seen +and read these letters, and now, instead of blaming my friends for +regarding me as insane, I don’t see how they could have come to any other +conclusion. From <i>their</i> standpoint, they acted judiciously, and kindly.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>They were anxious to aid the afflicted minister to the extent they could, +in restoring reason to his poor afflicted, maniac wife, and they thought +the Superintendent understood his business, and with him, and her kind +husband to superintend, they considered I must be well cared for.</p> + +<p>And again, how could they imagine, that a man would wish to have the +reputation of having an insane wife, when he had not? And could the good +and kind Mr. Packard neglect even his poor afflicted wife? No, she must be +in good hands, under the best of care, and it is her husband on whom we +must lavish our warmest, tenderest, sympathies! Yes, so it was; Mr. +Packard managed so as to get all the sympathy, and his wife none at all. +He got all the money, and she not a cent. He got abundant tokens of +regard, and she none at all. In short, he had buried me in a living tomb, +with his own hands, and he meant there should be no resurrection. And the +statement that I was alienated from my friends when I was entered, is +utterly <i>false</i>. No one ever loved their kindred or friends with a warmer +or a purer love than I ever loved mine.</p> + +<p>Neither was I alienated even from Mr. Packard, when he entered me. As +proof of this, I will describe my feelings as indicated by my conduct, at +the time he forced me from my dear ones at home. After the physicians had +examined me as described in my Introduction, and Mr. Packard had ordered +me to dress for a ride to the Asylum, I asked the privilege of having my +room vacated, so that I might bathe myself, as usual, before dressing; +intending myself to then secure about my person, <i>secretly</i>, my +Bible-class documents, as all that I had said in defence of my opinions +was in writing, never having trusted myself to an extemporaneous +discussion of my new ideas, lest I be misrepresented. And I then felt that +these documents, alone, were my only <i>defence</i>, being denied all and every +form of justice, by any trial. I therefore resorted to this innocent +stratagem, as it seemed to me, to secure them; that is, I did not tell Mr. +Packard that I had any other reason for being left alone in my room than +the one I gave him.</p> + +<p>But he refused me this request, giving as his only reason, that he did not +think it best to leave me alone. He doubtless had the same documents in +view, intending thus to keep me from getting them, for he ordered Miss +Rumsey to be my lady’s maid, as a spy upon my actions. I dared not attempt +to get them with her eye upon me, lest she take them from me, or report me +to Mr. Packard, as directed by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> him so to do, as I believed. I resolved +upon one more stratagem as my last and only hope, and this was, to ask to +be left alone long enough to pray in my own room once more, before being +forced from it into my prison. When, therefore, I was all dressed, ready +to be kidnapped, I asked to see my dear little ones, to bestow upon them +my parting kiss. But was denied this favor also!</p> + +<p>“Then,” said I, “can I bear such trials as these without God’s help? And +is not this help given us in answer to our own prayers? May I not be +allowed, husband, to ask this favor of God <i>alone</i> in my room, before +being thus exiled from it?”</p> + +<p>“No,” said he, “I don’t think it is best to let you be alone in your +room.”</p> + +<p>“O, husband,” said I, “you have allowed me no chance for my secret +devotions this morning, can’t I be allowed this one last request?”</p> + +<p>“No; I think it is not best; but you may pray with your door open.”</p> + +<p>I then kneeled down in my room, with my bonnet and shawl on, and in the +presence and hearing of the sheriff, and the conspiracy I offered up my +petition, in an audible voice, wherein I laid my burdens frankly, fully, +before my sympathizing Saviour, as I would have done in secret. And this +Miss Rumsey reports, that the burden of this prayer was for <i>Mr. Packard’s +forgiveness</i>. She says, I first told God what a great crime Mr. Packard +was committing in treating his wife as he was doing, and what great guilt +he was thus treasuring up to himself, by this cruel and unjust treatment +of the woman he had sworn before God to protect; and what an awful doom he +must surely meet with, under the government of a just God, for these his +great sins against me, and so forth; and then added, that if it was +possible for God to allow me to bear his punishment <i>for him</i>, that he +would allow me so to do, if in that way, his soul might be redeemed from +the curse which must now rest upon it. In short, the burden of my prayer +was, that I might be his redeemer, if my sufferings could in any possible +way atone for his sins. Such a petition was, of course looked upon by this +conspiracy, as evidence of my insanity, and has been used by them, as +such. But I cannot but feel that in God’s sight, it was regarded as an +echo of Christ’s dying prayer for his murderers, prompted by the same +spirit of gospel forgiveness of enemies. In fact, if I know anything of my +own heart, I do know that it then cherished not a single feeling of +resentment towards him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> But my soul was burdened by a sense of his great +guilt, and only desired his pardon and forgiveness.</p> + +<p>As another proof of this assertion, I will describe our parting interview +at the Asylum. He had stayed two nights at the Asylum, occupying the +stately guest chamber and bed alone, while I was being locked up in my +narrow cell, on my narrow single bed, with the howling maniacs around for +my serenaders. He sat at the sumptuous table of the Superintendent, +sharing in all its costly viands and dainties, and entertained by its +refined guests, for his company and companions. While I, his companion, +ever accustomed to the most polished and best society, was sitting at our +long table, furnished with nothing but bread and meat; and my companions, +some of them, gibbering maniacs, whose presence and society must be +purchased only at the risk of life or physical injury. He could walk about +the city at his pleasure, or be escorted in the sumptuous carriage, while +I could only circumambulate the Asylum yard, under the vigilant eye of my +keeper. O, it did seem, these two days and nights, as though my +affectionate heart would break with my over much sorrow. No sweet darling +babe to hug to my heart’s embrace—no child arms to encircle my neck and +bestow on my cheek its hearty “good night” kiss. No—nothing, nothing, in +my surroundings, to cheer and soothe my tempest tossed soul.</p> + +<p>In this sorrowful state of mind Mr. Packard found me in my cell, and asked +me if I should not like an interview with him, in the parlor, as he was +about to leave me soon.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said I, “I should be very glad of one,” and taking his arm, I +walked out of the hall. As I passed on, one of the attendants remarked: +“See, she is not alienated from her husband, see how kindly she takes his +arm!” When we reached the parlor, I seated myself by his side, on the +sofa, and gave full vent to my long pent up emotions and feelings.</p> + +<p>“O, husband!” said I, “how can you leave me in such a place? It seems as +though I cannot bear it. And my darling babe! O, what will become of him! +How can he live without his mother! And how can I live without my babe, +and my children! O, do, do, I beg of you, take me home. You know I have +<i>always</i> been a true and loving wife to you, and how can you treat me so?” +My entreaties and prayers were accompanied with my tears, which is a very +uncommon manifestation with me; and while I talked, I arose from my seat +and walked the room, with my handkerchief to my eyes; for it seemed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> as if +my heart would break. Getting no response whatever from him, I took down +my hand to see why he did not speak to me when—what did I see! my husband +sound asleep, nodding his head!</p> + +<p>“O, husband!” said I, “can you sleep while your wife is in such agony?”</p> + +<p>Said he, “I can’t keep awake; I have been broke of my rest.”</p> + +<p>“I see,” said I, “there is no use in trying to move your feelings, we may +as well say our ‘good bye’ now as ever.” And as I bestowed upon him the +parting kiss, I said, “May our next meeting be in the spirit land! And if +there you find yourself in a sphere of lower development than myself; and +you have any desire to rise to a higher plane, remember, there is one +spirit in the universe, who will leave any height of enjoyment, and +descend to any depth of misery, to raise you to a higher plane of +happiness, if it is possible so to do. And that spirit is the spirit of +your Elizabeth. Farewell! husband, forever!!”</p> + +<p>This is the exact picture. Now see what use he makes of it. In his letter +to my father, he says: “She did not like to be left. I pitied her.” +(Pitied her! How was his sympathy manifested?) “It was an affecting scene. +But she was very mad at me, and tried to wound my feelings every way. She +would send no word to the children, and would not <i>pleasantly</i> bid me good +bye.” Pleasantly was underlined, to make it appear, that, because I did +not pleasantly bid him good bye, under these circumstances, I felt hard +towards him, and this was a proof of my alienation, and is as strong a one +as it is possible for him to bring in support of his charge.</p> + +<p>Let the tender hearted mother draw her own inferences—man cannot know +what I then suffered. And may a kind God grant, that no other mother may +ever know what I then felt, in her own sad experience!</p> + +<p>The truth is, I never was alienated from my husband, until he gave me just +<i>cause</i> for this alienation, and not until he put me into the Asylum, and +then it took four long months more, of the most intense spiritual torture, +to develop in my loving, forgiving heart, one feeling of hate towards him. +As proof of this, I will here insert two letters I wrote him several weeks +after my incarceration.</p> + + +<p class="center"><br /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span><span class="smcap">Copy of the Letter.</span></p> + +<p class="right"><i>Jacksonville, July 14th, 1860, Sabbath, P. M.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My Dear Children and Husband</span>:</p> + +<p>Your letter of July eleventh arrived yesterday. It was the third I have +received from home, and, indeed, is all I have received from any source +since I came to the Asylum. And the one you received from me is all I have +sent from here. I thank you for writing so often. I shall be happy to +answer all letters from you, if you desire it, as I see you do, by your +last. I like anything to relieve the monotony of my daily routine. * * *</p> + +<p>Dr. McFarland told me, after I had been here one week, “I do not think you +will remain but a few days longer.” I suspect he found me an unfit +subject, upon a personal acquaintance with me. Still, unfit as I consider +myself, to be numbered amongst the insane, I am so numbered at my +husband’s request. And for his sake, I must, until my death, carry about +with me, “This thorn in the flesh—this messenger of Satan to buffet me,” +and probably, to keep me humble, and in my proper place. God grant it may +be a sanctified affliction to me! I do try to bear it, uncomplainingly, +and submissively. But, O! ’tis hard—’tis very hard. O, may you never know +what it is to be numbered with the insane, within the walls of an insane +asylum, not knowing as your friends will ever regard you as a fit +companion or associate for them again, outside its walls.</p> + +<p>O, the bitter, bitter cup, I have been called to drink, even to its very +dregs, just because I choose to obey God rather than man! But, as my +Saviour said, “the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink +it?” O, yes, for thy sake, kind Saviour, I rejoice, that I am counted +worthy to suffer the loss of all things, for thy sake. And thou hast made +me worthy, by thine own free and sovereign grace. Yes, dear Jesus, I +believe that I have learned the lesson thou hast thus taught me, that “in +whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.”</p> + +<p>Yes, content, to sit at a table with twenty-four maniacs, three times a +day, and eat my bread and meat, and drink my milk and water, while I +remember, almost each time, how many vegetables and berries are upon my +own dear table at home, and I not allowed to taste, because my husband +counts me unworthy, or unfit, or unsafe, to be an inmate at his fireside +and table. I eat, and retire, and pray God to keep me from complaining. My +fare does not agree with my health,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> and so I have begged of our kind +attendants, to furnish me some poor, shriveled wheat, to keep in my room, +to eat raw, to keep my bowels open. This morning, after asking a blessing +at the table, I retired to my own room, to eat my raw, hard wheat alone, +with my pine-apple to soften it, or rather to moisten it going down. Yes, +the berries I toiled so very hard to get for our health and comfort, I +only must be deprived of them at my husband’s appointment. The past, O, +the sad past! together with the present, and the unknown future. O, let +oblivion cover the past—let no record of my wrongs be ever made, for +posterity to see, for your sake, my own lawful husband.</p> + +<p>O, my dear precious children! how I pity you! My heart aches for you. But +I can do nothing for you. I am your father’s victim, and cannot escape +from my prison to help you, even you—my own flesh and blood—my heart’s +treasures, my jewels, my honor and rejoicing.</p> + +<p>For I do believe you remain true to the mother who loves you so tenderly, +that she would die to save you from the disgrace she has brought upon your +fair names, by being stigmatised as the children of an insane mother, whom +your father said he regarded as unsafe, as an inmate of your own quiet +home, and, therefore, has confined me within these awful enclosures.</p> + +<p>O, may you never know what it is to go to sleep within the hearing of such +unearthly sounds, as can be heard here almost at any hour of the night! I +can sleep in the hearing of it, for “so he giveth his beloved sleep.” O, +children dear, do not be discouraged at my sad fate, for well doing. But +be assured that, although you may suffer in this world for it, you may be +sure your reward will come in the next. “For, if we suffer with him, we +shall also reign with him.”</p> + +<p>O, do commit your souls to him in well-doing for my sake, if you dare not +for your own sake, for I do entreat you to let me be with you in heaven, +if your father prevents it on earth.</p> + +<p>I may not have much longer to suffer here on earth. Several in our ward +are now sick in bed, and I give them more of my fruit than I eat myself, +hoping that, when my turn comes to be sick, some one may thus serve me. +But if not, I can bear it, perhaps better than they can, to be without any +solace or comfort in sickness here, such as a friend needs. I have nothing +to live for now, but to serve you, as I know of. But you can get along +without me, can’t you? Pa will take care of you. Do be kind to him, and +make him as happy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> as possible. Yes, honor your father, if he has brought +such dishonor upon your name and reputation.</p> + +<p>I will devote my energies to these distressed objects around me, instead +of attending to your wants, as a mother should be allowed to do, at least, +so long as she could do so, as well as I could, and did, when I was taken +from you. I know I could not, for lack of physical strength, do as much +for you as I once could, still I was willing, and did do all I could for +you. Indeed, I find I am almost worn out by my sufferings. I am very weak +and feeble. Still, I make no complaints, for I am so much better off than +many others here.</p> + +<p>Do bring my poor lifeless body home when my spirit, which troubled your +father so much, has fled to Jesus’ arms for protection, and lay me by my +asparagus bed, so you can visit my grave, and weep over my sad fate in +this world. I do not wish to be buried in Shelburne, but let me rise where +I suffered so much for Christ’s sake.</p> + +<p>O, do not, do not, be weary in well doing, for, did I not hope to meet you +in heaven, it seems as though my heart would break!</p> + +<p>I am useful here, I hope. Some of our patients say, it is a paradise here +now, compared with what it was before I came. The authorities assure me, +that I am doing a great work here, for the institution.</p> + +<p>When I had the prospect of returning home in a few days, as I told you, I +begged with tears not to send me, as my husband would have the same reason +for sending me back as he had for bringing me here. For the will of God is +still my law and guide, so I cannot do wrong, and until I become insane, I +can take no other guide for my conduct. Here I can exercise my rights of +conscience, without offending any one.</p> + +<p>Yes, I am getting friends, from high and low, rich and poor. I am loved, +and respected here by all that know me. I am their confident, their +counsellor, their bosom friend. O, how I love this new circle of friends! +There are several patients here, who are no more insane than I am; but are +put here, like me, to get rid of them. But here we can work for God, and +here die for him.</p> + +<p>Love to all my children, and yourself also. I thank you for the fruit, and +mirror. It came safe. I had bought one before.</p> + +<p>I am at rest—and my mind enjoys that peace the world cannot give or take +away. When I am gone to rest, rejoice for me. Weep not for me. I am, and +must be forever happy in God’s love.</p> + +<p>The questions are often asked me, “Why were you sent here? you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> are not +insane. Did you injure any one? Did you give up, and neglect your duties? +Did you tear your clothes, and destroy your things? What did you do that +made your friends treat such a good woman so?” Let silence be my only +reply, for your sake, my husband. Now, my husband, do repent, and secure +forgiveness from God, and me, before it is too late. Indeed, I pity you; +my soul weeps on your account. But God is merciful, and his mercies are +great above the heavens. Therefore, do not despair; by speedy repentance +secure gospel peace to your tempest-tossed soul. So prays your loving +wife,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Elizabeth</span>.</p> + + +<p class="center"><br /><span class="smcap">Extract from another Letter.</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My Dear Husband.</span></p> + +<p>I thank you kindly for writing me, and thus relieving my burdened heart, +by assuring me that my dear children are alive and well. I have been sadly +burdened at the thought of what they are called to suffer on their +mother’s account. Yes, the mother’s heart has wept for them every moment: +yet my heart has rejoiced in God my Savior, for to suffer as well as to do +His holy will, is my highest delight, my chief joy. Yes, my dear husband, +I can say in all sincerity and honesty, “The will of the Lord be done.” I +can still by his abundant grace utter the true emotions of my full heart, +in the words of my favorite verse, which you all know has been my solace +in times of doubt, perplexity and trial. It is this:</p> + +<p class="poem">“With cheerful feet the path of duty run,<br /> +God nothing does, nor suffers to be done,<br /> +But what thou wouldst thyself, couldst thou but see,<br /> +Through all events of things as well as He.”</p> + +<p>O, the consolation the tempest tossed spirit feels in the thought that our +Father is at the helm, and that no real harm can befall us with such a +pilot to direct our course. And let me assure you all for your +encouragement, that my own experience bears honest, practical testimony +that great peace they have who make God their shield, their trust, their +refuge; and I can even add that this Insane Asylum has been to me the gate +to Heaven. * * *</p> + +<p>By Dr. McFarland’s leave, I have established family worship in our hall; +and we never have less than twelve, and sometimes eighteen or more, quite +quiet and orderly, while I read and explain a chapter—then join in +singing a hymn—then kneeling down, I offer a prayer,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> as long as I +usually do at our own family altar. I also implore the blessing of God at +the table at every meal, while twenty-nine maniacs, as we are called, +silently join with me. Our conversation, for the most part, is +intelligent, and to me most instructive. At first, quite a spirit of +discord seemed to pervade our circle. But now it is quiet and even +cheerful. I find that we as individuals hold the happiness of others to a +great degree in our own keeping, and that “A merry heart doeth good like +medicine.” * * *</p> + +<p>If God so permit, I should rejoice to join the dear circle at home, and +serve them to the best of my ability. “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as +Thou wilt.” I thank you, husband, for your kindness, both past and +prospective. Do forgive me, wherein I have wronged you, or needlessly +injured your feelings, and believe me yours,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Elizabeth</span>.</p> + +<p>P. S. Tell the dear children to trust God, by doing right.</p> + + +<p><br />I now do frankly own, I am fully alienated from him, in his present +detestable character, as developed towards me, his lawful wife. And I +claim that it is not consistent with the laws of God’s moral government, +for a fully sane being to feel otherwise.</p> + +<p>But it is not so with my kindred, and other friends. I am not alienated +from them, for I have had no just and adequate cause for alienation. They +erred ignorantly, not willfully. They were willing to know the truth; they +were convicted, and are now converted to the truth. They have confessed +their sin against me in thus neglecting me, and have asked my forgiveness. +I have most freely forgiven them, and such penitents are fully restored to +my full fellowship and confidence. To prove they are penitent, one +confession will serve as a fair representation of the whole. I give it in +the writer’s own words, verbatim, from the letter now before me. “We are +all glad you have been to visit us, and we regret we have not tried to do +more for <i>you</i>, in times past. I am grieved that you have been left to +suffer so much <i>alone</i>—had we known, I think something would have been +done for <i>you</i>. Forgive us, won’t you, for our cruel neglect?” Yes, I do +rejoice to forgive them, for Christ allows me to forgive the penitent +transgressor. But he does not allow me to do better than he does—to +forgive the impenitent transgressor. And I do not; but as I have before +said, I stand ready with my forgiveness in my heart to extend it to him, +most freely, on this gospel condition of repentance—<i>practical</i> +repentance.</p> + + +<p class="center"><br /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span><span class="smcap">Fifth Report.</span></p> + +<p>“Dr. McFarland, the Superintendent of the Asylum, says she is insane; and +he ought to <i>know</i>.”</p> + +<p>Yes, he ought to know. But, in my opinion, Dr. McFarland, does not know a +sane from an insane person; or else, why does he keep so many in that +Asylum, as sane as himself? And mine is not the first case a court and +jury differed from him in opinion on this subject. He has been so long +conversant with the insane, that he has become a perfect monomaniac on +insanity and in his treatment of the insane. I never saw such inhumanity, +and cruelty, and barbarity, practiced towards the innocent and helpless as +he sanctions and allows in that Asylum. I could write a large volume in +confirmation of this assertion, made up of scenes I myself witnessed, +during my three years’ incarceration in that terrible place. The material +is all on hand for such a book, since I kept a secret journal of daily +events, just as they occurred, so that my memory is not my only laboratory +of such truths. And in arranging this matter for a book, I intend to turn +Jacksonville Asylum inside out. That is, I shall report that Asylum from +the standpoint of a patient, and if this book don’t prove my assertion +that Dr. McFarland is a monomaniac, I am sure it will prove him to be +something worse. But I claim to defend his heart from the charge of +villainy, and his intellect from imbecility, for I have often said of him, +“Dr. McFarland is the <i>greatest</i> man I ever saw, and he would be the +<i>best</i> if he wasn’t <i>so bad</i>!”</p> + +<p>But this is not the place to make a defence for Dr. McFarland. Let him +stand where his own actions put him, for that is the only proper place for +either superintendent or patient to stand upon. But I will own, God made +him fit for one of his great resplendent luminaries; but Satan has marred +this noble orb, so that now it has some very dark spots on its disk, such +as his patients can behold without the aid of a telescope! Yes, as a +general thing, his patients are not allowed to behold anything else but +these dark spots, while the public are allowed to see nothing except the +splendors of this luminary. And when my telescopic book is in print, the +public may look, or not look, at the scenes behind the curtain, just as +they please. The exact scenes are now fully daguerreotyped on my brain and +heart both, as well as on my manuscript journal. In this volume I am only +allowed to report what relates to myself alone. Therefore I have but +little to say; for as it respects his treatment of me, individually, I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> +regard him as a practical penitent, and on this basis, I have really +forgiven him. And God only knows what a multitude of sins this man’s +repentance has covered! And my Christianity forbids my exposing the sins +of a practical penitent, after having practically forgiven him.</p> + +<p>As proof of his penitence, I bring this fact, that it was under his +superintendence, and by his consent alone, that I was permitted to spend +the last nine months of my prison life in writing “The Great Drama.” This +book was commenced as an act of self-defence from the charge of insanity, +and this man was the first person in America that ever before allowed me +any right of self-defence. And this act of practical manliness on his +part, awakened, as its response, my full and hearty forgiveness of all the +wrongs he had hitherto heaped upon me; and these wrongs had not been “like +angels visits, few and far between.” But I had, in reality, much to +forgive. At least, so thought my personal friends at the Asylum, if their +words echoed their real feelings. Their feelings on this subject were not +unfrequently uttered in very strong language like the following: “If Mrs. +Packard can forgive Dr. McFarland all the wrongs and abuses he has heaped +upon her she must be more than human.” And I now have before me a letter +from one who had been for several years an officer in that institution, +from which I will make an extract, as it corroborates this point. She +says, “How the mind wanders back to those dark hours. O, that hated +letter! once presented you by a ——, who delighted to torture those he +could not subdue. Our hearts did pity you, Mrs. Packard. Mrs. Tenny, (now +the wife of the then assistant physician, but my attendant at the time +referred to,) and myself often said, everything was done that could be, to +annihilate and dethrone your reason. Poor child! They had all fled—none +to watch one hour! All I have to say is, if there can be found man or +woman who could endure what you did in that three years, and not become a +raving maniac, they should be canonized.”</p> + +<p>Yes, God, God alone, saved me from the awful vortex Mr. Packard and Dr. +McFarland had prepared for me—the vortex of oblivion—God has delivered +me from them who were stronger than I, and to his cause, the cause of +oppressed humanity, for which I there suffered so much in its defence, I +do now consecrate my spared intellect, and reason, and moral power.</p> + +<p>This “Great Drama,” written there, is my great battery, which, in God’s +providence, I hope sometime to get rich enough to publish;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> and it is to +the magnanimity of Dr. McFarland alone, under God, that my thanks are due, +for letting me write this book. He dictated none of it. He allowed me +perfect spiritual liberty, in penning this voluminous literary production +of seven hundred pages; and if ever there was a book written wholly +untrammelled by human dictation, this is the book. But as I said, his +magnanimity, even at the eleventh hour, has, so far as I am concerned, +secured my forgiveness.</p> + +<p>But he has been, and I fear still is, a great sinner against others, also; +for, as I have often said, it is my candid opinion, that there were fifty +in that house, as patients, who have no more right to be there than the +Doctor himself. Judging them from their own actions and words, there is no +more evidence of insanity in them, than in Dr. McFarland’s words and +actions. He certainly has no scruples about keeping perfectly sane persons +as patients. At first, this was to me an enigma I could not possible +solve. But now I can on the supposition that he don’t know a sane from an +insane person, because he has become a monomaniac on this subject, just as +Mr. Packard has on the woman question. The Doctor’s insane dogmas are, +first: all people are insane on some points; second: insane persons have +no rights that others are bound to respect.</p> + +<p>He has never refused any one’s application on the ground of their not +being insane, to my knowledge, but he has admitted many whom he admitted +were not near as insane as the friends who brought them were. He can see +insanity in any one where it will be for his interest to see it. And let +him put any one through the insane treatment he subjects his patients to, +and they are almost certain to manifest some resentment, before the +process is complete. And this natural resentment which his process evokes, +is what he calls their insanity, or rather evidence of it. I saw the +operation of his nefarious system before I had been there long, and I +determined to stand proof against it, by restraining all manifestations of +my resentful feelings, which his insults to me were designed to develop. +And this is his grand failure in my case. He has no capital to make out +his charge upon, so far as my own actions are concerned. No one ever saw +me exhibit the least angry, resentful feelings. I say that to God’s grace +alone is this result due. I maintain, his treatment of his patients is +barbarous and criminal in many cases; therefore he shows insanity in his +conduct towards them.</p> + +<p>Again, he does not always tell the truth about his patients, nor to his +patients. And this is another evidence of his insanity. I do say,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> lying +is insanity; and if I can ever be proved to be a liar, by my own words or +actions, I do insist upon it I merit the charge put upon me of monomania, +or insanity. But, speaking the truth, and nothing but the truth, is not +lying, even if people do not believe my assertions. For the truth will +stand without testimony, and in spite of all contradiction. And when one +has once been proved to have lied, they have no claims on us to be +believed, when they do speak the truth. Were I called to prove my +assertion that the Doctor misrepresents, I could do so, by his own letters +to my husband, and my father, now in my possession, and by letters Mr. +Field had from him while I was in the Asylum. For example, why did he +write to Mr. Field that I “was a dangerous patient, not safe to live in +any private family,” and then refuse to answer direct questions calling +for evidence in proof on this point, and give as his reason, that he did +not deem it his duty to answer impertinent questions about his patients? +Simply because the assertion was a lie, and had nothing to support or +defend it, in facts, as they existed. These letters abound in +misrepresentations and falsehoods respecting me, and it is no wonder my +friends regarded me as insane, on these representations from the +Superintendent of a State Asylum.</p> + +<p>I have every reason to think Dr. McFarland believes, in his heart, that I +am entirely sane; but policy and self-interest has prompted him to deny it +in words, hoping thus to destroy the influence of the sad truths I utter +respecting the character of that institution. A very intelligent employee +in that institution, and one who had, by her position, peculiar advantages +for knowing the real state of feeling towards me in that institution, once +said to me, “Mrs. Packard, I can assure you, that there is not a single +individual in this house who believes you are an insane person; and as for +Dr. McFarland he <i>knows</i> you are not, whatever he may choose to say upon +the subject.”</p> + +<p>One thing is certain, his actions contradict his words, in this matter. +Would an insane person be employed by him to carry his patients to ride, +and drive the team with a whole load of crazy women, with no one to help +take care of them and the team but herself? And yet Dr. McFarland employed +me to do this very thing fourteen times; and I always came back safely +with them, and never abused my liberty, by dropping a letter into the +post-office, or any thing of the kind, and never abused the confidence +reposed in me in any manner.</p> + +<p>Would he give a crazy woman money to go to the city, and make purchases +for herself? And yet he did so by me. Would a crazy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> woman be employed to +make purchases for the house, and use as a reason for employing her, that +her judgment was superior to any in the house? And yet this is true of me. +Would a crazy woman be employed to cut, fit and make his wife’s and +daughter’s best dresses, instead of a dressmaker, because she could do +them better, in their opinion, than any dressmaker they could employ? And +yet I was thus employed for several weeks, and for this reason. And would +his wife have had her tailoress consult my judgment, before cutting her +boy’s clothes, and give as her reason, that she preferred my judgment and +planning before her own, if I was an insane person? And yet she did.</p> + +<p>Would the officials send their employees to me for help, in executing +orders which exceeded the capacity of their own judgment to perform, if +they considered my reason and judgment as impaired by insanity? And yet +this was often the case. Would the remark be often made by the employees +in that institution, that “Mrs. Packard was better fitted to be the matron +of the institution than any one under that roof,” if I had been treated +and regarded as an insane person by the officials? And yet this remark was +common there.</p> + +<p>No. Dr. McFarland did not treat me as an insane person, until I had been +there four months, when he suddenly changed his programme entirely, by +treating me like an insane person, and ordering the employees to do so to, +which order he could never enforce, except in one single instance, and +this attendant soon after became a lunatic and a tenant of the poor house. +My attendants said they should not treat me as they did the other +patients, if the Doctor did order it.</p> + +<p>The reason for this change in the Doctor’s treatment, was not because of +any change in my conduct or deportment in any respect, but because I +offended him, by a reproof I gave him for his abuse of his patients, +accompanied by the threat to expose him unless he repented. I gave this +reproof in writing, and retained a copy myself, by hiding it behind my +mirror, between it and the board-back. Several thousand copies of which +are now in circulation. After this event, I was closeted among the +maniacs, and did not step my foot upon the ground again, until I was +discharged, two years and eight months afterwards. When he transferred me +from the best ward to the worst ward, he ordered my attendants to treat me +just as they did their other patients, except to not let me go out of the +ward; although all the others could go to ride and walk, except myself.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> +Had I not known how to practice the laws of health, this close confinement +would doubtless have been fatal to my good health and strong nerves. But +as it was, both are still retained in full vigor.</p> + +<p>My correspondence was henceforth put under the strictest censorship, and +but few of my letters ever went farther than the Doctor’s office, and most +of the letters sent to me never came nearer me than his office. When I +became satisfied of this, I stopped writing at all to any one, until I got +an “Under Ground Express” established, through which my mail passed out, +but not in.</p> + +<p>One incident I will here mention to show how strictly and vigilantly my +correspondence with the world was watched. There was a patient in my ward +to be discharged ere long, to go to her home near Manteno, and she offered +to take anything to my children, if I chose to send anything by her. +Confident I could not get a letter out through her, without being +detected, I made my daughter some under waists, and embroidered them, for +a present to her from her mother. On the inside of these bleached cotton +double waists, I pencilled a note to her, for her and my own solace and +comfort. I then gave these into the hands of this patient, and she took +them and put them into her bosom saying, “The Doctor shall never see +these.” But just as she was leaving the house, the Doctor asked her, if +she had any letter from Mrs. Packard to her children with her? She said +she had not.</p> + +<p>He then asked be “Have you had anything from Mrs. Packard with you?”</p> + +<p>She said, “I have two embroidered waists, which Mrs. Packard wished me to +carry to her daughter, as a present from her mother; but nothing else.”</p> + +<p>“Let me see those waists,” said he.</p> + +<p>She took them from her bosom and handed them to him. He saw the penciling. +He read it, and ordered the waists to the laundry to be washed before +sending them, so that no heart communications from the mother to the +child, could go with them. I believe he sent them afterwards by Dr. Eddy.</p> + +<p>In regard to Dr. McFarland’s individual guilt in relation to his treatment +of me, justice to myself requires me to add, that I cherish no feelings of +resentment towards him, and the worst wish my heart dictates towards him +is, that he may repent, and become the “Model Man” his nobly developed +capacities have fitted him to become; for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> he is, as I have said, the +greatest man I ever saw, and he would be the best if he wasn’t so bad!</p> + +<p>And the despotic treatment his patients receive under his government, is +only the natural result of one of the fundamental laws of human nature, in +its present undeveloped state; which is, that the history of our race for +six thousand years demonstrates the fact, that absolute, unlimited power +always tends towards despotism—or an usurpation and abuse of other’s +rights. Dr. McFarland has, in a <i>practical</i> sense, a sovereignty delegated +to him, by the insane laws, almost as absolute as the marital power, which +the law delegates to the husband. All of the inalienable rights of his +patients are as completely subject to his single will, in the practical +operation of these laws, as are the rights of a married woman to the will +of her husband. And these despotic superintendents and husbands in the +exercise of this power, are no more guilty, in my opinion, than that power +is which licenses this deleterious element. No Republican government ought +to permit an absolute monarchy to be established under its jurisdiction. +And when it is found to exist, it ought to be destroyed, forthwith. And +where this licensed power is known to have culminated into a despotism, +which is crushing humanity, really and practically, that government is +guilty in this matter, so long as it tolerates this usurpation.</p> + +<p>Therefore, while the superintendents are guilty in abusing their power, I +say that government which sustains oppression by its laws, is the first +transgressor. Undoubtedly our insane asylums were originally designed and +established, as humane institutions, and for a very humane and benevolent +purpose; but, on their present basis, they really cover and shield many +wrongs, which ought to be exposed and redressed. It is the <i>evils</i> which +cluster about these institutions, and these alone, which I am intent on +bringing into public view, for the purpose of having them destroyed. All +the good which inheres in these institutions and officers is just as +precious as if not mixed with the alloy; therefore, in destroying the +alloy, great care should be used not to tarnish or destroy the fine gold +with it. As my case demonstrates, they are now sometimes used for +inquisitional purposes, which certainly is a great perversion of their +original intent.</p> + + +<p class="center"><br /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span><span class="smcap">Sixth Report.</span></p> + +<p>“Mrs. Packard’s statements are incredible. And she uses such strong +language in giving them expression, as demonstrates her still to be an +insane woman.”</p> + +<p>I acknowledge the fact, that truth <i>is</i> stranger than fiction; and I also +assert, that it is my candid opinion, that strong language is the only +appropriate drapery some truths can be clothed in. For example, the only +appropriate drapery to clothe a lie in, is the strong language of <i>lie</i> or +<i>liar</i>, not misrepresentation, a mistake, a slip of the tongue, a +deception, an unintentional error, and so forth. And for unreasonable, and +inhuman, and criminal acts, the appropriate drapery is, insane acts; and +an usurpation of human rights and an abuse of power over the defenceless, +is appropriately clothed by the term, Despotism. And one who defends his +creed or party by improper and abusive means, is a Bigot. One who is +impatient and unwilling to endure, and will not hear the utterance of +opinions in conflict with his own, without persecution of his opponent, is +Intolerant towards him; and this is an appropriate word to use in +describing such manifestations.</p> + +<p>And here I will add, I do not write books merely to tickle the fancy, and +lull the guilty conscience into a treacherous sleep, whose waking is +death. Nor do I write to secure notoriety or popularity. But I do write to +defend the cause of human rights; and these rights can never be +vindicated, without these usurpations be exposed to public view, so that +an appeal can be made to the public conscience, on the firm basis of +unchangeable truth—the truth of facts as they do actually exist. I know +there is a class, but I fondly hope they are the minority, who will resist +this solid basis even—who would not believe the truth should Christ +himself be its medium of utterance and defence. But shall I on this +account withhold the truth, lest such cavilers reject it, and trample it +under foot, and then turn and rend me with the stigma of insanity, because +I told them the simple truth? By no means. For truth is not insanity; and +though it may for a time be crushed to the earth, it shall rise again with +renovated strength and power. Neither is strong and appropriate language +insanity. But on the contrary, I maintain that strong language is the only +suitable and appropriate drapery for a reformer to clothe his thoughts in, +notwithstanding the very unsuitable and inappropriate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> stigma of Insanity +which has always been the reformer’s lot to bear for so doing in all past +ages, as well as the present age.</p> + +<p>Even Christ himself bore this badge of a Reformer, simply because he +uttered truths which conflicted with the established religion of the +church of his day. And shall I repine because I am called insane for the +same reason? It was the spirit of bigotry which led the intolerant Jews to +stigmatize Christ as a madman, because he expressed opinions differing +from their own. And it is this same spirit of bigotry which has been thus +intolerant towards me. And it is my opinion that bigotry is the most +implacable, unreasonable, unmerciful feeling that can possess the human +soul. And it is my fervent prayer that the eyes of this government may be +opened to see, that the laws do not now protect or shield any married +woman from this same extreme manifestation of it, such as it has been my +sad lot to endure, as the result of this legalized persecution.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<h2>NOTE OF THANKS TO MY PATRONS.</h2> + +<p>I deem it appropriate in this connection, to express the gratitude I feel +for the kind, practical sympathy, and liberal patronage, which has been +extended to me by the public, through the sale of my books. Had it not +been for your generous patronage, my kind patrons, I, and the noble cause +I represent, would have been crushed to the earth, so far as my influence +was concerned. For with no law to shield me, and with no “greenbacks” to +defend myself with, what could I have done to escape another imprisonment, +either in some asylum or poorhouse?</p> + +<p>It has been, and still is, the verdict of public sentiment, which the +circulation of these books has developed, that has hitherto shielded me +from a second kidnapping. And this protection you have kindly secured to +me by buying my books. I would willingly have given my books a gratuitous +circulation to obtain this protection, if I could possibly have done so. +But where could the $3000.00 I have paid out for the expense of printing +and circulating these books have been obtained? No one could advance me +money safely, so long as I was Mr. Packard’s lawful wife, and I could not +even get a divorce, without the means for prosecuting the suit. Indeed, it +was your patronage alone, which could effectually help me on to a +self-reliant platform—the platform of “greenback independence.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>I have never made any appeal to the charities of the public, neither can I +do so, from principle. For so long as I retain as good health as it is my +blessed privilege still to enjoy, I feel conscientiously bound to work for +my living, instead of living on the toil of other. My strong and vigorous +health is the only capital that I can call my own. All my other natural, +inalienable rights, are entirely in the hands of my persecutor, and +subject to his control. But while this capital holds good, I am not a +suitable object of charity. I am prosecuting business on business +principles, and I am subject to the same laws of success or failure as +other business persons are. I intend, and hope to make my business +lucrative and profitable, as well as philanthropic and benevolent.</p> + +<p>I maintain that I have no claims upon the charities of the public, while +at the same time I maintain that I have a claim upon the sympathies of our +government. It is our government, the man government of America, who have +placed me in my deplorable condition; for I am just where their own laws +place me, and render all other married women <i>liable</i> to be placed in the +same position. It is the “Common Law” which our government took from +English laws which makes a nonentity of a married woman, whose existence +is wholly subject to another, and whose identity is only recognized +through another. In short, the wife is dead, while her husband lives, as +to any legal existence. And where the Common Law is not modified, or set +aside by the Statute Laws, this worst form of English despotism is copied +as a model law for our American people!</p> + +<p>Yes, I feel that I have a just claim upon the sympathies of our +government. Therefore, in selling my books, I have almost entirely +confined my application to the men, not the women, for the men alone +constitute the American government. And my patrons have responded to my +claims upon their sympathy, in a most generous, and praiseworthy manner. +Yea, so almost universally have I met with the sympathy of those gentlemen +that I have freely conversed with on this subject, that I cherish the firm +conviction, that our whole enlightened government would “en masse,” +espouse the principles I defend, and grant all, and even more than I ask +for married woman, could they but see the subject in the light those now +do, whom I have conversed with on this subject. I am fully satisfied that +all that our manly government needs to induce them to change this “Common +Law” in relation to woman is, only to know what this law is, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> how +cruelly it subjects the women in its practical application. For man is +made, and constituted by God himself, to be the protector of woman. And +when he is true to this his God given nature, he is her protector. And all +true men who have not perverted or depraved their God-like natures, will, +and do, as instinctively protect their own wives, as they do themselves. +And the wives of such men do not need any other law, than this law of +manliness, to protect them or their interests.</p> + +<p>But taking the human race as they now are, we find some exceptions to this +general rule. And it is for these exceptions that the law is needed, and +not for the great masses. Just as the laws against crimes are made for the +criminals, not for the masses of society, for they do not need them; they +are a law unto themselves, having their own consciences for their Judges +and Jurors. I see no candid, just reason why usurpation, and injustice, +and oppression, should not be legislated against, in this form, as well as +any other. Developed, refined, sensitive woman, is as capable of feeling +wrongs as any other human being. And why should she not be legally +protected from them as well as a man? My confidence in this God-like +principle of manliness is almost unbounded. Therefore I feel that a hint +is all that is needed, to arouse this latent principle of our government +into prompt and efficient action, that of extending legal protection to +subjected married woman.</p> + +<p>There is one word I will here say to my patrons, who have the first +installment of my “Great Drama” in their possession, that you have +doubtless found many things in that book which you cannot now understand, +and are therefore liable to misinterpret and misapprehend my real meaning. +I therefore beg of you not to judge me harshly at present, but please +suspend your judgment until this allegory is published entire, and then +you will be better prepared to pass judgment upon it. Supposing Bunyan’s +allegory of his Christian pilgrim had isolated parts of it published, +separate from the whole, and we knew nothing about the rest, should we not +be liable to misinterpret his real meaning?</p> + +<p>Another thing, I ask you to bear in mind, this book was written when my +mind was at its culminating point of spiritual or mental torture, as it +were, and this may serve in your mind as an excuse, for what may seem to +you, as extravagant expressions; while to me, they were only the simple +truth as I experienced it. No one can judge of these feelings correctly, +until they have been in my exact place<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> and position; and since this is an +impossibility, you have a noble opportunity for the exercise of that +charity towards me which you would like to have extended to yourselves in +exchange of situations.</p> + +<p>A person under extreme physical torture, gives utterance to strong +expressions, indicating extreme anguish. Have we, on this account, any +reason or right to call him insane? So a person in extreme spiritual or +mental agony, has a right to express his feelings in language +corresponding to his condition, and we have no right to call him insane +for doing so.</p> + +<p>Upon a calm and candid review of these scenes, from my present standpoint, +I do maintain that the indignant feelings which I still cherish towards +Mr. Packard, and did cherish towards Dr. McFarland, for their treatment of +me, were not only natural, sane feelings, but also were Christian +feelings. For Christ taught us, both by his teachings and example, that we +ought to be angry at sin, and even hate it, with as marked a feeling as we +loved good. “I, the Lord, hate evil.” And so should we. But at the same +time we should not sin, by carrying this feeling so far, as to desire to +revenge the wrong-doer, or punish him ourselves, for then we go too far to +exercise the feeling of forgiveness towards him, even if he should repent. +We are not then following Christ’s directions, “Be ye angry and sin not.” +Now I am not conscious of ever cherishing one revengeful feeling towards +my persecutors; while, at the same time, I have prayed to God, most +fervently, that he would inflict a just punishment upon them for their +sins against me, if they could not be brought to repent without. For my +heart has ever yearned to forgive them, from the first to the last, on +this gospel condition.</p> + +<p>I think our government has been called to exercise the same kind of +indignation towards those conspirators who have done all they can do to +overthrow it; and yet, they stand ready to forgive them, and restore them +to their confidence, on the condition of practical repentance. And I say +further, that it would have been wrong and sinful for our government to +have witheld this expression of their resentment towards them, and let +them crush it out of existence, without trying to defend itself. I say it +did right in defending itself with a resistance corresponding to the +attack. So I, in trying to defend myself against this conspiracy against +my personal liberty, have only acted on the self-defensive principle. +Neither have I ever aggressed on the rights of others in my self-defence. +I have simply defended my own rights.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>In my opinion, it would be no more unreasonable to accuse the inmates of +“Libby Prison” with insanity, because they expressed their resentment of +the wrongs they were enduring in strong language, than it is to accuse me +of insanity for doing the same thing while in my prison. For prison life +is terrible under any circumstances. But to be confined amongst raving +maniacs, for years in succession, is horrible in the extreme. For myself, +I should not hesitate one moment which to choose, between a confinement in +an insane asylum, as I was, or being burned at the stake. Death, under the +most aggravated forms of torture, would now be instantly chosen by me, +rather than life in an insane asylum. And whoever is disposed to call this +“strong language,” I say, let them try it for themselves as I did, and +<i>then</i> let them say whether the expression is any stronger than the case +justifies. For until they have tried it, they can never imagine the +horrors of the maniac’s ward in Jacksonville Insane Asylum.</p> + +<p>In this connection it may be gratifying to my patrons and readers both, to +tell them how I came to write <i>such</i> a book, instead of an ordinary book +in the common style of language. It was because such a kind of book was +presented to my mind, and no other was. It was under these circumstances +that this kind of inspiration came upon me.</p> + +<p>The day after my interview with the Trustees, the Doctor came to my room +to see what was to be done. His first salutation was, “Well, Mrs. Packard, +the Trustees seemed to think that you hit your mark with your gun.”</p> + +<p>“Did they?” said I. “And was it that, which caused such roars and roars of +laughter from the Trustees’ room after I left?”</p> + +<p>“Yes. Your document amused them highly. Now, Mrs. Packard, I want you to +give me a copy of that document, for what is worth hearing once is worth +hearing twice.”</p> + +<p>“Very well,” said I, “I will. And I should like to give the Trustees a +copy, and send my father one, and some others of the Calvinistic clergy. +But it is so tedious for me to copy anything, how would it do to get a few +handbills or tracts printed, and send them where we please?”</p> + +<p>“You may,” was his reply, “and I will pay the printer.”</p> + +<p>“Shall I add anything to it; that is, what I said to the Trustees, and so +forth?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, tell the whole! Write what you please!”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>With this most unexpected license of unrestricted liberty, I commenced +re-writing and preparing a tract for the press. But before twenty-four +hours had elapsed since this liberty license was granted to my hitherto +prison-bound intellect, the vision of a big book began to dawn upon my +mind, accompanied with the most delightful feelings of satisfaction with +my undertaking. And the next time the Doctor called, I told him that it +seemed to me that I must write a book—a <i>big book</i>—and “that is the +worst of it,” said I, “I don’t want a large book, but I don’t see how I +can cut it down, and do it justice. I want to lay two train of cars,” said +I, “across this continent—the Christian and the Calvinistic. Then I want +to sort out all the good and evil found in our family institutions, our +Church and State institutions, and our laws, and all other departments of +trades and professions, &c., and then come on with my two train of cars, +and gather up this scattered freight, putting the evil into the +Calvinistic train, and the good into the Christian train, and then +engineer them both on to their respective terminus. These thoughts are all +new and original with me, having never thought of such a thing, until this +sort of mental vision came before my mind. What shall I do, Doctor?”</p> + +<p>“Write it out just as you see it.”</p> + +<p>He then furnished me with paper and gave directions to the attendants to +let no one disturb me, and let me do just as I pleased. And I commenced +writing out this mental vision; and in six week’s time I penciled the +substance of “The Great Drama,” which, when written out for the press, +covers two thousand five hundred pages! Can I not truly say my train of +thought was engineered by the “Lightning Express?” This was the kind of +inspiration under which my book was thought out and written. I had no +books to aid me, but Webster’s large Dictionary and the Bible. It came +wholly through my own reason and intellect, quickened into unusual +activity by some spiritual influence, as it seemed to me. The production +is a remarkable one, as well as the inditing of it a very singular +phenomenon.</p> + +<p>The estimation in which the book is held by that class in that Asylum who +are “spirit mediums,” and whose only knowledge of its contents they wholly +derive from their clairvoyant powers of reading it, without the aid of +their natural vision, it may amuse a class of my readers to know. It was a +fact the attendants told me of, that my book and its contents, was made a +very common topic of remark in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> almost every ward in the house; while all +this time, I was closeted alone in my room writing it, and they never saw +me or my book. I would often be greatly amused by the remarks they made +about it, as they were reported to me by witnesses who heard them. Such as +these: “I have read Mrs. Packard’s book through, and it is the most +amusing thing I ever read.” “Calvinism is dead—dead as a herring.” “Mrs. +Packard drives her own team, and she drives it beautifully, too.” “The +Packard books are all over the world, Norway is full of them. They +perfectly devour the Packard books in Norway.” “Mrs. Packard finds a great +deal of fault with the Laws and the Government, and she has reason to.” +“She defends a higher and better law than our government has, and she’ll +be in Congress one of these days, helping to make new laws!”</p> + +<p>If this prophetess had said that <i>woman’s influence</i> would be felt in +Congress, giving character to the laws, I might have said I believed she +had uttered a true prophecy.</p> + +<p>One very intelligent patient, who was a companion of mine, and had read +portions of my book, came to my room one morning with some verses which +she had penciled the night previous, by moonlight, on the fly-leaf of her +Bible, which she requested me to read, and judge if they were not +appropriate to the character of my book. She said she had been so +impressed with the thought that she must get up and write something, that +she could not compose herself to sleep until she had done so; when she +wrote these verses, but could not tell a word she had written the next +morning, except the first line. I here give her opinions of the book in +her own poetic language, as she presented them to me.</p> + + +<p class="center"><br />LINES SUGGESTED BY THE PERUSAL OF THE GREAT DRAMA.</p> + +<p class="center">Affectionately presented to the “World’s Friend”—Mrs. E. P. W. +Packard—by her friend, Mrs. Sophia N. B. Olsen.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +Go, little book, go seek the world;<br /> +With banner new, with flag unfurled;<br /> +Go, teach mankind aspirings high,<br /> +By <i>human</i> immortality!<br /> +<br /> +Thou canst not blush; thine open page<br /> +Will all our higher powers engage;<br /> +Thy name on every soul shall be,<br /> +Defender of humanity!<br /> +<br /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> +The poor, the sad, the sorrowing heart,<br /> +Shall joy to see thy book impart<br /> +Solace, to every tear-dimmed eye,<br /> +That’s wept, till all its tears are dry.<br /> +<br /> +The palid sufferer on the bed<br /> +Of sickness, shall erect the head<br /> +And cry, “Life yet hath charms for me<br /> +When Packard’s books shall scattered be.”<br /> +<br /> +Each prison victim of despair<br /> +Shall, in thy book, see written there<br /> +Another gospel to thy race,<br /> +Of sweet “Requiescat in pace.”<br /> +<br /> +The time-worn wigs, with error gray,<br /> +Their dusty locks with pale dismay,<br /> +Shall shake in vain in wild despair,<br /> +To see their prostrate castles, where?<br /> +<br /> +No mourner’s tear shall weep their doom,<br /> +No bard shall linger o’er their tomb,<br /> +No poet sing, but howl a strain<br /> +Farewell, thou doom’d, live not again.<br /> +<br /> +Yes, oh, poor Ichabod must lay,<br /> +Deep buried in Aceldema!<br /> +His lost Consuelo shall rise<br /> +No more, to cheer his death-sealed eyes.<br /> +<br /> +Then speed thy book, oh, sister, speed,<br /> +The waiting world thy works must read;<br /> +Bless’d be the man who cries, “Go on,”<br /> +“Hinder it not, it shall be gone.”<br /> +<br /> +Go, little book, thy destiny<br /> +Excelsior shall ever be;<br /> +A fadeless wreath shall crown thy brow,<br /> +O writer of that book! e’en now.<br /> +<br /> +The wise shall laugh—the foolish cry—<br /> +Both wise and foolish virgins, why?<br /> +Because the first will wiser grow,<br /> +The foolish ones some wisdom show.<br /> +<br /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> +The midnight cry is coming soon,<br /> +The midnight lamp will shine at noon;<br /> +I fear for some, who snoring lie,<br /> +Then rise, ye dead, to judgment fly.<br /> +<br /> +The stars shall fade away—the sun<br /> +Himself grow dim with age when done<br /> +Shining upon our frigid earth;<br /> +But Packard’s book shall yet have birth,<br /> +But never death, on this our earth.</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="smcap">Jacksonville Lunatic Asylum</span>, Jan. 27, 1863.</span></p> + +<p><br />So much for the opinions of those whom this age call crazy, but who are, +in my opinion, no more insane than all that numerous class of our day, who +are called “spirit mediums;” and to imprison them as insane, simply +because they possess these spiritual gifts or powers, is a barbarity, +which coming generations will look upon with the same class of emotions, +as we now look upon the barbarities attending Salem Witchcraft. It is not +only barbarous and cruel to deprive them of their personal liberty, but it +is also a crime against humanity, for which our government must be held +responsible at God’s bar of justice.</p> + +<p>I will now give some of the opinions of a few who know something of the +character of my book, whom the world recognize as sane. Dr. McFarland used +to sometimes say, “Who knows but you were sent here to write an allegory +for the present age, as Bunyan was sent to Bedford Jail to write his +allegory?” Dr. Tenny, the assistant physician, once said to me as he was +pocketing a piece of my waste manuscript, “I think your book may yet +become so popular, and acquire so great notoriety, that it will be +considered an honor to have a bit of the paper on which it was written!”</p> + +<p>I replied, “Dr. Tenny, you must not flatter me.”</p> + +<p>Said he, “I am not flattering, I am only uttering my honest opinions.”</p> + +<p>Said another honorable gentleman who thought he understood the character +of the book, “Mrs. Packard, I believe your book will yet be read in our +Legislative Halls and in Congress, as a specimen of the highest form of +law ever sent to our world, and coming millions will read your history, +and bless you as one who was afflicted for humanity’s sake.” It must be +acknowledged that this intelligent gentleman had some solid basis on which +he could defend this <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>extravagant opinion, namely: that God does sometimes +employ “the weak things of the world to confound the mighty.”</p> + +<p>These expressions must all be received as mere human opinions, and nothing +more. The book must stand just where its own intrinsic merits place it. If +it is ever published, it, like all other mere human productions, will find +its own proper level, and no opinions can change its real intrinsic +character. The great question with me is, how can I soonest earn the +$2,500.00 necessary to print it with? Should I ever be so fortunate as to +gain that amount by the sale of this pamphlet, I should feel that my great +life-work was done, so that I might feel at full liberty to rest from my +labors. But until then, I cheerfully labor and toil to accomplish it.</p> + + +<p class="center"><br />NOTE OF THANKS TO THE PRESS.</p> + +<p>In this connection, I deem it right and proper that I should acknowledge +the aid I have received from the public Press—those newspapers whose +manliness has prompted them to espouse the cause of woman, by using their +columns to help me on in my <ins class="correction" title="original: arduour">arduous</ins> enterprise. My object can only be +achieved, by enlightening the public mind into the need and necessities of +the case. The people do not make laws until they see the need of them. +Now, when one case is presented showing the need of a law to meet it, and +this is found to be a representative case, that is, a case fairly +representing an important class, then, and only till then, is the public +mind prepared to act efficiently in reference to it. And as the Press is +the People’s great engine of power in getting up an agitation on any +subject of public interest, it is always a great and desirable object to +secure its patronage in helping it forward. This help it has been my good +fortune to secure, both in Illinois and Massachusetts.</p> + +<p>And my most grateful acknowledgments are especially due the Journal of +Commerce of Chicago, also the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Times, the +Post, the New Covenant, and the North Western Christian Advocate. All +these Chicago Journals aided me more or less in getting up an agitation in +Illinois, besides a multitude of other papers throughout that State too +numerous to mention.</p> + +<p>Some of the papers in Massachusetts, to whom my acknowledgments are due, +are the Boston Journal, the Transcript, the Traveller, the Daily +Advertiser, the Courier, the Post, the Recorder, the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>Commonwealth, the +Investigator, the Nation, the Universalist, the Christian Register, the +Congregationalist, the Banner of Light, and the Liberator. All these +Boston Journals have aided me, more or less, in getting up an excitement +in Massachusetts, and bringing the subject before the Massachusett’s +Legislature. Many other papers throughout the State have noticed my cause +with grateful interest.</p> + +<p>As the public came to apprehend the merits of my case, and look upon it as +a mirror, wherein the laws in relation to married women are reflected, +they will doubtless join with me in thanks to these Journals who have been +used as means of bringing this light before them.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<h2>TESTIMONIALS.</h2> + +<p>Although my cause, being based in eternal truth, does not depend upon +certificates and testimonials to sustain it, and stands therefore in no +need of them; yet, as they are sometimes called for, as a confirmation of +my statements, I have asked for just such testimonials as the following +gentlemen felt self-moved to give me. I needed no testimonials while +prosecuting my business in Illinois, for the facts of the case were so +well known there, by the papers reporting my trial so generally. I needed +no other passport to the confidence of the public.</p> + +<p>But when I came to Boston to commence my business in Massachusetts, being +an entire stranger there, I found the need of some credentials or +testimonials in confirmation of my strange and novel statements. And it +was right and proper, under such circumstances, that I should have them. I +therefore wrote to Judge Boardman and Hon. S. S. Jones, my personal +friends, in Illinois, and told them the difficulty I found in getting my +story believed, and asked them to send me anything in the form of a +certificate, that they in their judgment felt disposed to send me, that +might help me in surmounting this obstacle. Very promptly did these +gentlemen respond to my request, and sent me the following testimonials, +which were soon printed in several of the Boston papers, with such +editorials accompanying them, as gave them additional weight and influence +in securing to me the confidence of the public.</p> + +<p>Judge Boardman is an old and distinguished Judge in Illinois, receiving, +as he justly merits, the highest esteem and confidence of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> +cotemporaries, as a distinguished scholar, an eminent Judge, and a +practical Christian.</p> + +<p>Mr. Jones is a middle aged man, of the same stamp as the Judge, receiving +proof of the esteem in which he is held by his cotemporaries, in being +sent to Congress by vote of Illinois’ citizens, and by having been for +successive years a member of the Legislature of that State. He was in that +position when he sent me his certificate.</p> + + +<p class="center"><br /><span class="smcap">Judge Boardman’s Letter.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><i>To all persons who would desire to give sympathy and encouragement to a +most worthy but persecuted woman!</i></p> + +<p>The undersigned, formerly from the State of Vermont, now an old resident +of the State of Illinois, would most respectfully and fraternally certify +and represent: That he has been formerly and for many years, associated +with the legal profession in Illinois, and is well known in the +north-eastern part of said State. That in the duties of his profession and +in the offices he has filled, he has frequently investigated, judicially, +and otherwise, cases of insanity. That he has given considerable attention +to medical jurisprudence, and studied some of the best authors on the +subject of insanity; has paid great attention to the principles and +philosophy of mind, and therefore would say, with all due modesty, that he +verily believes himself qualified to give an opinion entitled to +respectful consideration, on the question of the sanity or insanity of any +person with whom he may be acquainted. That he is acquainted with Mrs. E. +P. W. Packard, and verily believes her not only sane, but that she is a +person of very superior endowments of mind and understanding, naturally +possessing an exceedingly well balanced organization, which, no doubt, +prevented her from becoming insane, under the persecution, incarceration, +and treatment she has received. That Mrs. Packard has been the victim of +<i>religious bigotry</i>, purely so, without a single circumstance to alleviate +the darkness of the transaction! A case worthy of the palmiest days of the +inquisition!!</p> + +<p>The question may be asked, how this could happen, especially in Northern +Illinois? To which I answer that the common law prevails here, the same as +in other States, where this law has not been modified or set aside by the +statute laws, which gives the legal custody of the wife’s person, into the +hands of the husband, and therefore, a wife can only be released from +oppression, or even from <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>imprisonment by her husband, by the legal +complaint of herself, or some one in her behalf, before the proper +judicial authorities, and a hearing and decision in the case; as was +finally had in Mrs. Packard’s case, she having been in the first place, +taken by force, by her husband, and sent to the Insane Hospital, without +any opportunity to make complaint, or without any hearing or +investigation.</p> + +<p>But how could the Superintendent of the Insane Hospital be a party to so +great a wrong? Very easily answered, without necessarily impeaching his +honesty, when we consider that her alleged insanity was on religious +subjects; her husband a minister of good standing in his denomination, and +the Superintendent sympathizing with him, in all probability, in religious +doctrine and belief, supposed, of course, that she was insane. She was +legally sent to him, by the authority of her husband, as insane; and Mrs. +Packard had taught doctrines similar to the Unitarians and Universalists +and many radical preachers; and which directly opposed the doctrine her +husband taught, and the doctrine of the Church to which he and Mrs. +Packard belonged; the argument was, that of course the woman must be +crazy!! And as she persisted in her liberal sentiments, the Superintendent +persisted in considering that she was insane! However, whether moral blame +should attach to the Superintendent and Trustees of the Insane Hospital, +or not, in this transaction, other than prejudice, and learned ignorance; +it may now be seen, from recent public inquiries and suggestions, that it +is quite certain, that the laws, perhaps in all the States in relation to +the insane, and their confinement and treatment, have been much abused, by +the artful and cunning, who have incarcerated their relatives for the +purpose of getting hold of their property; or for difference of opinion as +to our state and condition in the future state of existence, or religious +belief.</p> + +<p>The undersigned would further state: That the published account of Mrs. +Packard’s trial on the question of her sanity, is no doubt perfectly +reliable and correct. That the Judge before whom she was tried, is a man +of learning, and ability, and high standing in the judicial circuit, in +which he presides. That Mrs. Packard is a person of strict integrity and +truthfulness, whose character is above reproach. That a history of her +case after the trial, was published in the daily papers in Chicago, and in +the newspapers generally, in the State; arousing at the time, a public +feeling of indignation against the author of her persecution, and sympathy +for her; that nothing has transpired<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> since, to overthrow or set aside the +verdict of popular opinion; that it is highly probable that the +proceedings in this case, so far as the officers of the State Hospital for +the insane are concerned, will undergo a rigid investigation by the +Legislature of the State.</p> + +<p>The undersigned understands that Mrs. Packard does not ask pecuniary +charity, but that sympathy and paternal assistance which may aid her to +obtain and make her own living, she having been left by her husband, +without any means, or property whatever.</p> + +<p>All of which is most fraternally and confidently submitted to your kind +consideration.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">William A. Boardman.</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Waukegan, Ill., Dec. 3, 1864.</span></p> + + +<p class="center"><br /><span class="smcap">Hon. S. S. Jones’ Letter.</span></p> + +<p>“<i>To a kind and sympathizing public</i>:—</p> + +<p>This is to certify that I am personally acquainted with Mrs. E. P. W. +Packard, late an inmate of the Insane Asylum of the State of Illinois. +That Mrs. Packard was a victim of a foul and cruel conspiracy I have not a +single doubt, and that she is and ever has been as sane as any other +person, I verily believe. But I do not feel called upon to assign reasons +for my opinion, in the premises, as her case was fully investigated before +an eminent Judge of our State, and after a full and careful examination, +she was pronounced sane, and restored to liberty.</p> + +<p>Still I repeat, but for the cruel conspiracy against her, she could not +have been incarcerated, as a lunatic, in an asylum. Whoever reads her full +and fair report of her case, will be convinced of the terrible conspiracy +that was practiced towards a truly thoughtful and accomplished lady. A +conspiracy worthy of a demoniac spirit of ages long since passed, and such +as we should be loth to believe could be practiced in this enlightened +age, did not the records of our court verify its truth.</p> + +<p>To a kind and sympathizing public I commend her. The deep and cruel +anguish she has had to suffer, at the hands of those who should have been +her protectors, will, I doubt not, endear her to you, and you will extend +to her your kindest sympathy and protection.</p> + +<p>Trusting through her much suffering the public will become more +enlightened, and that our noble and benevolent institutions—the asylums +for the insane—will never become perverted into institutions<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> of cruelty +and oppression, and that Mrs. Packard may be the last subject of such a +conspiracy as is revealed in her books, that will ever transpire in this +our State of Illinois, or elsewhere.</p> + +<p class="right">Very respectfully,<span class="spacer"> </span><span class="smcap">S. S. Jones</span>.”</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">St. Charles, Ill., Dec. 2, 1864.</span></p> + + +<p class="center"><br /><span class="smcap">Editorial Remarks.</span></p> + +<p>“Assuming, as in view of all the facts it is our duty to do, the +correctness of the statements made by Mrs. Packard, two matters of vital +importance demand consideration:</p> + +<p>1. What have ‘the rulers in the church’ done about the persecution? They +have not publicly denied the statements; virtually (on the principle that +under such extraordinary circumstances silence gives consent,) they +concede their correctness. Is the wrong covered up? the guilty party +allowed to go unchallenged lest “the cause” suffer by exposure? If they +will explain the matter in a way to exculpate the accused, these columns +shall be prompt to do the injured full and impartial justice. We are +anxious to know what they have to say in the premises. If Mrs. Packard +<i>is</i> insane because she rejects Calvinism, then <i>we</i> are insane, liable to +arrest, and to be placed in an insane asylum! We have a <i>personal</i> +interest in this matter.</p> + +<p>2. Read carefully Judge Boardman’s statement as to the bearing of “common +law” on Mrs. Packard’s case. If a bad man, hating his wife and wishing to +get rid of her, is base enough to fabricate a charge of insanity, and can +find two physicians “in regular standing” foolish or wicked enough to give +the legal certificate, the wife is helpless! The “common law” places her +wholly at the mercy of her brutal lord. Certainly the statute should +interfere. Humanity, not to say Christianity, demands, that special +enactments shall make impossible, such atrocities as are alleged in the +case of Mrs. Packard—atrocities which, according to Judge Boardman, <i>can</i> +be enacted in the name of “common law.” We trust the case now presented +will have at least the effect, to incite Legislative bodies to such +enactments as will protect women from the possibility of outrages, which, +we are led to fear, ecclesiastical bodies had rather cover up, than expose +and rebuke to the prejudice of sectarian ends—the ‘sacred cause.’”</p> + + +<p><br />As I have said, there was a successful effort made in the Massachusett’s +Legislature to change the laws in reference to the mode<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> of commitment +into Insane Asylums that winter, 1865, and as Hon. S. E. Sewall was my +“friend and fellow laborer,” as he styles himself, in that movement, I +made application to him this next winter, for such a recommend as I might +use to aid me in bringing this subject before the Illinois’ Legislature +this winter, for the purpose of getting a change in their laws also. But +finding that the Illinois’ Legislature do not meet this year, I have had +no occasion to use it, as I intended. Having it thus on hand, I will add +this to the foregoing.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Hon. S. E. Sewall’s Testimonial.</span></p> + +<p>“I have been acquainted with Mrs. E. P. W. Packard for about a year, +I believe. She is a person of great religious feeling, high moral +principle, and warm philanthropy. She is a logical thinker, a +persuasive speaker, and such an agitator, that she sometimes succeeds +where a man would fail. I think she will be very useful in the cause +to which she has devoted herself, I mean procuring new laws to +protect married women.</p> + +<p>I give Mrs. Packard these lines of recommendation, because she has +asked for them. I do not think them at all necessary, for she can +recommend herself, far better than I can.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">S. E. Sewall.</span>”</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Boston, Nov. 27, 1865.</span></p></div> + +<p><br />After these testimonials, and the editorial remarks accompanying them had +appeared in these Boston journals, Mr. Packard sent various articles to +these journals in reply, designing to counteract their legitimate +influence in defence of my course. Some of these articles were published, +and many were refused, by the editors. The “Universalist,” and the “Daily +Advertiser,” published a part of his voluminous defence, which was made up +almost entirely of certificates and credentials, but no denial of the +truth of the general statement. The chief point in his defence which he +seemed the most anxious to establish was, that my trial was not correctly +reported—and not a fair trial—a mere mob triumph, instead of a triumph +of justice. One of these papers, containing his impeachments of the court, +was sent to Kankakee City, Illinois, where the court was held, and +elicited many prompt and indignant replies. An article soon appeared in +the Kankakee paper, on this subject, stating his defamations against the +judge, lawyers, and jury, and then added, “Mr. Packard is both writing his +wife into notoriety, and himself into infamy,” by his publishing such +statements, as he would not dare to publish in Illinois;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> and it was +astonishing to them, how such a paper as the Boston “Daily Advertiser,” +should allow such scandals respecting the proceedings of Illinois’ courts +to appear in its columns. I will here give entire only one of the many +articles sent to the Boston papers in reply. This article was headed,</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">The Reply of the Reporter of Mrs. Packard’s Trial, to +Rev. Theophilus Packard’s Charge of Misrepresentation.</span></p> + +<p>“<i>To the Editors of the Boston Daily Advertiser</i>:—</p> + +<p>In the supplement of the Boston Daily Advertiser of May 3d, appears a +collection of certificates, introduced by Rev. Theophilus Packard, +which requires a notice from me. These certificates are introduced +for one or two purposes. First, either to prove that the report of +the trial of Mrs. Elizabeth Packard, held before the Hon. C. R. +Starr, Judge of the Second Judicial Circuit of the State of Illinois, +on the question of her insanity, as published in the “Great Drama,” +is false; or, secondly, to prove to the readers of the Advertiser +that Mr. Packard is not so bad a man as those who read the trial +would be likely to suppose him to be.</p> + +<p>In determining the truth of the statements of any number of persons +relative to any given subject, it is always profitable to inquire who +the persons that make the statements are, what is their relation to +the subject-matter, and what their means of information.</p> + +<p>I entered upon the defence of Mrs. Packard without any expectation of +fee or reward, except such as arises from a consciousness of having +discharged my duty toward a helpless and penniless woman, who was +either indeed insane, or was most foully dealt with by him who had +sworn to love, cherish and protect her. I was searching for the +truth. I did then no more and no less than I should do for any person +who claimed that their sacred rights were daily violated, and life +made a burden most intolerable to be borne, by repeated wrongs.</p> + +<p>The report was made from written notes of the testimony taken during +the trial. And this is the first time I ever heard the correctness of +the report called in question. It would be very unlikely that I +should make an incorrect report of an important case, which I knew +would be read by my friends and business acquaintances, and which (if +incorrect) would work a personal injury. Policy and selfish motives +would prevent me from making an incorrect report, if I was guided by +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>nothing higher.</p> + +<p>The first certificate presented is signed by Deacon A. H. Dole, and +Sibyl T. Dole, who are the sister and brother-in-law of Mr. Packard, +and, as the trial shows, his <i>co-conspirators</i>; J. B. Smith, another +of his deacons, who was a willing tool in the transaction; and Miss +Sarah Rumsey, another member of his Church, who went to live with Mr. +Packard when Mrs. Packard was first kidnapped. Let Jeff. Davis be put +on trial, and then take the certificates of Mrs. Surratt, Payne, +Azteroth, Arnold, Dr. Mudd and George N. Saunders, and I am led to +believe they would make out Jeff. to be a “Christian President,” whom +the barbarous North were trying to murder. Their further certificate +“that the disorderly demonstrations by the furious populace, filling +the Court House while we were present at the said trial, were well +calculated to prevent a fair trial,” is simply bosh, but is on a par +with the whole certificate. It is a reflection upon the purity of our +judicial system, and upon our Circuit Court, that they would not make +at home. And I can only account for its being made on the supposition +that it would not be read in Illinois. “The furious populace” +consisted of about two hundred ladies of our city who visited the +trial until it was completed, because they felt a sympathy for one of +their own sex, whose treatment had become notorious in our city. The +conspirators allege that Mrs. Packard is insane. They each swore to +this on the trial, but a jury of twelve men after hearing the whole +case, upon their oaths said in effect they did not believe these +witnesses, for by their verdict they found her <span class="smcaplc">SANE</span>.</p> + +<p>The second certificate is from Samuel Packard. It is a sufficient +answer to this to say that he is the son of Mr. Packard, and entirely +under his father’s control, and that it is apparent upon the document +that the boy never wrote a word of it.</p> + +<p>Then follows a certificate from Lizzie, who takes umbrage because I +called her in the report the “little daughter” of Mrs. Packard, and +is made to say pertly she was then <i>fourteen</i>. She then acted like a +good daughter, who loved her mother dearly, and her size and age +never entered into the consideration of the audience of ladies whose +hearts were touched and feelings stirred, till the fountain of their +tears was broken, by the kind and natural emotions which were then +exhibited by the mother and daughter. When Mrs. Packard was put in +the hospital Lizzie was about ten years old, and a thinking public +will determine what judgment she could then form about her mother’s +“religious notions” and her “insanity,” “to the great sorrow of all +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>our family.”</p> + +<p>One word further upon the certificate of Thomas P. Bonfield, and I +will close. He says that the trial commenced very soon after the writ +of habeas corpus was served on Mr. Packard, and therefore he could +not obtain his evidence, and was prevented from obtaining the +attendance of Dr. McFarland, Superintendent of the Insane Hospital of +Illinois. Dr. McFarland was the only witness whose attendance Mr. +Packard’s counsel expressed a desire for that was not present. They +had his certificate that Mrs. Packard was insane, which they used as +evidence, and which went to the jury. The defence had no opportunity +for cross-examination, while Mr. Packard thus got the benefit of +McFarland’s evidence that she was insane, with no possibility of a +contradiction. What more could he have had if the witness had been +present?</p> + +<p>The certificate further states that “a large portion of the community +were more intent on giving Presbyterianism a blow than on +investigating, or leaving the law to investigate, the question of +Mrs. Packard’s insanity.” Well, what did the “feelings” of the +community have to do with the court and jury? You selected the jury. +You said they were good men. If not good, you could have rejected +them. The presiding judge is a member of the Congregational Church, +which is nearly allied to the Presbyterian. Five of the twelve +jurymen were regular attendants of the Presbyterian Church. No +complaint was then made that you could not have a fair trial. If +Packard believed he could not, the statute of Illinois provides for a +change of venue, which petition for a change of venue you had Mr. +Packard sign, but which you concluded not to present, because you +thought it would <i>not</i> be granted. If you thought it would not be +granted, it was because you did not have a case that the venue could +be changed, because when the proper affidavit is made for a change of +venue, the Court has no power to refuse the application. The trial +was conducted as all trials are conducted in Boston or in Illinois, +and the verdict of the jury pronounced Mrs. Packard sane.</p> + +<p>The published report of the trial is made. It no doubt presents Mr. +Packard and his confederates in a very unfavorable light, but it is +just as they presented themselves. If they do not like the picture +they should not have presented the original.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Stephen R. Moore.</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Kankakee, Ill., May 16, 1865.</span></p></div> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p> +<h2>CONCLUSION.</h2> + +<p>In view of the above facts and principles on which this argument of +“Self-defence from the charge of Insanity” is based, I feel sure that the +array of sophisms which Mr. Packard may attempt to marshall against it, +will only be like arguing the sun out of the heavens at noon-day. He is +the only one who has ever dared to bring personal evidence of insanity +against me, so far as my knowledge extends. Others believe me to be +insane, but it is on the ground of his <i>testimony</i>, not from personal +proof, by my own words and actions, independent of the coloring <i>he</i> has +put upon them.</p> + +<p>For example, I find he has reported as proof of my insanity, “that I have +punished the children for obeying him.” Had this been the case, in the +sense in which he meant it to be understood, it would look like an insane, +or at least very improper, act. But it is not true that I ever punished a +child for obeying their father; but on the contrary, have exacted implicit +obedience to their father’s wishes and commands, and have even enforced +this, my own command, by punishments, to <i>compel</i> them to respect their +father’s authority, by obeying his commands.</p> + +<p>But this I have also done. I have maintained the theory, by logic and +practice both, that a mother had a right to enforce her own reasonable +commands—that her authority to do so was delegated to her by God himself, +and not by her husband—and that this right to command being delegated to +her by God himself, as the God given right identified with her maternity, +the husband had no right to interfere or usurp this God bestowed right +from the wife. But on the contrary, it was the husband’s duty, as the +wife’s God appointed protector, to see that this right was defended to the +wife by his authority over the children, requiring of them obedience to +her commands, as one whose authority they must respect. Yes, I have +trained my children to respect my authority as a God delegated authority, +equal in power, <i>in my sphere</i>, to their father’s God delegated authority. +And farther, I have taught them, that I had no right to go out of <i>my +sphere</i> and interfere with their father’s authority in his sphere; neither +had their father a right to trespass upon my sphere, and counter order my +commands. I maintain, that the one who commands is the only rightful one +to countermand. Therefore, the father has no right to countermand the +mother’s orders, except <i>through her</i>; neither has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> the mother a right to +countermand the father’s order, except through <i>him</i>. Here is the +principle of “equal rights,” which our government is bound to respect. And +it is because they do not respect it, that my husband has usurped all my +maternal rights, thus proving himself traitor, not only to his own +manliness, but traitor to the principles of God’s government.</p> + +<p>But as this is a volume of facts, rather than theories, I will add one +fact in vindication of my assertion, that I uniformly taught my children +to respect their father’s authority. When I was incarcerated in my prison, +my oldest son, Theophilus, was in the post-office in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, +as clerk, and had not seen me for two years. His regard for me was +excessive. He had been uniformly filial, and very kind to me, and +therefore when he learned that his loving mother was a prisoner in a +lunatic asylum, he felt an unconquerable desire to see me, and judge for +himself, whether I was really insane, or whether I was the victim of his +father’s despotism. His father, aware of this feeling, and fearing he +might ascertain the truth respecting me, by some means, sent him a letter, +commanding him not to write to his mother now in the asylum, and by no +means visit her there, adding, if he did so, he should disinherit him.</p> + +<p>Theophilus was now eighteen years of age, and, as yet, had never known +what it was to disobey either his father’s or mother’s express commands. +But now his love for his mother led him to question the justice of this +seemingly arbitrary command, and he, fearful of trusting to his own +judgment in this matter, sought advice from those who had once been Mr. +Packard’s church members and deacons in Mt. Pleasant, and from all he got +the same opinion strongly defended, that he had a right to disobey <i>such</i> +a command. He therefore ventured to visit his mother in her lonely prison +home in defiance of his father’s edict. I was called from my ward to meet +my darling first-born son in the reception room, when I had been in my +prison about two months. After embracing me and kissing me with all the +fondness of a most loving child, and while shedding our mutual tears of +ecstasy at being allowed once more to meet on earth, he remarked, “Mother, +I don’t know as I have done right in coming to see you as I have, for +father has forbid my coming, and you have always taught me never to +disobey my father.”</p> + +<p>“Disobeyed your father!” said I. “Yes, I have always taught you it was a +sin to disobey him, and I do fear you have done wrong, if you have come to +see me in defiance of your father’s command.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> You know we can never claim +God’s blessing in doing wrong, and fear our interview will not be a +blessing to either of us, if it has been secured at the price of +disobedience to your father’s command.”</p> + +<p>Here his tears began to flow anew, while he exclaimed, “I was afraid it +would prove so! I was afraid you would not approve of my coming! But, +mother, I could not bear to feel that you had become insane, and I could +not believe it, and would not, until I had seen you myself; and now I see +it is just as I expected, you are not insane, but are the same kind mother +as ever. But I am sorry if I have done wrong by coming.”</p> + +<p>I wept. He wept. I could not bear to blame my darling boy. And must I? was +the great question to be settled. “My son,” said I, “let us ask God to +settle this question for us,” and down we both kneeled by the sofa, and +with my arm around my darling boy, I asked God if I should blame him for +coming to see me in defiance of his father’s order. While asking for +heavenly wisdom to guide us in the right way, the thought came to me, “go +and ask Dr. McFarland.”</p> + +<p>I accordingly went to the Doctor’s parlor, where I found him alone, +reading his paper. I said to him, “Doctor, I have a question of conscience +to settle, and I have sought your help in settling it, namely, has my son +done wrong to visit me, when his father has forbid his coming, and has +threatened to disinherit him if he did? He has the letter with him showing +this to be the case.”</p> + +<p>After thinking a moment, the Doctor simply replied, “Your son had a +<i>right</i> to visit his mother!”</p> + +<p>O, the joy I felt at this announcement! It seemed as if a mountain had +been lifted from me, so relieved was I of my burden. With a light heart I +sought my sobbing boy, and encircling my arms about his neck, exclaimed, +“Cheer up! my dear child, you had a <i>right</i> to visit your mother! so says +the Doctor.”</p> + +<p>Why was this struggle with our consciences? Was it not that we had trained +them to respect paternal authority? Can testimony, however abundant, +change this truth into a falsehood?</p> + +<p>That principle of self-defence, which depends wholly on certificates and +testimonials, instead of the principle of right, truth and justice, is not +able to survive the shock which the revelation of truth brings against it. +A lie, however strongly fortified by testimonials and certificates, can +never be transformed into a truth. Neither can the truth, however single, +and isolated, and alone, be its condition, can never be transformed into a +lie, nor crushed out of existence. No.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> The truth will stand alone, and +unsupported. Its own weight, simply, gives it firmness to resist all +shocks brought against it, to produce its overthrow. Like the house built +upon a rock, it needs no props, no certificates, to sustain it. Storms of +the bitterest persecution may beat piteously upon it, but they cannot +overthrow it, for its foundation is the rock of eternal truth. But lies, +are like the house built upon the sand. While it does stand, it needs +props or certificates on all sides, to sustain it. And it cannot resist +the storm even of a ventilating breeze upon it, for it must and will fall, +with all its accumulated props, before one searching investigation; and +the more props it has so much the more devastation is caused by its +overthrow.</p> + +<p>And here I wish to add, that it was not because Mr. Packard was a +minister, that bigotry had power thus to triumph over his manliness, but +because he was a man, liable to be led astray from the paths of rectitude +as other human beings are. The ministerial office does not insure men +against the commission of sins of the darkest hue, for the ministry is +composed of men, who are subject to like frailties and passions as other +men are; and ministers, like all other men, must stand just where their +own actions will place them, not where their position ought always to find +them. They ought to be men whose characters should be unimpeached. But +they are not all so. Neither are all other men what they should be in +their position. It is as much the duty of the minister to be true to +himself—true to the instincts of his God-like nature, as it is other men. +And any deviation from the path of rectitude which would not be tolerated +in any other man, ought not to be tolerated in a minister. In short, +ministers must stand on a common level with the rest of the human race in +judgment. That is, they, like others, must stand just where their own +conduct and actions place them. If their conduct entitles them to respect, +we should respect them. But if their conduct makes them unworthy of our +respect and confidence, it is a sin to bestow it upon them; for this very +respect which we give them <ins class="correction" title="original: ander">under</ins> such circumstances, only countenances +their sins, and encourages them in iniquity, and thus puts their own souls +in jeopardy, as well as reflects guilt on those who thus helped them work +out their own destruction, when they ought to have helped them work out +their own repentance for evil doing.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p> +<h2>AN APPEAL TO THE GOVERNMENT.</h2> + +<p>As my case now stands delineated by the foregoing narrative, all the +States on this continent can see just where the common law places all +married women. And no one can help saying, that any law that can be used +in support of such a persecution, is a disgrace to any +government—Christian or heathen. It is not only a disgrace, a blot on +such a government, but it is a crime, against God and humanity, to let +confiding, trusting woman, be so unprotected in law, from such outrageous +abuses.</p> + +<p>Mr. Packard has never impeached my <i>conduct</i> in a single instance, that I +know of; neither has he ever charged me guilty of one insane <i>act</i>—except +that of teaching my children doctrines which I believed, and he did not! +This is all he ever alleges against me. He himself confirms the testimony +of all my friends, that I always did discharge my household duties in a +very orderly, systematic, kind, and faithful manner. In short, they +maintain that I, during all my married life, have been a very +self-sacrificing wife and mother, as well as an active and exemplary +co-worker with him in his ministerial duties.</p> + +<p>Now I have mentioned these facts, not for self-glorification, but for this +reason, that it may be seen that <i>good conduct</i>, even the best and most +praiseworthy, does not protect a married woman from the most flagrant +wrongs, and wrongs, too, for which she has no redress in the present laws. +If a man had suffered a tithe of the wrongs which I have suffered, the +laws stand ready to give him redress, and thus shield him from a +repetition of them. But not so with me. I must suffer not only this tithe, +with no chance of redress, but ten times this amount, and no redress then. +I even now stand exposed to a life-long imprisonment, so long as my +husband lives, while I not only have never committed any crime, but on the +contrary, have ever lived a life of self-sacrificing benevolence, ever +toiling for the best interests of humanity.</p> + +<p>Think again. After this life of faithful service for others, I am thrown +adrift, at fifty years of age, upon the cold world, with no place on earth +I can call home, and not a penny to supply my wants with, except what my +own exertion secures to me. Why is this? Because he who should have been +my protector, has been my robber, and has stolen all my life-long +earnings. And yet the law does not call this stealing, because the husband +is legally authorized to steal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> from the wife without leave or license +from her! Now, I say it is a poor rule that don’t work both ways. Why +can’t the wife steal all the husband has? I am sure she can’t support +herself as well as he can, and the right of justice seems to be on our +side, in our view.</p> + +<p>But this is not what we want; we don’t wish to rob our husbands, we only +want they should be stopped from robbing us. We just ask for the +reasonable right to use our own property as if it were our own, that is, +just as we please, just according to the dictates of our own judgment. And +when we insist upon this right, we <ins class="correction" title="original: dont">don’t</ins> want our husbands to have power to +imprison us for so doing, as my husband did me. It was in this manner that +I insisted upon my right to my property, with this fatal issue resulting +from it.</p> + +<p>While the discussions in our Bible-class were at the culminating point of +interest, Mr. Packard came to my room one day and made me the following +proposition: “Wife,” said he, “how would you like to go to your brother’s +in Batavia, and make a visit?”</p> + +<p>Said I, “I should like it very well, since my influenza has in some degree +prostrated my strength, so that I need a season of rest; and besides, I +should like an excuse for retiring from this Bible-class excitement, since +the burden of these discussions lies so heavily upon me, and if it is not +running from my post of duty, I should like to throw off this mental +burden also, and rest for a season at least.”</p> + +<p>He replied, “You have not only a perfect right to go, but I think it is +your duty to go and get recruited.”</p> + +<p>“Very well,” said I, “then I will go, and go, too, with the greatest +pleasure. But how long do you think I had better make my visit?”</p> + +<p>“Three months.”</p> + +<p>“Three months!” said I, “Can you get along without me three months? and +what will the children do for their summer clothes without me to make +them?”</p> + +<p>“I will see to that matter; you must stay three months, or not go at all.”</p> + +<p>“Well, I am sure I can stand it to rest that length of time, if you can +stand it without my services. So I will go. But I must take my baby and +daughter with me, as they have not fully recovered from their influenzas, +and I should not dare to trust them away from me.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, you may take them.”</p> + +<p>“I will then prepare myself and them to go just as soon as you see fit to +send us. Another thing, husband,” said I, “I shall want ten dollars of my +patrimony money to take with me for spending<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> money.” (This patrimony was +a present of $600.00 my father had recently sent me for my especial +benefit, and I had put it into Mr. Packard’s hands for safe keeping, +taking his note on interest as my only security, except with this note he +gave me a written agreement, that I should have not only the interest, but +any part of the principal, by simply asking him for it whenever I wanted +it. When he absconded he took not only all this my money patrimony with +him, but also stole all my notes and private papers likewise.)</p> + +<p>“This you can’t have,” said he.</p> + +<p>“Why not? I shall need as much as this, to be absent three months with two +sick children. I may need to call a Doctor to them, and, besides, my +brother is poor, and I am rich comparatively, and I might need some extra +food, such as a beef-steak, or something of the kind, and I should not +like to ask him for it. And besides, I have your written promise that I +may have my own money whenever I want it, and I do want ten dollars of it +now; and I think it is no unreasonable amount to take with me.”</p> + +<p>“I don’t think it is best to let you have it. I shan’t trust you with +money.”</p> + +<p>“Shan’t trust me with money! Why not? Have I ever abused this trust? Do +not I always give you an exact account of every cent I spend? And I will +this time do so; and besides, if you cannot trust it with me, I will put +it into brother’s hands as soon as I get there, and not spend a cent but +by his permission.”</p> + +<p>“No, I shall not consent to that.”</p> + +<p>“One thing more I will suggest. You know Batavia people owe you twelve +dollars for preaching one Sabbath, and you can’t get your pay. Now, +supposing brother ‘dun’ and get it, may I not use this money if I should +chance to need it in an emergency; and if I should not need any, I won’t +use a cent of it? Or, I will write home to you and ask permission of <i>you</i> +before spending a dollar of it.”</p> + +<p>“No. You shall neither have any money, nor have the control of any, for I +can’t trust you with any.”</p> + +<p>“Well, husband, if I can’t be trusted with ten dollars of my own money +under these circumstances, and with all these provisions attached to it, I +should not think I was capable of being trusted with two sick children +three months away from home wholly dependent on a poor brother’s +charities. Indeed, I had rather stay at home and not go at all, rather +than go under such circumstances.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>“You shall not go at all;” replied he, in a most excited, angry, tone of +voice. “You shall go into an Insane Asylum!”</p> + +<p>“Why, husband!” said I; “I did not suspect <i>such</i> an alternative. I had +rather go to him penniless, and clotheless even, than go into an Asylum!”</p> + +<p>“You have lost your last chance. You <i>shall</i> go into an Asylum!”</p> + +<p>And so it proved. It was my last chance. In a few days I was kidnapped and +locked up in my Asylum prison for life, so far as <i>he</i> was concerned.</p> + +<p>Now, I ask any developed man, who holds property which is rightfully his +own, and no one’s else, how he would like to exchange places with me, and +be treated just as I was treated. Now, I say it is only fair that the law +makers should be subject to their own laws. That is, they should not make +laws for others, that they would not be willing to submit to themselves in +exchange of circumstances. Just put the case to yourselves, and ask how +would you like to be imprisoned without any sort of trial, or any chance +at self-defence, and then be robbed of all your life earnings, by a law +which women made for your good (?) as your God appointed protectors! O, my +government—the men of these United States—do bear with me long enough to +just make our case your own for one moment, and then let me kindly ask you +this question.</p> + +<p>Won’t you please stop this robbery of our inalienable right to our own +property, by some law, dictated by some of your noble, manly hearts? Do +let us have a <i>right</i> to our own home—a <i>right</i> to our own earnings—a +<i>right</i> to our own patrimony. A right, I mean, as <i>partners</i> in the family +firm. We do not ask for a separate interest. We want an identification of +interests, and then be allowed a legal right to this common fund as the +<i>junior partners</i> of this company interest. We most cheerfully allow you +the rights of a senior partner; but we do not want you to be senior, +junior, and all, leaving us no rights at all, in a common interest.</p> + +<p>Again, we true, natural women, want our own children too—we can’t live +without them. We had rather die than have them torn from us as your laws +allow them to be. Only consider for one moment, what your laws are, in +relation to our own flesh and blood. The husband has all the children of +the married woman secured to himself, to do with them just as he pleases, +regardless of her protests, or wishes, or entreaties to the contrary; +while the children of the single women are all given to her as her right +by nature! Here the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> maternal nature of the single woman is respected and +protected, as it should be; while the nature of the married woman is +ignored and set at naught, and the holiest instinct of woman is trampled +in the dust of an utter despotism. In other words, the legitimate +offspring of the wife are not protected to her, but given to the husband, +while the illegitimate offspring of the unmarried women are protected to +her. So that the only way to be sure of having our maternity respected, +and our offspring legally protected to us, is to have our children in the +single instead of the married state!</p> + +<p>With shame I ask the question, does not our government here offer a +premium on infidelity? And yet this is a Christian government! Why can’t +the inalienable rights of the lawful wife be <i>as much</i> respected as those +of the open prostitute? I say, why? Is it because a woman has no +individuality, after she is joined to a man? Is her conscience, and her +reason, and her thoughts, all lost in him? So my case demonstrates the +<i>law</i> to be, when practically tested.</p> + +<p>And does not this legalized despotism put our souls in jeopardy, as well +as our bodies, and our children? It verily does. It was to secure the +interests of my immortal soul, that I have suffered all I have in testing +these despotic laws. I would have succumbed long ago, and said I believed +what I did not believe, had it not been that I cared more for the safety +of my own soul, that I did the temporal welfare of my own dear offspring.</p> + +<p>I could not be true to God, and also true to the mandates of a will in +opposition to God. And whose will was to be my guide, my husband’s will, +or God’s will? I deliberately chose to obey God rather than man, and in +that choice I made shipwreck of all my earthly good things.</p> + +<p>And one good thing I sorely disliked to lose, was my fair, untarnished +reputation and influence. This has been submerged under the insane +elements of this cruel persecution. But my character is not lost, thank +God! nor is it tarnished by this persecution. For my character stands +above the reach of slander to harm. Nothing can harm this treasure but my +own actions, and these are all guided and controlled by Him, for whose +cause I have suffered so much. Yes, to God’s grace alone, I can say it, +that from the first to the last of all my persecutions, I have had the +comforting consciousness of duty performed, and an humble confidence in +the approval of Heaven. Strong only in the justice of my cause, and in +faith in God, I have stood <i>alone</i>, and defied the powers of darkness to +cast me down to any <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>destruction, which extended beyond this life. And +this desperate treason against manliness which has sought to overwhelm me, +may yet be the occasion of the speedier triumph of my spiritual freedom, +and that also of my sisters in like bondage with myself.</p> + +<p>The laws of our government most significantly requires us, “to work out +our own salvation with much fear and trembling,” lest the iron will which +would hold us in subjection, should take from us all our earthly +enjoyments, if we dare to be true to the God principle within us. So +bitter has been my cup of spiritual suffering, while passing through this +crucible of married servitude, that it seems like a miracle almost, that I +have not been driven into insanity, or at least misanthropy by it. But a +happy elasticity of temperament conspired with an inward consciousness of +rectitude, and disinterestedness, has enabled me to despise these fiery +darts of the adversary, as few women could.</p> + +<p>And I cherish such a reverence for my nature, as God has made it, that I +cannot be transformed into a “man-hater.” I thank God, I was made, and +still continue to be, a “man-lover.” Indeed, my native respect for the +manhood almost approaches to the feeling of reverence, when I consider +that man is God’s representative to me—that he is endowed with the very +same attributes and feelings towards woman that God has—a protector of +the weak, not a subjector of them. It is the exceptions, not the masses of +the man race, who have perverted or depraved their God-like natures into +the subjectors of the dependent. The characteristic mark of this depraved +class is a “woman-hater,” instead or a “woman-lover,” as God, by nature +made him. This depraved class of men find their counterpart in those +women, who have perverted their natures from “men-lovers,” into +“men-haters.” And man, with a man-hating wife, may need laws to protect +his rights, as much as a woman, with a woman-hater for her husband. Laws +should take cognizance of <i>improper actions</i>, regardless of sex or +position.</p> + +<p>All we ask of our government is, to let us stand just where our actions +would place us, without giving us either the right or power to harm any +one, not even our own husbands. At least, give us the power to defend +ourselves, legally, against our husband’s abuses, since you have licensed +him with almost Almighty power to abuse us. And it will be taking from +these women-haters no right to take from them the right to abuse us. It +may, on the contrary, do them good, to be compelled to treat us with +justice, just as you claim that it will do the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> slave-holder good, to +compel him to treat his slave with justice. It is oppression and abuse +alone we ask you to protect us against, and this we are confident you will +do, as soon as you are convinced there is a need or necessity for so +doing. And I will repeat, it is for this purpose that I have, in this +pamphlet, delineated a subjected wife’s true, legal position, by thus +presenting my own personal, individual, experience for your consideration.</p> + +<p>In summing up this argument, based on this dark chapter of a married +woman’s bitter experience of the evils growing out of the law of married +servitude, I would close with a Petition to the Legislatures of all the +States of this Union, that they would so revolutionize their statute laws, +as to expunge them entirely from that most cruel and degrading kind of +despotism, which identifies high, noble woman as its victim. Let the +magnanimity of your holy, God-like natures, be reflected from your statute +books, in the women protective laws which emanate from them. And may God +grant that in each and all of these codes may soon be found such laws as +guarantee to married woman a <i>right</i> to her own home, and a <i>right</i> to be +the mistress of her own household, and a <i>right</i> to the guardianship of +her own minor children.</p> + +<p>In other words, let her be the legally acknowledged mistress of her own +household, and a co-partner, at least, in the interests and destiny of her +own offspring. Let the interests of the maternity be <i>as much</i> respected, +at least, as those of the paternity; and thus surround the hallowed place +of the wife’s and mother’s sphere of action, with a fortress so strong and +invincible, that the single will of a perverted man cannot overthrow it. +For home is woman’s proper sphere or orbit, where, in my opinion, God +designed she should be the sovereign and supreme; and also designed that +man should see that this sphere of woman’s sovereignty should be +unmolested and shielded from any invasions, either foreign or internal. In +other words, the husband is the God appointed agent to guard and protect +woman in this her God appointed orbit. Just as the moon is sovereign and +supreme in her minor orbit, being guarded and protected there by the +sovereign power of the sun, revolving in his mighty orbit.</p> + +<p>The appropriate sphere of woman being the home sphere, she should have a +legal right here, secured to her by statute laws, so that in case the man +who swore to protect his wife’s rights here, perjures himself by an +usurpation of her inalienable rights, she can have <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>redress, and thus +secure that protection in the <i>law</i>, which is denied her by her husband.</p> + +<p>In short, woman needs legal protection <i>as a married woman</i>. She has a +right to be a married woman, therefore she has a right to be protected <i>as +a married woman</i>. If she cannot have protection as a married woman, it is +not safe for her to marry; for my case demonstrates the fact, that the +good conduct of the wife is no guarantee of protection to her; neither is +the most promising developments of manhood, proof against depravity of +nature, approximating very near to the point of “total depravity,” and +then woe to that wife and mother, who has no protection except that of a +totally depraved man!</p> + +<p>But, some may argue, that woman is already recognized in several of the +States as an individual property owner, and as one who can do business on +a capital of her own, independent of her husband. Yes, we do most +gratefully acknowledge this as the day star of hope to us, that the tide +is even now set in the right direction. But allow me to say, this does not +reach the main point we are aiming to establish, which is, that woman +should be a legal <i>partner</i> in the family firm, not a mere appendage to +it. This principle of separating the interests of the married pair is not +wholesome nor salutary in its results. It tends towards an isolation of +interests; whereas it is an identification of interests, which the +marriage contract should form and cement. We want an equality of rights, +so far as copartners are concerned. These property rights should be so +identified as to command the mutual respect of partners, whose interests +are one and the same. In short, the wife should be the junior partner, and +law should recognize her as such, by protecting to her the rights of a +junior partner, and her husband should be the legally constituted senior +partner of the family firm. Then, and only till then, is she his companion +on an equality, in legal standing, with her husband, and sharing with him +the protection of that government, which she has done so much to sustain; +which government is based on the great fundamental principle of God’s +government, namely, an equality of rights to all accountable moral agents. +Our government can never echo this heavenly principle, until it defends +“equal rights,” independent of sex or color.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p> +<h2>APPENDIX.</h2> + +<p class="center"><br /><span class="smcap">Rev. Samuel Ware’s Certificate to the Public.</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>“This is to certify that the certificates which have appeared in public in +relation to my daughter’s sanity, were given upon the conviction that Mr. +Packard’s representations respecting her condition were true, and were +given wholly upon the authority of Mr. Packard’s own statements. I do +therefore certify that it is now my opinion that Mr. Packard has had no +cause for treating my daughter Elizabeth as an insane person.</p> + +<p class="right">SAMUEL WARE.</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Attest</i>, <span class="smcap">Olive Ware</span>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;"><span class="smcap">Austin Ware</span>.</span></p> + +<p>South Deerfield, Aug. 21, 1866.”</p></div> + +<p>The reader should be informed that the above certificate was given after I +had been a member of my father’s family for six months, thus affording him +ample opportunity to judge of my real condition, by his own personal +observation, since Mr. Packard, and his co-conspirator, Dr. McFarland, the +Superintendent of the Asylum, both insist upon it, that I am now in just +the same condition in reference to my sanity, that I was when I was +kidnapped and forced into my prison. Therefore, when my own dear father’s +eyes were fully opened to see the deception that had been employed to +secure his influence in support of this cruel conspiracy, he felt +conscience bound to give the above certificate in vindication of the +truth. Another evidence of my Father’s entire confidence in my sanity is +found in the fact that about this time he re-wrote his will, and so +changed it that, instead of now giving me my patrimony “in trust” as +before, he has bestowed it upon me, his only daughter, in precisely the +same manner, and upon equal terms every way with my two only brothers.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 1]</span></p> +<h2>MRS. PACKARD’S ADDRESS TO THE ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE.</h2> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Gentlemen of Illinois General Assembly</span>:</p> + +<p>Thankful for the privilege granted me, I will simply state that I desire +to explain my bill rather than defend it, since I am satisfied it needs no +defense to secure its passage by this gallant body of gentlemen.</p> + +<p>I desire to make this public statement of some of the facts of my personal +experience, relative to my incarceration in Jacksonville Insane Asylum, +that you, the law-makers of this State, may see from the standpoint of my +own individual wrongs, the legal liabilities to which all married women +and infants have been exposed for the last sixteen years, to false +imprisonments in Jacksonville Insane Asylum, under the act passed in 1851, +viz.:</p> + +<p>“Married women and infants who, in the judgment of the Medical +Superintendent,” (meaning the Superintendent of Illinois State Hospital +for the Insane,) “are evidently insane or distracted, may be entered or +detained in the hospital, on the request of the husband of the woman or +the guardian of the infant, <i>without</i> the evidence of insanity required in +other cases.”</p> + +<p>This act was nominally repealed in 1865; but, practically, is still +existing, in retaining those who have been previously entered without +evidence of insanity, and in receiving others, regardless of the law of +’65, which demands a fair trial of all before commitment. In short, the +present law is not in all cases enforced, but this unjust law is still in +practical force in many instances.</p> + +<p>Therefore, your petitioners, men of the first legal character and standing +in Chicago, in asking for the repeal of this unjust law, not only ask for +the enforcement of the new law by a penalty, but also that a jury trial +may be forthwith extended to the unfortunate victims of this unjust law, +who are now confined in Jacksonville Insane Asylum.</p> + +<p>In detailing the practical working of this law in my case, I must rely +upon your good sense to pardon the egotistical character of the following +statement.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 2]</span>I am a native of Massachusetts, the only daughter of an orthodox clergyman +of the Congregational denomination, and the wife of a Congregational +clergyman, who was preaching to a Presbyterian Church in Manteno, Kankakee +Co., Ill., when this legal persecution commenced.</p> + +<p>I have been educated a Calvinist, after the strictest sect, but as my +reasoning faculties have been developed by a thorough, scientific +education, I have been led, by the simple exercise of my own reason and +common sense, to endorse theological views, in conflict with my educated +belief and the creed of the church with which I am connected. In short, +from my present standpoint, I cannot but believe that the doctrine of +total depravity, (which is the great backbone of the Calvinistic system,) +conflicts with the dictates of reason, common sense, and the Bible.</p> + +<p>And, gentlemen, the only crime I have committed is to dare to be true to +these, my honest convictions, and to give utterance to these views in a +Bible class in Manteno, at the special request of the teacher of that +class, and with the full and free consent of my husband.</p> + +<p>But the popular endorsement of these new views by the class and the +community generally, led my husband and his Calvinistic Church to fear, +lest their Church creed would suffer serious detriment by this license of +private judgment and free inquiry, and as these liberal views emanated +from his own family, and he, (for reasons best known to himself,) +declining to meet me on the open arena of argument and free discussion, +chose, rather, to use this marital power which your laws license him to +use, and as this unjust law permits, and got me imprisoned at Jacksonville +Insane Asylum, without evidence of insanity, and without any trial, +hoping, as he told me, that by this means he could destroy my moral +influence, and thereby defend the cause of Christ; as he felt bound to do!</p> + +<p>It was under these circumstances I was legally kidnapped, as your laws +allow, and imprisoned three years at Jacksonville, simply for claiming a +right to my own thoughts. The first intimation I had of this legal +exposure, was by two men entering my room, on the 18th of June, 1860, and +kidnapping me. Two of his Church-members, attended by Sheriff Burgess of +Kankakee, took me up in their arms and carried me to the wagon, and thence +to the cars, in spite of my lady-like protests, and regardless of all my +entreaties for some sort of trial before imprisonment.</p> + +<p>My husband replied, “I am doing as the laws of Illinois allow me to +do—you have no protection in law but myself, and I am <span class="pagenum">[Pg 3]</span>protecting you +now; it is for your good I am doing this; I want to save your soul; you +don’t believe in total depravity; I want to make you right.”</p> + +<p>“Husband,” said I, “have not I a right to my opinion?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, you have a right to your opinions if you think right.”</p> + +<p>“But does not the constitution defend the right of religious tolerance to +all American citizens?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, to all citizens it does defend this right, but you are not a +citizen; while a married woman, you are a legal nonentity, without even a +soul in law. In short, you are dead as to any legal existence, while a +married woman, and therefore have no legal protection as a married woman.”</p> + +<p>Thus I learned my first lesson in that chapter of “common law,” which +denies to married woman a legal right to their own individuality or +identity.</p> + +<p>Here I was taken from my little family of six children, while my babe was +only eighteen months old, while in the faithful discharge of all my duties +as wife and mother, having done all my own work for twenty-one years, +besides educating our own children, and nearly fitting our oldest son for +college; in perfect health and sound mind, and forced into an imprisonment +of an indefinite length, without the mere form of a trial, and without any +chance at self-defense.</p> + +<p>True, my husband did even more than this “unjust law” demands, for he did +get the certificates of two orthodox physicians that I was insane—like +Henry Ward Beecher, and Horace Greeley, and Spurgeon, and three-fourths of +the religious community; and, besides, he obtained the names of forty +others, mostly his own Church members, who thus co-conspired to sustain +their minister in this mode of defending the cause of Christ against the +contagious influence of dangerous heresies and fatal errors.</p> + +<p>The influence of the community outside of the Church was thrown into the +opposite scale entirely; but their influence was overpowered by the +majesty of the law, added to the dignity of the pulpit. I was conveyed by +Sheriff Burgess, Deacon Dole and Mr. Packard to your State Hospital, in +defiance of the indignant community who had assembled at the depot in +large crowds to defend me. Dr. Simmington, the Methodist minister at +Manteno, remarked to me, “Mrs. Packard, you will not be there long,” and +plainly intimated that, in his opinion, no man was fit for his position +who would retain such an inmate as myself.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 4]</span>Dr. McFarland, of course, was obliged to receive me on this superabundant +testimony that I was an insane person, although he apologized to me +afterwards for receiving me at all, and for four months he treated me +himself, and caused me to be treated, with all the respect of a hotel +boarder. He even trusted me with the entire charge of a carriage load of +insane patients, and the care of my own team, fourteen times; sometimes I +would be absent nearly a half day on some pleasant excursion to the +fair-grounds or cemetery, and he never expressed the least solicitude for +our safe return. Indeed, he trusted me almost in every situation he would +trust the matron.</p> + +<p>But, at the expiration of this time, with no change whatever in my +deportment, I forfeited all his good-will and favors, by presenting him a +written reproof for his abuse of his patients, which was afterwards +printed, wherein I told him I should expose him when I got out, unless he +treated his patients with more justice.</p> + +<p>He then removed me from the best ward to the worst, where were confined +the most dangerous class of patients, and instructed his attendants to +treat me just as they did the maniacs, and be sure to keep me a close +prisoner, and on no account to allow me to leave the ward, and compel me +to sleep in a dormitory with from three to six crazy patients, where my +life was exposed, both night as well as day, with no room of my own to +flee to for safety from their insane flights and dangerous attacks.</p> + +<p>I have been dragged around this ward by the hair of my head by the +maniacs; I have received blows from them that almost killed me. My seat at +the table was by the side of Mrs. Triplet, the most dangerous and violent +patient in the whole ward, who almost invariably threatened to kill me +every time I went to the table. I have had to dodge the knives and forks +and tumblers and chairs which have been hurled in promiscuous profusion +about my head, to avoid some fatal blow. I have begged and besought Dr. +McFarland to remove me to some place of safety, where my life would not be +so exposed, only to see him turn, speechless, away from me! I have endured +the scent and filth of a ward, from which my delicate, sensitive nature +revolts in loathsome disgust, until I had had time to clean the whole ward +with my own hands, before it could be a decent place for human beings to +inhabit.</p> + +<p>From this eighth ward I was not removed until I was discharged, two years +and eight months from the day I was consigned to it. I did not set my foot +upon the ground in the mean time, although, for the last part of my +imprisonment there, Dr. McFarland exchanged<span class="pagenum">[Pg 5]</span> some of the noisiest and most +boisterous patients for a more quiet class.</p> + +<p>I have been threatened with the screen-room, and this threat has been +accompanied with the flourish of a butcher knife over my head, for simply +passing a piece of johnny-cake through a crack under my door to a hungry +patient, who was locked in her room to suffer starvation as her discipline +for her insanity.</p> + +<p>I have heard a fond and tender mother begging and pleading, for one whole +night and part of a day, for one drink of cold water, but all in vain! +simply because she had annoyed her attendant, by crying to see her darling +babe and dear little ones at home. I finally persuaded the matron, Mrs. +Waldo, to interpose, and give her a drink of water.</p> + +<p>There was but one of all the employees at that Asylum whom the Dr. could +influence to treat me, personally, like an insane person. This was Mrs. De +La Hay. Besides threatening me with the screen-room, as I have stated, she +threatened to jacket me for speaking at the table.</p> + +<p>One day, after she had been treating her patients with great injustice and +cruelty, I addressed Mrs. McKonkey, who sat next to me at the table, and +in an undertone remarked, “I am thankful there is a recording angel +present, noting what is going on in these wards;” when Mrs. De La Hay, +overhearing my remark, exclaimed in a very angry tone, “Mrs. Packard, stop +your voice! if, you speak another word at the table I shall put a straight +jacket on you!”</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lovel, one of the patients, replied, “Mrs. De La Hay, did you ever +have a straight jacket on yourself?”</p> + +<p>“No, my position protects me! but I would as soon put one on Mrs. Packard +as any other patient, ‘recording angel’ or no ‘recording angel,’ and Dr. +McFarland will protect me in doing so, too!”</p> + +<p>The indignant feeling of the house soon became so demonstrative, in view +of the treatment I was receiving, that the Dr. seemed compelled to +discharge Mrs. De La Hay to defend his own character from the charge of +abusing me, and Mrs. De La Hay soon after became insane, and a tenant of +Jacksonville poor-house.</p> + +<p>He cut me off from all written communication with the outside world, +except under the strictest censorship, and made it a dischargeable offence +of his employees to permit me to have any means of communication with the +outside world. He has refused Mrs. Judge Thomas and other friends, whom he +knew desired to comfort me with human sympathy and some choice viands, +admission into my presence, and has put them off with the inquiry, “why do +you wish<span class="pagenum">[Pg 6]</span> to single out Mrs. Packard from the other patients, to +administer to her comfort?” and when asked by his guests, who often +mistook me for the matron, “why he kept so intelligent a lady in an Insane +Asylum?” he would reply, “you must not take any notice of what a patient +says!” And the reply he would make to my indignant friends at the +hospital, who ventured sometimes to inquire “why are you treating Mrs. +Packard in this manner?” has invariably been, “it is all for her good!”</p> + +<p>Time will not allow me to detail my sufferings and persecutions at that +hospital; I will only add, may the Lord forgive Dr. McFarland for the +injustice I have suffered at his hands! And God grant that the legislature +of 1867 may have the moral courage to effectually remove the liabilities +to a repetition of wrongs like my own!</p> + +<p>Various attempts were made by my Manteno friends to rescue me, but all in +vain. My legal non-existence rendered it difficult to extend legal aid to +a nonentity, except it come through the identity of my only legal +protector, and so long as it was possible to cut me off from any direct +application for deliverance, he could ward off the habeas corpus +investigation they wished to institute, and as long as the Doctor claimed +I was insane, so long this unjust law consigned me to legal imprisonment. +My relatives and other friends applied to lawyers, judges and the Governor +in my behalf, but all in vain, as these officers were only authorized to +administer existing laws; they could neither repeal them nor act contrary +to them. On the 18th of June, 1863, I was finally removed from my asylum +prison, by order of the Trustees, as the result of a personal interview +which Dr. McFarland kindly consented to grant me, and put again into the +custody of my husband, who consigned me to a prison in my own house, +claiming, as his excuse, that I was just as insane as when I was entered +just three years previously, for I had neither recanted nor yielded my +right to my identity: therefore, in the judgment of your superintendent, I +am hopelessly insane, and am doomed, by his certificates, to a life-long +imprisonment in the Insane Asylum at Northampton, Mass., and my husband +was just on the point of starting with me for a consignment in that living +tomb, when he was arrested by a writ of habeas corpus, issued by judge +Starr, of <ins class="correction" title="original: Kankahee">Kankakee</ins> City, and used by my Manteno friends in defence of my +personal liberty. I was now where I could make direct application, by +passing a letter clandestinely through a crack in my window.</p> + +<p>The trial lasted five days, and resulted in a complete vindication of my +sanity, although his witnesses swore that it was evidence of<span class="pagenum">[Pg 7]</span> insanity for +a person to wish to leave a Presbyterian church and join a Methodist! A +full account of this trial is found in this “Three Years Imprisonment for +Religious Belief.” It was reported by one of my lawyers, and is an +impartial record of the whole case.</p> + +<p>During the trial, Mr. Packard “fled his country” in the night, to avoid +the danger of a mob retribution. He took with him all our personal +property, even my own wardrobe and children, and rented our home, so that +I found myself, at the close of court, homeless, penniless and childless.</p> + +<p>And this, gentlemen, is legal usurpation, also, on the slavish principle +of common law—the legal nonentity of the wife, the man and wife being +one, and the one, the man! Gentlemen, we married women need emancipation; +and will you not be the pioneer State in our Union, in woman’s +emancipation? and thus use my martyrdom for the identity of a married +woman, to herald this most glorious of all reforms—married woman’s legal +emancipation, from that of a slave in law, to that of a partner and +companion of her husband, in law, as she now is in society?</p> + +<p>And, lest there be a misunderstanding on this subject, permit me here to +explain what kind of slavery I refer to. This slavish position which the +principles of common law assigns the married woman, is a relic of +barbarism, which the progress of civilization will, doubtless, ere long, +annihilate. In the dark ages, married woman was a slave to her husband, +both socially and legally, but, as civilization has progressed, she has +outgrown her social position—that of a slave—and is now regarded in +society as the companion and partner of her husband. But the law has not +progressed with civilization, so that married woman is still a slave, +legally, while she is his companion, socially.</p> + +<p>Man, we know, is woman’s natural protector, and, in most instances, is all +the protection a married woman needs. Still, as the laws are made for the +exceptional cases, where man is not a law unto himself, what can be the +harm in emancipating woman from this slavish position, so that she can +receive governmental protection of her right to “life, liberty and the +pursuit of happiness,” as well as the marital protection? So, in case +where the marital fails, she can have legal protection, while married as +well as when single. Then when your darling daughter is called to exchange +the paternal protection for the marital, she will not be obliged to +alienate her right to governmental protection by this exchange of her +natural protectors, but she, the tenderest and the best, can then claim of +her government,<span class="pagenum">[Pg 8]</span> while a married woman, the same protection of her rights +as a woman, which your sons now claim as men.</p> + +<p>The need of this radical change in married woman’s legal position, is more +fully elucidated in this book, which contains a detailed account of my +persecutions in Illinois, when your State hospital was used, in my case, +as inquisition. My object in bringing these facts to your notice is to +secure legislative action, where these facts show the need of action.</p> + +<p>In conclusion, gentlemen of this Assembly, may I be allowed to read a few +extracts from Dr. McFarland’s published letters on this subject, showing, +from his own words, his ground of self-defense.</p> + +<p>The Doctor says: “All Mrs. Packard’s wrongs, persecutions and sufferings, +of every description, are utterly the creation of a diseased imagination.”</p> + +<p>Now, I ask, is this so? Can facts be transmuted into fiction by the simple +assertion of one man? And is it a mere creation of a diseased imagination +that has torn me from my helpless babe and deprived my darling children of +a fond mother’s tender care? Is it the mere creation of a diseased +imagination to find that good conduct, not even the best, is any guarantee +of protection to a wife and mother under Illinois laws?</p> + +<p>Neither Dr. McFarland nor Mr. Packard himself, has ever denied one of the +facts in the statement I have made; but as their only justification, they +claim that I am insane—and the only proof of insanity they have ever +brought in support of this opinion is, “her views of things,” as the +Doctor expresses himself, or, my private, individual opinions.</p> + +<p>Now I wish to ask the gentlemen of this Assembly, if, for my using my +right of opinion, or my right of private judgment, the public sentiment of +this age is going to justify Illinois in keeping me a prisoner three +years, under the subterfuge of insanity, based wholly upon my “views of +things?”</p> + +<p>Just consider, for one moment, the principle. Here my personal liberty, +for life, hangs suspended wholly on the opinion of this one man, whom +policy or interest might tempt to say I was insane when I was not; for +this law expressly states that the class I represent may be imprisoned +without evidence of insanity, and without trial!</p> + +<p>Just make the case your own, gentlemen: would it be easy for you to +realize that it was a mere creation of your imagination to have two men +take you by force from your business and family, without evidence of +insanity and without trial, and your kidnappers claim<span class="pagenum">[Pg 9]</span> as their only +justification, that you are insane on some point in your religious belief, +simply because Dr. McFarland says you are, and then lock you up for life, +on his single testimony, without proof?</p> + +<p>Now we, married women and infants, have had our personal liberty, for +sixteen years, suspended on this one man’s opinion; and possibly he may be +found to be a fallible man, and capable of corruption, if we may be +allowed to judge of this great man from the standpoint of his own words +and actions.</p> + +<p>Now, if the Doctor was required to prove his patients insane, from their +own conduct, there would be a shadow of justice attached to his individual +judgment; but while this law allows him to call them insane, and treat +them as insane, without evidence of insanity, where is the justice of such +a decision?</p> + +<p>You do not hang a person without proof from the accused’s own actions that +he is guilty of the charge which forfeits his life. So the personal +liberty of married women should not be sacrificed without proof that they +are insane, from their own conduct.</p> + +<p>When Dr. McFarland has brought forward one proof from my own conduct, by +one insane act of my own, in support of his position, I will then say he +has cause for calling me an insane person; but until that time arrives, I +claim he is begging the question entirely, in calling me an insane person, +without one evidence to sustain his charge.</p> + +<p>Gentlemen, it is not merely for my own self-defence from this unpleasant +charge, that I lay this argument before you, but it is that you may see, +from my standpoint, how exceedingly frail is the thread on which our +reputation for sanity is suspended, and how very liable married women and +infants are to be thus falsely imprisoned in Jacksonville Insane Asylum.</p> + +<p>If my testimony might be allowed to add weight to this suspicion or +presumption, I would state that, to my certain knowledge, there were +married women there when I left, more than three years since, who were not +insane then at all, and they are still retained there, as hopelessly +insane patients, on the simple strength of the above ground of evidence; +and it is my womanly sympathy for this class of prisoners that has moved +me to come, alone, from Massachusetts, in the depth of winter, to see if I +could not possibly induce this legislature to compassionate their case: +for it is under your laws, gentlemen, I have suffered, and they are still +suffering, and it is to this legislature of 1867 that we apply for a legal +remedy; and we confidently trust you will vindicate the honor of your +State in the action<span class="pagenum">[Pg 10]</span> you take upon this subject. We trust you will not +only have the manliness and moral courage to repeal this unjust law, +forthwith, but also extend, promptly, a just trial to its wronged and +injured victims.</p> + +<p>Again, Dr. McFarland writes: “Mr. Packard is suffering from a cause which +only gather his church and the public about him, in the bonds of a +generous sympathy.”</p> + +<p>I reply to this assertion by stating a few simple facts. Mr. Packard’s +church and people in Manteno, Illinois, withdrew from him their confidence +and support, while I was incarcerated, instead of gathering about him, +because public sentiment would not tolerate him, as a minister, with this +stigma upon him; and it was the fear of lynch law which drove him from +this State during the court, to seek shelter and employment in +Massachusetts, his native State. There he succeeded in securing a place as +stated supply, by ignoring the decision of your court, and by +misrepresenting the west to be in such a semi-barbarous state that it was +impossible to get a just decision at any legal tribunal in this +uncivilized region, where, he tells them, “a large portion of community +were more intent on giving Presbyterianism a blow, than in investigating +the question of Mrs. Packard’s insanity!”</p> + +<p>He occupied his new field in Sunderland, Mass., fifteen months, when I +returned to my father’s house in Sunderland, on a visit, and the result +was, my personal presence, together with the facts in the case, upset him, +so that neither Sunderland nor any other society in New England can be +induced to employ him in defiance of enlightened public sentiment. Indeed, +the public sentiment of New England has so blighted and withered his +ministerial influence, that the remark of a lawyer in Worcester, Mass., +made a few months since, reflects his true social position there, at +present. Said he, “there is not a man in New England, neither do I think +there is one man in the United States, who would dare to stand the open +defender of Mr. Packard in the course he has taken, and in view of the +facts as they are now known to exist.”</p> + +<p>Now I would like to ask Dr. McFarland, where are to be found these “bonds +of generous sympathy” to which he refers? in the region of the west, or in +the east?</p> + +<p>Here, where the Doctor’s assertion is found to be plainly contradicted by +facts, can his simple assertions be relied upon as infallible testimony +and infallible authority?</p> + +<p>Again, another extract, and I am done.</p> + +<p>Dr. McFarland writes, “I have no question but that Mrs. <span class="pagenum">[Pg 11]</span>Packard’s +committal here was as justifiable as in the majority of those now here.”</p> + +<p>Now if this statement of your superintendent is true, viz.: that I am a +fair specimen of the majority of his patients, then the Doctor himself +must admit that the majority of inmates there are capable of assuming a +self-reliant position, and, instead of being supported there as State +paupers, as I was during my imprisonment of three years, ought they not to +be liberated, and supporting themselves and their families as I am now +doing?</p> + +<p>Mr. Packard has become an object of charity since he cast me penniless +upon the world, while I have, without charity, not only supported myself, +but have already become voluntarily responsible for his support, and the +support and education of my children, from the avails of my own hard +labor, since my discharge from my prison; while at the same time, he will +not allow me to live in the house with my dear children, lest my heresies +contaminate them!</p> + +<p>Now, Gentlemen, is it not better that I be thus employed, selling my books +for their support, rather than be held as your State’s prisoner and +State’s pauper simply because my “views of things” do not happen to +coincide with your Superintendent’s views of things?</p> + +<p>It is true, and, gentlemen, your Superintendent’s own statement verifies +it, that I am not the only one who has been so unjustly imprisoned there, +and in the name and behalf of those now there, I beg of this body that you +extend to such a fair trial or a discharge. Really, the claims of humanity +and the honor of your State both demand that my case stimulate the +Illinois legislature of 1867 to provide legal safeguards against false +commitments like my own.</p> + +<p>Permit me here to add, that although I have come from Massachusetts to +Illinois at my own expense, without money and without price, for the +express purpose of bringing these claims of oppressed humanity to your +notice, I do not demand nor ask for any remuneration for my false +imprisonment in your State institution, nor for any personal redress of +those legal wrongs which have deprived me of my reputation, my home, my +property, my children, my liberty; but I do ask that the legal liabilities +to such like outrages may be effectually removed by this legislature, and +that the justice of a trial by jury may be forthwith extended to those now +in that asylum, who have been consigned to an indefinite term of +imprisonment, without any trial.</p> + +<p>Gentlemen of this assembly, in view of the facts now before you, please +allow me the additional privilege of adding a few suggestions.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 12]</span> You see it +has become a demonstrated fact that I, a minister’s wife, of Illinois, +have been three years imprisoned in your State, by your laws, simply +because I could not tell a lie—that is, I could not be false to my own +honest convictions; and since I simply claim the right to be an individual +instead of a parasite, or an echo of others’ views, I am branded by your +laws as hopelessly insane!</p> + +<p>Is it not time for you to legislate on this subject, by enacting laws +which shall make it a crime to treat an Illinois citizen as an insane +person simply for the utterance of opinions, no matter how absurd those +opinions may be to others? Opinions cannot harm the truth, nor the +individual, especially if they are absurd or insane opinions.</p> + +<p>But for irregularities of conduct, such as my persecutors have been guilty +of, the law ought to be made to investigate. Imprisonment for religious +belief! What is it but treason against the vital principle of this +American Government, viz.: religions toleration?</p> + +<p>Would that I could have claimed protection under the banner of my +country’s flag, while a citizen of Illinois. But no; this unjust statute +law has consigned me to the reign of despotism. And so are all my married +sisters in Illinois liable to this consignment, so long as this barbarous +law is in force.</p> + +<p>And O! the horrors of such a consignment! Only think of putting your own +delicate, sensitive daughter through the scenes I have been put through. +Do you think she would have come out unharmed? God only knows. But this I +do know: that it is one principle of ethics, that a person is very apt to +become what they are taken to be. You may take the sanest person in the +world, and tell them they are insane, and treat them as your +Superintendent treats them there—it is the most trying ordeal a person +can pass through and not really become insane.</p> + +<p>And most reverently does Mrs. Packard attribute it to God’s grace alone, +for carrying her safely through this most awful ordeal, unharmed, and—I +am almost tempted to add—God himself could not have done this thing +without the strictest conformity on my part, to His own laws of nature, in +connection with a well-balanced organization. As it is, to God’s grace +alone. I say it, I am a monument for the age—a standing miracle, almost, +of the power of faith to shield one from insanity, by having come out +unharmed, through a series of trials, such as would crush into a level +with the beasts, I may say, any one, who did not freely use this antidote.</p> + +<p>Here let me make one practical suggestion. Is that kind of treatment which +causes insanity the best adapted to cure insanity?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 13]</span>O, my brothers! my gallant brothers! will you not protect us from such +liabilities? Will you not have the manliness to grant to us, married +women, the legal right to stand just where our own actions will place us, +regardless of our views of things, or our private opinions? that is, may +we not have the privilege of being legally protected, as you are, in our +rights of opinion and conscience, so long as our good conduct deserves +such protection?</p> + +<p>We have an individuality of our own, which is sacred to ourselves; will +you not protect our personal liberty, while in the lawful, lady-like +exercise of it? for personal liberty is a boon of inestimable value to +ourselves as well as you, and by guarding our liberty against false +commitment there, you may have fortified the personal liberty of some of +Illinois’ best and sanest class of citizens, whose interests are now +vitally imperiled by this unjust law.</p> + +<p>Yes, gentlemen, I, their representative, now stand legally exposed to be +kidnapped again, and hid for life in some lunatic Asylum; and since no +laws defend me, this may yet be done. Should public sentiment—the only +law of self-defence I have—endorse the statements of this terrible +conspiracy against the personal liberty and stainless character of an +innocent woman, I may yet again be entombed, to die a martyr for the +Christian principle of the identity of a married woman. Three long years +of false imprisonment does not satisfy this lust for power to oppress the +helpless. No; nothing but a life-long entombment can satisfy the selfhood +of my only legal protector.</p> + +<p>O! I do want laws to protect me, and, as an American citizen, I not only +ask, but I demand that my personal liberty shall depend upon the decision +of a jury—not upon the verdict of public sentiment, or forged +certificates, either.</p> + +<p>My gallant brothers, be true to my cause, if false to me. Be true to +woman! defend her as your weak, confiding sister, and Heaven shall reward +you; for God is on her side, “and he always wins who sides with God.”</p> + +<p>Fear not; fear nothing so much as the sin of simply not doing your duty. +Maintain your death grapple in defence of the heaven-born principles of +liberty and justice to all human kind, especially to woman. Emancipate +her! for above this cross hangs suspended a crown, of which even our +martyred Lincoln’s crown of negro emancipation is but a mere type and +shadow in brilliancy. And God grant that this immortal crown of unfading +honor may be the rightful heritage—the well-earned reward of Illinois’ +gallant sons, as embodied in their legislators.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 14]</span>And all we have to ask for Dr. McFarland is, that you not only allow, but +require this great man to stand just where his own actions will place him, +regardless of his position, or the opinion of his enemies or his friends.</p> + +<p>Gentlemen, permit me also to say, that when you have once liberated the +sane inmates of that hospital and effectually fortified the rights of the +sane citizens of Illinois against false commitments there, you will have +taken the first progressive step in the right direction, in relation to +this great humanitarian reform. And here I will say, that from what I do +know of the practical workings of the internal machinery of that +institution, as seen from behind the curtain, from the standpoint of a +patient, and from what I know of the personal and private character of +Illinois Statesmen, I predict it will not be the last.</p> + +<p>And, notwithstanding the temporary disfigurement of Illinois’ proud +escutcheon by this foul stain of religious persecution, which, I regret to +say, it now has upon it, may God grant that the present statesmen of +Illinois may yet so fully vindicate its honor, as that the van of this +great humanitarian reform may yet be heralded to the world in the action +of Illinois representatives, as embodied in this legislature of 1867.</p> + +<p>I hold myself in readiness, gentlemen, to answer any questions, or perform +any service in behalf of this cause you may desire of me; and, as an +incentive to your acting efficiently in this matter, I will state that +several legislatures in New England are watching eagerly the result of my +application to you, this winter, and they have engaged me to report to +them the result.</p> + +<p>I desire, therefore, an opportunity to vindicate your character before +these legislatures, on the basis of your own actions, for, after you know +of the existence of this barbarous law, and its direct application to me, +one of its wronged and injured victims, as you now do, I shall no longer +be able to plead your ignorance of the existence of such a law, as your +vindication from the charge of barbarism, and you must know that the +intelligence of the whole civilized world cannot but call a State +barbarous in its legislation, so long as this black and cruel law has an +existence, even in continuing to hold its victims in its despotic grasp.</p> + +<p>I know, gentlemen, that since 1865, I can plead that you have nominally +repealed it, but so long as this law of ’65 is without a penalty to +enforce it, it is only a half law, or in other words, it is merely +legislative advice—it is not a statute law, and so long as you<span class="pagenum">[Pg 15]</span> do retain +its injured victims in their false imprisonment, you have not repealed it.</p> + +<p>Now, gentlemen, much as I would like to gratify the wishes of a member of +your House, in erasing the record of this law from my book, on the ground +of its having been already repealed, I cannot conscientiously do it so +long as that institution continues to receive inmates without any trial by +jury, or retains those who have never had any such trial.</p> + +<p>No, gentlemen; this law and its application to me, cannot be obliterated, +for it has already become a page of Illinois’ history, which must stand to +all coming time, as a living witness against the legislation of Illinois +in the nineteenth century. There is one way, and only one, by which you +can redeem your State from this foul blot of religious persecution which +now desecrates your nationality in the estimation of the whole civilized +world, and that is by such practical repentance as this bill demands. This +done, I can then, and only till then, vindicate the character of Illinois +statesmen, on the ground of their own honorable acts.</p> + +<p>In an appendix to this book, you will then find not only Mrs. Packard’s +appeal to Illinois’ legislature of 1867, but also the noble manly response +of its legislators, as echoed by their own honorable acts. But, should +you, for any reason, choose to turn a deaf ear to this appeal in defense +of your injured citizens, I shall not rest until I have made this same +appeal to the people of this State, and asked from them the justice I am +denied from their representatives. And should I be denied there, I shall +go to work single-handed and alone, in liberating this oppressed class, by +the habeas corpus act, before I shall feel that my skirts are washed from +the guilt of hiding these public sins against humanity, which I know to +have existence in the State of Illinois.</p> + +<p>And can you blame me for this manifestation of my heart sympathy for my +imprisoned sisters? Can a sensitive woman feel a less degree of sympathy +for her own sex, when she knows, as I do from my own bitter experience, +the injustice they are daily and hourly now receiving in that dismal +prison?</p> + +<p>And O! if you or your darling daughter were in their places, would you +feel like reproaching me as a fanatic, for thus volunteering in your +defence? No; you would not. But I should reproach myself, and so must a +just God reproach me, should I dare to do less; for there is a vow +recorded in the archives of high Heaven, that Mrs. Packard will do all in +her power to do, for the deliverance of these<span class="pagenum">[Pg 16]</span> victims of injustice, if +God will but grant her deliverance. I am delivered! my vow stands +recorded there! Shall this vow be a witness against me, or shall it not?</p> + +<p>Gentlemen of this Assembly, I shall try to redeem that pledge, and so far +as you are concerned, my work is now done. Yours remains to be done. God +grant you may dare to do right! that you may have the moral courage to +dare to settle this great question, just upon its own intrinsic merits, +independent of the sanity or the insanity of its defender.</p> + +<p>Very respectfully submitted to the General Assembly of Illinois, now in +Session, by—</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Mrs. E. P. W. PACKARD.</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Springfield, Illinois</span>, February 12th, 1867.</p> + +<p>The result of this appeal was the passage of the “Personal Liberty Bill,” +entitled “An Act for the Protection of Personal Liberty.”</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 17]</span></p> +<h2>ACTION OF ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE ON THIS SUBJECT.</h2> + + +<p class="center">AN ACT in relation to Insane persons and the Illinois State Hospital for +the Insane.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Section 1.</span> <i>Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, +represented in the General Assembly</i>: That the circuit judges of this +<ins class="correction" title="original: Satte">State</ins> are hereby vested with power to act under and execute the provisions +of the act passed on the 12th of February, 1853, entitled “An act to amend +an act entitled ‘an act to establish the Illinois State Hospital for the +Insane,’” in force March 1st, 1847, in so far as those provisions confer +power upon judges of county courts; and no trial shall be had of the +question of sanity or insanity before any judge or court, without the +presence or in the absence of the person alleged to be insane. And jurors +shall be freeholders and heads of families.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sec. 2.</span> Whenever application is made to a circuit or county judge, under +the provisions of this act and the act to which this is an amendment, for +proceedings to inquire into and ascertain the insanity or sanity of any +person alleged to be insane, the judge shall order the clerk of the court +of which he is judge to issue a writ, requiring the person alleged to be +insane to be brought before him, at the time and place appointed for the +hearing of the matter, which writ may be directed to the sheriff or any +constable of the county, or the person having the custody or charge of the +person alleged to be insane, and shall be executed and returned, and the +person alleged to be insane brought before the said judge before any jury +is sworn to inquire into the truth of the matters alleged in the petition +on which said writ was issued.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sec. 3.</span> Persons with reference to whom proceedings may be instituted for +the purpose of deciding the question of sanity or insanity, shall have the +right to process for witnesses, and to have witnesses examined before the +jury; they shall also have the right to employ counsel or any friend to +appear in their behalf, so that a fair trial may be had in the premises; +and no resident of the State shall hereafter be admitted into the hospital +for the insane, except upon the order of a court or judge, or of the +production of a warrant issued<span class="pagenum">[Pg 18]</span> according to the provisions of the act to +which this is an amendment.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sec. 4.</span> The accounts of said institution shall be so kept and reported to +the general assembly, as to show the kind, quantity and cost of any +articles purchased for use; and upon quarterly settlements with the +auditor, a list of the accounts paid shall be filed, and also the original +vouchers, as now required.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sec. 5.</span> All former laws conflicting with the provisions of this act are +hereby repealed, and this act shall take effect on its passage.</p> + +<p>Approved February 16, 1865.</p> + + +<p><br />Two years practice under this law developed its inability to remove the +evils it was designed to remedy. This law, having no penalty to enforce +it, was found to be violated in many instances, as it was ascertained to +be a fact that Dr. McFarland was constantly receiving patients under the +old law of 1851, which this law had nominally repealed. Therefore, a +petition was sent to the legislature of 1867, signed by I. N. Arnold, J. +Young Scammon, and thirty-six other men of the first legal standing in +Chicago, asking for the practical repeal of the old law of 1851, by the +enforcement of the new law of 1865.</p> + + +<p><br />The old law of 1851 is as follows, viz.: “Married women and infants who, +in the judgment of the medical superintendent, (meaning the Superintendent +of the Illinois State Hospital for the Insane,) are evidently insane or +distracted, may be entered or detained in the hospital on the request of +the husband of the woman, or the guardian of the infant, <i>without</i> the +evidence of insanity required in other cases.”</p> + + +<p><br />The legislature was led to see that by the practical enforcement of this +unjust law, the personal liberty of married women and infants was still +imperiled, and also that the law of 1865 did not relieve the wronged and +injured victims of this unjust law, now imprisoned at Jacksonville Insane +Asylum. Therefore, the legislature of 1867 passed the following “Act for +the protection of Personal Liberty.”</p> + + +<p class="center"><br />AN ACT for the Protection of Personal Liberty.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Section 1.</span> <i>Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, +represented in the General Assembly</i>: That no superintendent, medical +director, agent or other person, having the management, supervision or +control of the Insane Hospital at Jacksonville, or of any<span class="pagenum">[Pg 19]</span> hospital or +asylum for insane and distracted persons in this State, shall receive, +detain or keep in custody at such asylum or hospital any person who has +not been declared insane or distracted by a verdict of a jury and the +order of a court, as provided by an act of the general assembly of this +State, approved February 16, 1865.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sec. 2.</span> Any person having charge of, or the management or control of any +hospital for the insane, or of any asylum for the insane in this State, +who shall receive, keep or detain any person in such asylum or hospital, +against the wishes of such person, without the record or proper +certificate of the trial required by the said act of 1865, shall be deemed +guilty of a high misdemeanor, and liable to indictment, and on conviction +be fined not more than one thousand dollars, nor less than five hundred +dollars, or imprisoned not exceeding one year, nor less than three months, +or both, in the discretion of the court before which such conviction is +had: <i>provided</i>, that one half of such fine shall be paid to the +informant, and the balance shall go to the benefit of the hospital or +asylum in which said person was detained.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sec. 3.</span> Any person now confined in any insane hospital or asylum, and all +persons now confined in the hospital for the insane at Jacksonville, who +have not been tried and found insane or distracted by the verdict of a +jury, as provided in and contemplated by said act of the general assembly +of 1865, shall be permitted to have such trial. All such persons shall be +informed by the trustees of said hospital or asylum, in their discretion, +of the provisions of this act and of the said act of 1865, and on their +request, such persons shall be entitled to such trial within a reasonable +time thereafter: <i>provided</i>, that such trial may be had in the county +where such person is confined or detained, unless such person, his or her +friends, shall, within thirty days after any such person may demand a +trial under the provisions of said act of 1865, provide for the +transportation of such person to, and demand trial in the county where +such insane person resided previous to said detention, in which case such +trial shall take place in said last mentioned county.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sec. 4.</span> All persons confined as aforesaid, if not found insane or +distracted by a trial and the verdict of a jury as above, and in the said +act of 1865 provided, within two months after the passage of this act, +shall be set at liberty and discharged.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sec. 5.</span> It shall be the duty of the State’s attorneys for the several +counties to prosecute any suit arising under the provisions of this act.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 20]</span><span class="smcap">Sec. 6.</span> This act shall be deemed a public act, and take effect and be in +force from and after its passage.</p> + +<p>Approved March 5th, 1867.</p> + + +<p><br />The public will see that, under the humane provisions of this act, all the +inmates of every insane asylum in the State of Illinois, whether public or +private, who have been incarcerated without the verdict of a jury that +they are insane, are now entitled to a jury trial, and unless this trial +is granted them within sixty days from the 5th of March, 1867, they are +discharged, and can never be incarcerated again without the verdict of a +jury that they are insane. No person can be detained there after sixty +days, who has not been declared insane by a jury.</p> + +<p>It is thus that the barbarities of the law of 1851 are wiped out by this +act of legislative justice. Now, all married women and infants who have +been imprisoned “without evidence of insanity,” as this unjust law allows, +and who are still living victims of this cruel law, will now be liberated +from their false imprisonment, unless they have become insane by the +inhumanity of their confinement. And if it is found by the testimony that +they were sane when they were imprisoned, and that they have become insane +by being kept there, is it humane to perpetuate the cause of their +insanity, under the pretext that their cure demands it? Or, in other +words, is that kind of treatment which caused their insanity the best +adapted to cure their insanity?</p> + +<p>This great question, who shall be retained as fit subjects for the insane +asylum, is now to depend, in all cases, upon the decision of a jury; and +each case must be legally investigated, as the law of 1865 directs.</p> + + +<p class="center"><br />ANOTHER ACT OF LEGISLATIVE JUSTICE—APPOINTMENT OF AN INVESTIGATING +COMMITTEE.</p> + +<p><i>Resolved, the Senate concurring</i>, That a joint committee of three from +this House and two from the Senate be appointed to visit the hospital for +the insane, after the adjournment, of the legislature, at such times as +they may deem necessary, with power to send for persons and papers, and to +examine witnesses on oath; that said committee be instructed thoroughly to +examine and inquire into the financial and sanitary management of said +institution; to ascertain whether<span class="pagenum">[Pg 21]</span> any of the inmates are improperly +detained in the hospital, or unjustly placed there, and whether the +inmates are humanely and kindly treated, and to confer with the trustees +of said hospital in regard to the speedy correction of any abuses found to +exist, and to report to the Governor, from time to time, at their +discretion.</p> + +<p><i>And be it further resolved</i>, That said committee be instructed to examine +the financial and general management of the other State institutions.</p> + +<p>Adopted by the House of Representatives,</p> + +<p class="right">F. CORWIN, <i>Speaker</i>.</p> + +<p>Concurred in by the Senate,</p> + +<p class="right">WM. BROSS, <i>Speaker</i>.</p> + +<p>The following gentlemen compose the committee: Hon. E. Baldwin, Farm +Ridge, LaSalle county; Hon. T. B. Wakeman, Howard, McHenry county; Hon. +John B. Ricks, Taylorville, Christian county, on the part of the House of +Representatives. Hon. Allen C. Fuller, Belvidere, Boone county; Hon. A. J. +Hunter, Paris, Edgar county, on the part of the Senate.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><strong>Footnote:</strong> <a name="f1" id="f1" href="#f1.1">[1]</a> See Appendix, p. <a href="#Page_138">138</a>.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><strong>Transcriber’s Notes:</strong></p> + +<p>Punctuation has been corrected without note.</p> + +<p>Other than the corrections noted by hover information, inconsistencies in +spelling and hyphenation have been retained from the original.</p> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Marital Power Exemplified in Mrs. +Packard's Trial, and Self-Defence from the Charge of Insanity, by Elizabeth Parsons Ware Packard + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARITAL POWER EXEMPLIFIED *** + +***** This file should be named 36591-h.htm or 36591-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/5/9/36591/ + +Produced by Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/36591-h/images/frontis.jpg b/36591-h/images/frontis.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4ae0495 --- /dev/null +++ b/36591-h/images/frontis.jpg diff --git a/36591.txt b/36591.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6e70102 --- /dev/null +++ b/36591.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7211 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Marital Power Exemplified in Mrs. Packard's +Trial, and Self-Defence from the Charge of Insanity, by Elizabeth Parsons Ware Packard + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Marital Power Exemplified in Mrs. Packard's Trial, and Self-Defence from the Charge of Insanity + +Author: Elizabeth Parsons Ware Packard + +Release Date: July 3, 2011 [EBook #36591] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARITAL POWER EXEMPLIFIED *** + + + + +Produced by Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: The House from which Mrs. Packard was Kidnapped in Manteno, +Kankakee County, Illinois.] + + + + + MARITAL POWER EXEMPLIFIED IN + Mrs. Packard's Trial, + AND SELF-DEFENCE FROM THE CHARGE OF INSANITY; + + OR + Three Years' Imprisonment for Religious Belief, + BY THE ARBITRARY WILL OF A HUSBAND, + WITH AN APPEAL TO THE GOVERNMENT TO SO CHANGE + THE LAWS AS TO AFFORD + Legal Protection to Married Women. + + + BY MRS. E. P. W. PACKARD. + + + CHICAGO: + CLARKE & CO., PUBLISHERS. + 1870. + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS. + + + Page + + Introduction, 3 + + The Great Trial of Mrs. Elizabeth P. W. Packard, who was + confined Three Years in the State Asylum of Illinois, + charged by her Husband, Rev. Theophilus Packard, with + being Insane. Her discharge from the Asylum, and subsequent + Imprisonment at her own House by her Husband. Her release + on a Writ of Habeas Corpus, and the question of her Sanity + tried by a Jury. Her Sanity fully established, 13 + + Narrative of events continued, 42 + + Miscellaneous questions answered, 61 + + False Reports corrected, 85 + + Note of thanks to my Patrons and the Press, 107 + + Testimonials, 117 + + Conclusion, 126 + + An Appeal to the Government, 130 + + +Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by MRS. E. P. W. +PACKARD, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of +Connecticut. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +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. + + + + +THE GREAT TRIAL OF MRS. ELIZABETH P. W. PACKARD, + +WHO WAS CONFINED FOR THREE YEARS IN THE STATE ASYLUM, OF ILLINOIS, CHARGED +BY HER HUSBAND, REV. THEOPHILUS PACKARD, WITH BEING INSANE. HER DISCHARGE +FROM THE ASYLUM, AND SUBSEQUENT IMPRISONMENT AT HER OWN HOUSE BY HER +HUSBAND. HER RELEASE ON A WRIT OF _Habeas Corpus_, AND THE QUESTION OF HER +SANITY TRIED BY A JURY. + +HER SANITY FULLY ESTABLISHED. + +A FULL REPORT OF THE TRIAL, INCIDENTS, ETC. + +BY STEPHEN R. MOORE, ATTORNEY AT LAW. + + +In preparing a report of this trial, the writer has had but one object in +view, namely, to present a faithful history of the case as narrated by the +witnesses upon the stand, who gave their testimony under the solemnity of +an oath. The exact language employed by the witnesses, has been used, and +the written testimony given in full, with the exception of a letter, +written by Dr. McFarland, to Rev. Theophilus Packard, which letter was +retained by Mr. Packard, and the writer was unable to obtain a copy. The +substance of the letter is found in the body of the report, and has been +submitted to the examination of Mr. Packard's counsel, who agree that it +is correctly stated. + +This case was on trial before the Hon. Charles R. Starr, at Kankakee City, +Illinois, from Monday, January 11th, 1864, to Tuesday the 19th, and came +up on an application made by Mrs. Packard, under the _Habeas Corpus Act_, +to be discharged from imprisonment by her husband in their own house. + +The case has disclosed a state of facts most wonderful and startling. +Reverend Theophilus Packard came to Manteno, in Kankakee county, Illinois, +seven years since, and has remained in charge of the Presbyterian Church +of that place until the past two years. + +In the winter of 1859 and 1860, there were differences of opinion +between Mr. Packard and Mrs. Packard, upon matters of religion, which +resulted in prolonged and vigorous debate in the home circle. The heresies +maintained by Mrs. Packard were carried by the husband from the fireside +to the pulpit, and made a matter of inquiry by the church, and which soon +resulted in open warfare; and her views and propositions were +misrepresented and animadverted upon, from the pulpit, and herself made +the subject of unjust criticism. In the Bible Class and in the Sabbath +School, she maintained her religious tenets, and among her kindred and +friends, defended herself from the obloquy of her husband. + +To make the case fully understood, I will here remark, that Mr. Packard +was educated in the Calvinistic faith, and for twenty-nine years has been +a preacher of that creed, and would in no wise depart from the religion of +his fathers. He is cold, selfish and illiberal in his views, possessed of +but little talent, and a physiognomy innocent of expression. He has large +self-will, and his stubbornness is only exceeded by his bigotry. + +Mrs. Packard is a lady of fine mental endowments, and blest with a liberal +education. She is an original, vigorous, masculine thinker, and were it +not for her superior judgment, combined with native modesty, she would +rank as a "strong-minded woman." As it is, her conduct comports strictly +with the sphere usually occupied by woman. She dislikes parade or show of +any kind. Her confidence that Right will prevail, leads her to too tamely +submit to wrongs. She was educated in the same religious belief with her +husband, and during the first twenty years of married life, his labors in +the parish and in the pulpit were greatly relieved by the willing hand and +able intellect of his wife. + +Phrenologists would also say of her, that her self-will was large, and her +married life tended in no wise to diminish this phrenological bump. They +have been married twenty-five years, and have six children, the issue of +their intermarriage, the youngest of whom was eighteen months old when she +was kidnapped and transferred to Jacksonville. The older children have +maintained a firm position against the abuse and persecutions of their +father toward their mother, but were of too tender age to render her any +material assistance. + +Her views of religion are more in accordance with the liberal views of the +age in which we live. She scouts the Calvinistic doctrine of man's total +depravity, and that God has foreordained some to be saved and others to be +damned. She stands fully on the platform of man's free agency and +accountability to God for his actions. She believes that man, and +nations, are progressive; and that in his own good time, and in accordance +with His great purposes, Right will prevail over Wrong, and the oppressed +will be freed from the oppressor. She believes slavery to be a national +sin, and the church and the pulpit a proper place to combat this sin. +These, in brief, are the points in her religious creed which were +combatted by Mr. Packard, and were denominated by him as "emanations from +the devil," or "the vagaries of a crazed brain." + +For maintaining such ideas as above indicated, Mr. Packard denounced her +from the pulpit, denied her the privilege of family prayer in the home +circle, expelled her from the Bible Class, and refused to let her be heard +in the Sabbath School. He excluded her from her friends, and made her a +prisoner in her own house. + +Her reasonings and her logic appeared to him as the ravings of a mad +woman--her religion was the religion of the devil. To justify his conduct, +he gave out that she was insane, and found a few willing believers, among +his family connections. + + +This case was commenced by filing a petition in the words following, to +wit: + + STATE OF ILLINOIS, } + KANKAKEE COUNTY. } _ss._ + + _To the Honorable_ CHARLES R. STARR, _Judge of the 20th Judicial + Circuit in the State of Illinois_. + + William Haslet, Daniel Beedy, Zalmon Hanford, and Joseph Younglove, + of said county, on behalf of Elizabeth P. W. Packard, wife of + Theophilus Packard, of said county, respectfully represent unto your + Honor, that said Elizabeth P. W. Packard is unlawfully restrained of + her liberty, at Manteno, in the county of Kankakee, by her husband, + Rev. Theophilus Packard, being forcibly confined and imprisoned in a + close room of the dwelling-house of her said husband, for a long + time, to wit, for the space of four weeks, her said husband refusing + to let her visit her neighbors and refusing her neighbors to visit + her; that they believe her said husband is about to forcibly convey + her from out the State; that they believe there is no just cause or + ground for restraining said wife of her liberty; that they believe + that said wife is a mild and amiable woman. And they are advised and + believe, that said husband cruelly abuses and misuses said wife, by + depriving her of her winter's clothing, this cold and inclement + weather, and that there is no necessity for such cruelty on the part + of said husband to said wife; and they are advised and believe, + that said wife desires to come to Kankakee City, to make application + to your Honor for a writ of _habeas corpus_, to liberate herself from + said confinement or imprisonment, and that said husband refused and + refuses to allow said wife to come to Kankakee City for said purpose; + and that these petitioners make application for a writ of _habeas + corpus_ in her behalf, at her request. These petitioners therefore + pray that a writ of _habeas corpus_ may forthwith issue, commanding + said Theophilus Packard to produce the body of said wife, before your + Honor, according to law, and that said wife may be discharged from + said imprisonment. + + (Signed) WILLIAM HASLET. + DANIEL BEEDY. + ZALMON HANFORD. + J. YOUNGLOVE. + + J. W. ORR, } + H. LORING, } _Petitioners' Attorney_. + + STEPHEN R. MOORE, _Counsel_. + + + STATE OF ILLINOIS, } + KANKAKEE COUNTY. } _ss._ + + William Haslet, Daniel Beedy, Zalmon Hanford, and Joseph Younglove, + whose names are subscribed to the above petition, being duly sworn, + severally depose and say, that the matters and facts set forth in the + above petition are true in substance and fact, to the best of their + knowledge and belief. + + WILLIAM HASLET. + DANIEL BEEDY. + ZALMON HANFORD. + J. YOUNGLOVE. + + Sworn to and subscribed before me, this } + 11th day of January, A. D. 1864. } + + MASON B. LOOMIS, _J. P._ + +Upon the above petition, the Honorable C. R. Starr, Judge as aforesaid, +issued a writ of _habeas corpus_, as follows: + + STATE OF ILLINOIS, } + KANKAKEE COUNTY. } _ss._ + + _The People of the State of Illinois, To_ THEOPHILUS PACKARD + + WE COMMAND YOU, That the body of Elizabeth P. W. Packard, in your + custody detained and imprisoned, as it is said, together with the day + and cause of caption and detention, by whatsoever name the same may + be called, you safely have before Charles R. Starr, Judge of the + Twentieth Judicial Circuit, State of Illinois, at his chambers, at + Kankakee City in the said county, on the 12th instant, at one + o'clock, P. M., and to do and receive all and singular those things + which the said Judge shall then and there consider of her in this + behalf, and have you then and there this writ. + + Witness, Charles R. Starr, Judge aforesaid, this 11th day of January, + A. D. 1864. + + CHARLES R. STARR, [SEAL.] + _Judge of the 20th Judicial Circuit of the State of Illinois._ + [_Revenue Stamp._] + + Indorsed: "By the _Habeas Corpus_ Act." + +To said writ, the Rev. Theophilus Packard made the following return: + + The within named Theophilus Packard does hereby certify, to the + within named, the Honorable Charles R. Starr, Judge of the 20th + Judicial Circuit of the State of Illinois, that the within named + Elizabeth P. W. Packard is now in my custody, before your Honor. That + the said Elizabeth is the wife of the undersigned, and is and has + been for more than three years past insane, and for about three years + of that time was in the Insane Asylum of the State of Illinois, under + treatment, as an insane person. That she was discharged from said + Asylum, without being cured, and is incurably insane, on or about the + 18th day of June, A. D. 1863, and that since the 23rd day of October, + the undersigned has kept the said Elizabeth with him in Manteno, in + this county, and while he has faithfully and anxiously watched, cared + for, and guarded the said Elizabeth, yet he has not unlawfully + restrained her of her liberty; and has not confined and imprisoned + her in a close room, in the dwelling-house of the undersigned, or in + any other place or way, but, on the contrary, the undersigned has + allowed her all the liberty compatible with her welfare and safety. + That the undersigned is about to remove his residence from Manteno, + in this State, to the town of Deerfield, in the county of Franklin, + in the State of Massachusetts, and designs and intends to take his + said wife Elizabeth with him. That the undersigned has never misused + or abused the said Elizabeth, by depriving her of her winter's + clothing, but, on the contrary, the undersigned has always treated + the said Elizabeth with kindness and affection, and has provided her + with a sufficient, quantity of winter clothing and other clothing; + and that the said Elizabeth has never made any request of the + undersigned, for liberty to come to Kankakee City, for the purpose of + suing out a writ of _habeas corpus_. The undersigned hereby presents + a letter from Andrew McFarland, Superintendent of the Illinois State + Hospital, at Jacksonville, in this State, showing her discharge, and + reasons of discharge, from said institution, which is marked "A," and + is made a part of this return. And also presents a certificate from + the said Andrew McFarland, under the seal of said hospital, marked + "C," refusing to readmit the said Elizabeth again into said hospital, + on the ground of her being incurably insane, which is also hereby + made a part of this return. + + THEOPHILUS PACKARD. + + Dated _January 12, 1864_. + +The Court, upon its own motion, ordered an issue to be formed, as to the +sanity or insanity of Mrs. E. P. W. Packard, and ordered a venire of +twelve men, to aid the court in the investigation of said issue. And +thereupon a venire was issued. + +The counsel for the respondent, Thomas P. Bonfield, Mason B. Loomis, and +Hon. C. A. Lake, moved the court to quash the venire, on the ground that +the court had no right to call a jury to determine the question, on an +application to be discharged on writ of _habeas corpus_. The court +overruled the motion; and thereupon the following jury was selected: + +John Stiles, Daniel G. Bean, V. H. Young, F. G. Hutchinson, Thomas Muncey, +E. Hirshberg, Nelson Jarvais, William Hyer, Geo. H. Andrews, J. F. Mafet, +Lemuel Milk, G. M. Lyons. + + +CHRISTOPHER W. KNOTT was the first witness sworn by the respondent, to +maintain the issue on his part, that she was insane; who being sworn, +deposed and said: + +I am a practicing physician in Kankakee City. Have been in practice +fifteen years. Have seen Mrs. Packard; saw her three or four years ago. Am +not much acquainted with her. Had never seen her until I was called to see +her at that time. I was called to visit her by Theophilus Packard. I +thought her partially deranged on religious matters, and gave a +certificate to that effect. I certified that she was insane upon the +subject of religion. I have never seen her since. + +_Cross-examination._--This visit I made her was three or four years ago. I +was there twice--one-half hour each time. I visited her on request of Mr. +Packard, to determine if she was insane. I learned from him that he +designed to convey her to the State Asylum. Do not know whether she was +aware of my object, or not. Her mind appeared to be excited on the subject +of religion; on all other subjects she was perfectly rational. It was +probably caused by overtaxing the mental faculties. She was what might be +called a monomaniac. Monomania is insanity on one subject. Three-fourths +of the religious community are insane in the same manner, in my opinion. +Her insanity was such that with a little rest she would readily have +recovered from it. The female mind is more excitable than the male. I saw +her perhaps one-half hour each time I visited her. I formed my judgment as +to her insanity wholly from conversing with her. I could see nothing +except an unusual zealousness and warmth upon religious topics. Nothing +was said, in my conversation with her, about disagreeing with Mr. Packard +on religious topics. Mr. Packard introduced the subject of religion the +first time I was there: the second time, I introduced the subject. Mr. +Packard and Mr. Comstock were present. The subject was pressed on her for +the purpose of drawing her out. Mrs. Packard would manifest more zeal than +most of people upon any subject that interested her. I take her to be a +lady of fine mental abilities, possessing more ability than ordinarily +found. She is possessed of a nervous temperament, easily excited, and has +a strong will. I would say that she was insane, the same as I would say +Henry Ward Beecher, Spurgeon, Horace Greely, and like persons, are insane. +Probably three weeks intervened between the visits I made Mrs. Packard. +This was in June, 1860. + +_Re-examined._--She is a woman of large, active brain, and nervous +temperament. I take her to be a woman of good intellect. There is no +subject which excites people so much as religion. Insanity produces, +oftentimes, ill-feelings towards the best friends, and particularly the +family, or those more nearly related to the insane person--but not so with +monomania. She told me, in the conversation, that the Calvinistic +doctrines were wrong, and that she had been compelled to withdraw from the +church. She said that Mr. Packard was more insane than she was, and that +people would find it out. I had no doubt that she was insane. I only +considered her insane on that subject, and she was not bad at that. I +could not judge whether it was hereditary. I thought if she was withdrawn +from conversation and excitement, she could have got well in a short time. +Confinement in any shape, or restraint, would have made her worse. I did +not think it was a bad case; it only required rest. + + +J. W. BROWN, being sworn, said: + +I am a physician; live in this city; have no extensive acquaintance with +Mrs. Packard. Saw her three or four weeks ago. I examined her as to her +sanity or insanity. I was requested to make a visit, and had an extended +conference with her: I spent some three hours with her. I had no +difficulty in arriving at the conclusion, in my mind, that she was insane. + +_Cross-examination._--I visited her by request of Mr. Packard, at her +house. The children were in and out of the room; no one else was present. +I concealed my object in visiting her. She asked me if I was a physician, +and I told her no; that I was an agent, selling sewing machines, and had +come there to sell her one. + +The first subject we conversed about was sewing machines. She showed no +signs of insanity on that subject. + +The next subject discussed, was the social condition of the female sex. +She exhibited no special marks of insanity on that subject, although she +had many ideas quite at variance with mine, on the subject. + +The subject of politics was introduced. She spoke of the condition of the +North and the South. She illustrated her difficulties with Mr. Packard, by +the difficulties between the North and the South. She said the South was +wrong, and was waging war for two wicked purposes: first, to overthrow a +good government, and second, to establish a despotism on the inhuman +principle of human slavery. But that the North, having right on their +side, would prevail. So Mr. Packard was opposing her, to overthrow free +thought in woman; that the despotism of man may prevail over the wife; but +that she had right and truth on her side, and that she would prevail. + +During this conversation I did not fully conclude that she was insane. + +I brought up the subject of religion. We discussed that subject for a long +time, and then I had not the slightest difficulty in concluding that she +was hopelessly insane. + +_Question._ Dr., what particular idea did she advance on the subject of +religion that led you to the conclusion that she was hopelessly insane? + +_Answer._ She advanced many of them. I formed my opinion not so much on +any one idea advanced, as upon her whole conversation. She then said that +she was the "Personification of the Holy Ghost." I did not know what she +meant by that. + +_Ques._ Was not this the idea conveyed to you in that conversation:--That +there are three attributes of the Deity--the Father, the Son, and the Holy +Ghost? Now, did she not say, that the attributes of the Father were +represented in mankind, in man; that the attributes of the Holy Ghost were +represented in woman; and that the Son was the fruit of these two +attributes of the Deity? + +_Ans._ Well, I am not sure but that was the idea conveyed, though I did +not fully get her idea at the time. + +_Ques._ Was not that a new idea to you in theology? + +_Ans._ It was. + +_Ques._ Are you much of a theologian? + +_Ans._ No. + +_Ques._ Then because the idea was a novel one to you, you pronounced her +insane. + +_Ans._ Well, I pronounced her insane on that and other things that +exhibited themselves in this conversation. + +_Ques._ Did she not show more familiarity with the subject of religion and +the questions of theology, than you had with these subjects? + +_Ans._ I do not pretend much knowledge on these subjects. + +_Ques._ What else did she say or do there, that showed marks of insanity? + +_Ans._ She claimed to be better than her husband--that she was right--and +that he was wrong--and that all she did was good, and all he did was bad; +that she was farther advanced than other people, and more nearly +perfection. She found fault particularly that Mr. Packard would not +discuss their points of difference on religion in an open, manly way, +instead of going around and denouncing her as crazy to her friends and to +the church. + +She had a great aversion to being called insane. Before I got through the +conversation she exhibited a great dislike to me, and almost treated me in +a contemptuous manner. She appeared quite lady-like. She had a great +reverence for God, and a regard for religious and pious people. + +_Re-examined._--_Ques._ Dr., you may now state all the reasons you have +for pronouncing her insane. + +_Ans._ I have written down, in order, the reasons which I had, to found my +opinion on, that she was insane. I will read them. + +1. That she claimed to be in advance of the age thirty or forty years. + +2. That she disliked to be called insane. + +3. That she pronounced me a copperhead, and did not prove the fact. + +4. An incoherency of thought. That she failed to illuminate me and fill me +with light. + +5. Her aversion to the doctrine of the total depravity of man. + +6. Her claim to perfection or nearer perfection in action and conduct. + +7. Her aversion to being called insane. + +8. Her feelings towards her husband. + +9. Her belief that to call her insane and abuse her, was blasphemy against +the Holy Ghost. + +10. Her explanation of this idea. + +11. Incoherency of thought and ideas. + +12. Her extreme aversion to the doctrine of the total depravity of +mankind, and in the same conversation, saying her husband was a specimen +of man's total depravity. + +13. The general history of the case. + +14. Her belief that some calamity would befall her, owing to my being +there, and her refusal to shake hands with me when I went away. + +15. Her viewing the subject of religion from the osteric standpoint of +Christian exegetical analysis, and agglutinating the polsynthetical +ectoblasts of homogeneous asceticism. + +The witness left the stand amid roars of laughter; and it required some +moments to restore order in the court-room. + + +JOSEPH H. WAY, sworn, and said: + +I am a practicing physician in Kankakee City, Illinois. I made a medical +examination of Mrs. Packard a few weeks since, at her house; was there +perhaps two hours. On most subjects she was quite sane. On the subject of +religion I thought she had some ideas that are not generally entertained. +At that time I thought her to be somewhat deranged or excited on that +subject; since that time I have thought perhaps I was not a proper judge, +for I am not much posted on disputed points in theology, and I find that +other people entertain similar ideas. They are not in accordance with my +views, but that is no evidence that she is insane. + +_Cross-examined._--I made this visit at her house, or his house, perhaps, +at Manteno. I conversed on various subjects. She was perfectly sane on +every subject except religion, and I would not swear now that she was +insane. She seemed to have been laboring under an undue excitement on that +subject. She has a nervous temperament, and is easily excited. She said +she liked her children, and that it was hard to be torn from them. That +none but a mother could feel the anguish she had suffered; that while she +was confined in the Asylum, the children had been educated by their father +to call her insane. She said she would have them punished if they called +their own mother insane, for it was not right. + + +ABIJAH DOLE, sworn, and says: + +I know Mrs. Packard; have known her twenty-five or thirty years. I am her +brother-in-law. Lived in Manteno seven years. Mrs. Packard has lived +there six years. I have been sent for several times by her and Mr. +Packard, and found her in an excited state of mind. I was there +frequently; we were very familiar. One morning early, I was sent for: she +was in the west room; she was in her night clothes. She took me by the +hand and led me to the bed. Libby was lying in bed, moaning and moving her +head. Mrs. Packard now spoke and said, "How pure we are." "I am one of the +children of heaven; Libby is one of the branches." "The woman shall bruise +the serpent's head." She called Mr. Packard a devil. She said, Brother +Dole, these are serious matters. If Brother Haslet will help me, we will +crush the body. She said, Christ had come into the world to save men, and +that she had come to save woman. Her hair was disheveled. Her face looked +wild. This was over three years ago. + +I was there again one morning after this. She came to me. She pitied me +for marrying my wife, who is a sister to Mr. Packard; said I might find an +agreeable companion. She said if she had cultivated amativeness, she would +have made a more agreeable companion. She took me to another room and +talked about going away; this was in June before they took her to the +State Hospital. She sent for me again; she was in the east room; she was +very cordial. She wanted me to intercede for Theophilus, who was at +Marshall, Michigan; she wanted him to stay there, and it was thought not +advisable for him to stay. We wished him to come away, but did not tell +her the reasons. He was with a Swedenborgian. + +After this I was called there once in the night. She said she could not +live with Mr. Packard, and she thought she had better go away. One time +she was in the Bible class. The question came up in regard to Moses +smiting the Egyptian; she thought Moses had acted too hasty, but that all +things worked for the glory of God. I requested her to keep quiet, and she +agreed to do it. + +I have had no conversation with Mrs. Packard since her return from the +Hospital; she will not talk with me because she thinks I think she is +insane. Her brother came to see her; he said he had not seen her for four +or five years. I tried to have Mrs. Packard talk with him, and she would +not have anything to do with him because he said she was a crazy woman. +She generally was in the kitchen when I was there, overseeing her +household affairs. + +I was superintendent of the Sabbath School. One Sabbath, just at the close +of the school, I was behind the desk, and almost like a vision she +appeared before me, and requested to deliver or read an address to the +school. I was much surprised; I felt so bad, I did not know what to do. +(At this juncture the witness became very much affected, and choked up so +that he could not proceed, and cried so loud that he could be heard in any +part of the court-room. When he became calm, he went on and said), I was +willing to gratify her all I could, for I know she was crazy, but I did +not want to take the responsibility myself, so I put it to a vote of the +school, if she should be allowed to read it. She was allowed to read it. +It occupied ten or fifteen minutes in reading. + +I cannot state any of the particulars of that paper. It bore evidence of +her insanity. She went on and condemned the church, all in all, and the +individuals composing the church, because they did not agree with her. She +looked very wild and very much excited. She seemed to be insane. She came +to church one morning just as services commenced, and wished to have the +church act upon her letter withdrawing from the church immediately. Mr. +Packard was in the pulpit. She wanted to know if Brother Dole and Brother +Merrick were in the church, and wanted them to have it acted upon. This +was three years ago, just before she was taken away to the hospital. + +_Cross-examined._--I supposed when I first went into the room that her +influence over the child had caused the child to become deranged. The +child was nine years old. I believed that she had exerted some mesmeric or +other influence over the child, that caused it to moan and toss its head. +The child had been sick with brain fever; I learned that after I got +there. I suppose the mother had considerable anxiety over the child; I +suppose she had been watching over the child all night, and that would +tend to excite her. The child got well. It was sick several days after +this; it was lying on the bed moaning and tossing its head; the mother did +not appear to be alarmed. Mr. Packard was not with her; she was all alone; +she did not say that Mr. Packard did not show proper care for the sick +child. I suppose she thought Libby would die. + +Her ideas on religion did not agree with mine, nor with my view of the +Bible. + +I knew Mr. Packard thought her insane, and did not want her to discuss +these questions in the Sabbath School. I knew he had opposed her more or +less. This letter to the church was for the purpose of asking for a letter +from the church. + +_Question._ Was it an indication of insanity that she wanted to leave the +Presbyterian Church? + +_Answer._ I think it strange that she should ask for letters from the +church. She would not leave the church unless she was insane. + +I am a member of the church--I believe the church is right. I believe +everything the church does is right. I believe everything in the Bible. + +_Ques._ Do you believe literally that Jonah was swallowed by a whale, and +remained in its belly three days and was then cast up? + +_Ans._ I do. + +_Ques._ Do you believe literally that Elijah went direct up to Heaven in a +chariot of fire--that the chariot had wheels, and seats, and was drawn by +horses? + +_Ans._ I do--for with God all things are possible. + +_Ques._ Do you believe Mrs. Packard was insane, and is insane? + +_Ans._ I do. + +I never read any of Swedenborg's works, I do not deem it proper for +persons to investigate new doctrines or systems of theology. + +_Re-examined._--I became a Presbyterian eight years ago. I was formerly a +Congregationalist; Mr. Packard was a Congregationalist. + +_Re-cross-examination._--_Ques._ Was it dangerous for you to examine the +doctrines or theology embraced in the Presbyterian Church, when you left +the Congregational Church, and joined it? + +_Ans._ I will not answer so foolish a question. + +Witness discharged. + + +JOSEPHUS B. SMITH, sworn, says: + +Am aged fifty years; have known Mrs. Packard seven years. I cannot tell +the first appearance of any abnormal condition of her mind. I first saw it +at the Sabbath School. She came in and wished to read a communication. I +do not recollect everything of the communication. She did not read the +letter, but presented it to Brother Dole. She said something about her +small children, and left. She seemed to be excited. There was nothing very +unusual in her appearance. Her voice was rather excited; it could be heard +nearly over the house. I merely recall the circumstance, but recollect +scarce anything else. It was an unusual thing for any person to come in +and read an address. I do not recollect anything unusual in her manner. + +(At this stage of the trial, an incident occurred that for a time stopped +all proceedings, and produced quite an excitement in the court-room; and +this report would not be faithful if it were passed over unnoticed. Mrs. +Dole, the sister of Mr. Packard, came in, leading the little daughter of +Mrs. Packard, and in passing by the table occupied by Mrs. Packard and her +counsel, the child stopped, went up to her mother, kissed and hugged her, +and was clinging to her with all child-like fervor, when it was observed +by Mrs. Dole, who snatched the child up--and bid it "come away from that +woman;" adding, "She is not fit to take care of you--I have you in my +charge;" and thereupon led her away. The court-room was crowded to its +utmost, and not a mother's heart there but what was touched, and scarce a +dry eye was seen. Quite a stir was made, but the sheriff soon restored +order.) + +_Cross-examined._--I had charge of the Sunday School; am a member of Mr. +Packard's church. I knew Mr. Packard had considered her insane; knew they +had had difficulties. I was elected superintendent of the school in place +of Brother Dole, for the special purpose of keeping Mrs. Packard straight. + + +SYBIL DOLE, sworn, and says-- + +I am Mr. Packard's sister; have known her twenty-five years. Her natural +disposition is very kind and sweet. Her education is very good; her morals +without a stain or blemish. I first observed a change in her, after we +came to Manteno. I had a conversation with her, when she talked an hour +without interruption; she talked in a wild, excited manner; the subject +was partly religion. She spoke of her own attainments; she said she had +advanced in spiritual affairs. This was two or three years before she went +to the Asylum. + +The next time was when she was preparing to go to York State. She was +weeping and sick. Her trunk was packed and ready to go, but Mr. Packard +was sick. From her voice, and the manner she talked, I formed an opinion +of her insanity. She talked on various points; the conversation distressed +me very much; I could not sleep. She was going alone; we tried to persuade +her not to go alone. She accused Mr. Packard very strangely of depriving +her of her rights of conscience--that he would not allow her to think for +herself on religious questions, because they disagreed on these topics. +She made her visit to New York. The first time I met her after her return, +her health was much improved; she appeared much better. In the course of a +few weeks, she visited at my house. + +At another time, one of the children came up, and wanted me to go down; I +did so. She was very much excited about her son remaining at Marshall. She +was wild. She thought it was very wrong and tyrannical for Mr. Packard not +to permit her son to remain there. She said very many things which seemed +unnatural. Her voice, manner and ways, all showed she was insane. + +I was there when Mr. Baker came there, to see about Theophilus remaining +at Marshall with him. She was calmer than she was the day before. She said +that she should spend the day in fasting and prayer. She said he had came +in unexpectedly, and they were not prepared to entertain strangers. She +was out of bread, and had to make biscuit for dinner. (One gentleman in +the crowd turned to his wife and said, "Wife, were you ever out of bread, +and had to make biscuit for dinner? I must put you into an Insane Asylum! +No mistake!") I occupied the same room and bed with her. She went to Mr. +Packard's room, and when she returned, she said, that if her son was not +permitted to remain at Marshall, it would result in a divorce. She got up +several times during the night. She told me how much she enjoyed the +family circle. She spoke very highly of Mr. Packard's kindness to her. She +spoke particularly of the tenderness which had once existed between them. +I did not notice anything very remarkable in her conduct toward Mr. +Packard, until just before she was sent to the Hospital. + +One morning afterward, I went to her house with a lady; we wanted to go +in, and were admitted. She seemed much excited. She said, "You regard me +insane. I will thank you to leave my room." This was two or three months +before she was sent to Jacksonville. Mr. Packard went out. She put her +hand on my shoulder, and said she would thank me to go out too. I went +out. + +I afterward wanted to take the baby home. One morning I went down to see +her, and prepared breakfast for her. She appeared thankful, and +complimented me on my kindness. She consented for me to take the child; I +did so. In a short time, about ten days after, the other children came up, +and said, that she wanted to take her own child. I took the child down. +Her appearance was very wild. She was filled with spite toward Mr. +Packard. She defied me to take the child again, and said that she would +evoke the strong arm of the law to help her keep it. + +At another time, at the table, she was talking about religion, when Mr. +Packard remonstrated with her; she became angry, and told him she would +talk what and when she had a mind to. She rose up from the table, and took +her tea-cup, and left the room in great violence. + +_Cross-examined._--I am a member of Mr. Packard's church, and am his +sister. He and I have often consulted together about Mrs. Packard. Mr. +Packard was the first to ever suggest that she was insane; after that, I +would more carefully watch her actions to find out if she was insane. The +religious doctrines she advanced were at variance with those entertained +by our church. She was a good, neat, thrifty and careful housekeeper. She +was economical; kept the children clean and neatly dressed. She was sane +on all subjects except religion. I do not think she would have entertained +these ideas, if she had not been insane. I do not think she would have +wanted to have withdrawn from our church, and unite with another church, +if she had not been insane. She said she would worship with the +Methodists. They were the only other Protestant denomination that held +service at Manteno at the time. I knew when she was taken to Jacksonville +Hospital. She was taken away in the morning. She did not want to go; we +thought it advisable for her to go. + + +SARAH RUMSEY, sworn, and says: + +Have lived one week in Mrs. Packard's house. I was present at the +interview when Mrs. Packard ordered us to leave the room. Mrs. Packard was +very pale and angry. She was in an undress, and her hair was down over her +face. It was 11 o'clock in the forenoon--I staid at the house; Mrs. +Packard came out to the kitchen. She was dressed then. She said she had +come to reveal to me what Mr. Packard was. She talked very rapidly; she +would not talk calm. She said Mr. Packard was an arch deceiver; that he +and the members of his church had made a conspiracy to put her into the +Insane Asylum; she wanted me to leave the conspirators. Soon after dinner +she said, "Come with me, I have something to tell you." She said she had a +new revelation; it would soon be here; and that she had been chosen by God +for a particular mission. She said that all who decided with her, and +remained true to her, would be rewarded by the millennium, and if I would +side with her, that I would be a chief apostle in the millennium. She +wanted to go to Batavia, but that Mr. Packard would give her no money to +take her there; that Mr. Packard called her insane. She started to go out, +and Mr. Packard made her return; took her into Mr. Comstock's, and Mr. +Comstock made her go home. + +I saw her again when Libby had the brain fever. She was disturbed because +the family called her insane. She and Libby were crying together; they +cried together a long time. This was Tuesday. She would not let me into +the room. The next morning while at breakfast Mr. Labrie passed the window +and came in. He said that Georgie had been over for him, and said that +they were killing his mother. She acted very strangely all the time; was +wild and excited. + +_Cross-examined._--Knew Mr. Packard two years before I went there to live. +He was the pastor of our church. I am a member of the church. I did not +attend the Bible class. Brother Dole came to me and said somebody of the +church should go there, and stay at the house, and assist in packing her +clothes and getting her ready to take off to the Hospital, and stay and +take care of the children. I consented to go; I heard that Brother Packard +requested Brother Dole to come for me. I never worked out before. They had +a French servant, before I went there; Mr. Packard turned her off when I +came, the same day. I did not want to take Mrs. Packard away. I did not +think she exhibited any very unusual excitement, when the men came here to +take her away. Doctors Merrick and Newkirk were the physicians who came +there with Sheriff Burgess. She did not manifest as much excitement, when +being taken away, as I would have done, under the same circumstances; any +person would have naturally been opposed to being carried away. + +The church had opposed her, in disseminating her ideas in the church; I +was opposed to her promulgating her religious ideas in the church; I +thought them wrong, and injurious. I was present at the Sabbath School +when she read the paper to the school; I thought that bore evidence of +insanity. It was a refutation of what Mrs. Dixon had written; I cannot +give the contents of the paper now. + +I was present when she read a confession of her conduct to the church; she +had had her views changed partially, from a sermon preached upon the +subject of the sovereignty and immutability of God. I did not think it +strange conduct that she changed her views; and never said so. This was in +the spring before the June when they took her away. + +The article she read in the school was by the permission of the school. + +I was present when she presented a protest against the church for refusing +to let her be heard; I have only an indistinct recollection of it; it was +a protest because they refused to listen to her. + +Mr. Dole was the only person who came to the house when she was taken +away, except the men with Burgess. + +She said that Mr. Packard had deprived her of the liberty of conscience in +charging her to be insane, when she only entertained ideas new to him. + +I thought it was an evidence of insanity, because she maintained these +ideas. I do not know that many people entertain similar ideas. I suppose a +good many do not think the Calvinistic doctrine is right, they are not +necessarily insane because they think so. + +When she found I was going to stay in the house, and that the French +servant had been discharged, she ordered me into the kitchen; before that, +she had treated me kindly as a visitor. + +I thought it was an evidence of insanity for her to order me into the +kitchen; she ought to have known that I was not an ordinary servant. The +proper place for the servant is in the kitchen at work, and not in the +parlor; I took the place of the servant girl for a short time. + +She wanted the flower beds in the front yard cleaned out, and tried to get +Mr. Packard to do it; he would not do it. She went and put on an old dress +and went to work, and cleaned the weeds out, and worked herself into a +great heat. It was a warm day; she staid out until she was almost melted +down with the heat. + +_Question._ What did she do then? + +_Answer._ She went to her room and took a bath, and dressed herself, and +then lay down exhausted. She did not come down to dinner. + +_Ques._ And did you think that was an evidence of insanity? + +_Ans._ I did--the way it was done. + +_Ques._ What would you have done under similar circumstances? Would you +have set down in the clothes you had worked in? + +_Ans._ No. + +_Ques._ Probably you would have taken a bath and changed your clothes too. +And so would any lady, would they not? + +_Ans._ Yes. + +_Ques._ Then would you call yourself insane? + +_Ans._ No. But she was angry and excited, and showed ill-will. She was +very tidy in her habits; liked to keep the house clean, and have her yard +and flowers look well. She took considerable pains with these things. + +I remained there until she was taken away; I approved taking her away; I +deemed her dangerous to the church; her ideas were contrary to the church, +and were wrong. + +The baby was eighteen months old when she was taken away. She was very +fond of her children and treated them very kindly. Never saw her misuse +them. Never heard that she had misused them. Never heard that she was +dangerous to herself or to her family. Never heard that she had threatened +or offered to destroy anything, or injure any person. + + +JUDGE BARTLETT was next called to the stand. + +Am acquainted with Mrs. Packard. Had a conversation with her on religious +topics. We agreed very well in most things. She did not say she believed +in the transmigration of souls; she said some persons had expressed that +idea to her, but she did not believe it. It was spoken of lightly. She did +not say ever to me, that Mr. Packard's soul would go into an ox. She did +not say anything about her being related to the Holy Ghost. I thought +then, and said it, that religious subjects were her study, and that she +would easily be excited on that subject. I could not see that she was +insane. I would go no stronger than to say, that her mind dwelt on +religious subjects. She could not be called insane, for thousands of +people believe as she does, on religion. + + +MRS. SYBIL DOLE, recalled. + +At the time she got up from the table she went out. She said, "I will have +no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. No! not so much as to +eat with them." + +_Re-cross-examined._--_Question._ Did you deem that an evidence of +insanity? + +_Answer._ I did. + +_Ques._ She called Mr. Packard the unfruitful works of darkness? + +_Ans._ I suppose so. + +_Ques._ Did she also include you? + +_Ans._ She might have done so. + +_Ques._ This was about the time that her husband was plotting to kidnap +her, was it not? + +_Ans._ It was just before she was removed to the Asylum. + +_Ques._ He had been charging her with insanity, had he not, at the table? + +_Ans._ He had. + + +The prosecution now wished to adjourn the court for ten days, to enable +them to get Dr. McFarland, Superintendent of the State Hospital, who, they +claimed, would testify that she was insane. Counsel stated, he had been +telegraphed to come, and a reply was received, that he was in Zanesville, +Ohio, and would return in about ten days. They claimed his testimony would +be very important. This motion the counsel of Mrs. Packard opposed, as it +was an unheard-of proceeding to continue a cause after the hearing was +commenced, to enable a party to hunt up testimony. + +The matter was discussed on each side for a considerable length of time, +when the court held that the defense should go on with their testimony, +and after that was heard, then the court would determine about continuing +the case to get Dr. McFarland, and perhaps he could be got before the +defense was through, and if so, he might be sworn; and held that the +defense should go on now. + +The counsel of Mrs. Packard withdrew for consultation, and in a brief time +returned, and announced to the court that they would submit the case +without introducing any testimony, and were willing to submit it without +argument. The counsel for Mr. Packard objected to this, and renewed the +motion for a continuance; which the court refused. + +The counsel for Mr. Packard then offered to read to the jury a letter from +Dr. McFarland, dated in the month of December, 1863, written to Rev. +Theophilus Packard; and also a certificate, under the seal of the State +Hospital at Jacksonville, certifying that Mrs. Packard was discharged from +the institution in June, 1863, and was incurably insane, which certificate +was signed by Dr. McFarland, the Superintendent. To the introduction of +this to the jury, the counsel for Mrs. Packard objected, as being +incompetent testimony, and debarred the defense of the benefit of a +cross-examination. The court permitted the letter and certificate to be +read to the jury. + +These documents were retained by Rev. Theophilus Packard, and the reporter +has been unable to obtain copies of them. The letter is dated in December, +1863, at the State Hospital, Jacksonville, Illinois, and written to Rev. +Theophilus Packard, wherein Dr. McFarland writes him that Mrs. Packard is +hopelessly insane, and that no possible good could result by having her +returned to the Hospital; that the officers of the institution had done +everything in their power to effect a cure, and were satisfied she could +not be cured, and refused to receive her into the institution. + +The certificate, under the seal of the Hospital, was a statement, dated in +June, 1863, at Jacksonville, Illinois, setting forth the time (three +years) that Mrs. Packard had been under treatment, and that she had been +discharged, as beyond a possibility of being cured. + +The above is the import of these documents, which the reporter regrets he +cannot lay before the public in full. + +The prosecution now announced that they closed their case. + + +DEFENSE. + +J. L. SIMINGTON was the first witness called for the defense. Being sworn, +he said + +I live in Manteno; lived there since 1859, early in the spring. Knew Rev. +Mr. Packard and Mrs. Packard. First became acquainted with them in 1858; +I was then engaged in the ministry of the Methodist Church. I have +practiced medicine eleven years. + +I was consulted as a family physician by Mrs. Packard in 1860. Was quite +well acquainted with Mrs. Packard, and with the family. Lived fifty or +sixty rods from their house. Saw her and the family almost daily. I did +not see anything unusual in her, in regard to her mind. I never saw +anything I thought insanity with her. So far as I know she was a sane +woman. I have seen her since she came from the Hospital; have seen nothing +since to indicate she was insane. My opinion is, she is a sane woman. + +No cross-examination was made. + + +Dr. J. D. MANN, sworn, and says: + +I live in Manteno; have lived there nine years. Practiced medicine there +six years. I am not very intimately acquainted with either Mr. or Mrs. +Packard. Mr. Packard invited me to go to his house to have an interview +with Mrs. Packard. I went at his request. He requested me to make a second +examination, which I did. There had been a physician there before I went. +The last time, he wanted me to meet Dr. Brown, of this city, there. This +was late in November last. He introduced me to Mrs. Packard. I had known +her before she was taken to the Hospital, and this was the first time I +had seen her since she had returned. I was there from one to two hours. I +then made up my mind, as I had made up my mind from the first interview, +that I could find nothing that indicated insanity. I did not go when Dr. +Brown was there. Mr. Packard had told me she was insane, and my prejudices +were, that she was insane. He wanted a certificate of her insanity, to +take East with him. I would not give it. + +The witness was not cross-examined. + + +JOSEPH E. LABRIE, sworn, and says: + +Have known Mrs. Packard six years; lived fifteen or twenty rods from their +house. Knew her in spring of 1860. Saw her nearly every day--sometimes two +or three times a day. I belong to the Catholic Church. Have seen her since +her return from Jacksonville. I have seen nothing that could make me think +her insane. I always said she was a sane woman, and say so yet. + +_Cross-examined._--I am not a physician. I am not an expert. She might be +insane, but no common-sense man could find it out. + +_Re-examined._--I am a Justice of the Peace, and Notary Public. Mr. +Packard requested me to go to his house and take an acknowledgment of a +deed from her. I went there, and she signed and acknowledged the deed. +This was within the past two months. + +_Re-cross-examined._--I was sent for to go to the house in the spring of +1860. My wife was with me. It was about taking her to Jacksonville. Mrs. +Packard would not come to the room where I was. I stayed there only about +twenty minutes. + +Have been there since she returned from the Hospital. The door to her room +was locked on the outside. Mr. Packard said, he had made up his mind to +let no one into her room. + + +The counsel for Mrs. Packard offered to read to the jury the following +paper, which had been referred to by the witnesses, as evidence of Mrs. +Packard's insanity, and which Deacon Smith refused to hear read. The +counsel for Mr. Packard examined the paper, and admitted it was the same +paper. + +The counsel for Mrs. Packard then requested permission of the court for +Mrs. Packard to read it to the jury, which was most strenuously opposed. +The court permitted Mrs. Packard to read it to the jury. Mrs. Packard +arose, and read in a distinct tone of voice, so that every word was heard +all over the court-room. + + HOW GODLINESS IS PROFITABLE + + DEACON SMITH--A question was proposed to this class, the last Sabbath + Brother Dole taught us, and it was requested that the class consider + and report the result of their investigations at a future session. + May I now bring it up? The question was this: + + "Have we any reason to expect that a Christian farmer, _as a + Christian_, will be any more successful in his farming operations, + than an impenitent sinner--and if _not_, how is it that godliness is + profitable unto all things? Or, in other words, does the _motive_ + with which one prosecutes his secular business, other things being + equal, make any difference in the _pecuniary_ results?" + + Mrs. Dixon gave it as her opinion, at the time, that the motive _did_ + affect the pecuniary results. + + Now the _practical_ result to which this conclusion leads, is such as + will justify us in our judging of Mrs. Dixon's true _moral_ + character, next fall, by her _success_ in her farming operations this + summer. + + My opinion differs from hers on this point; and my _reasons_ are here + given in writing since I deem it necessary for _me_, under the + existing state of feeling toward me, to put into a written form _all_ + I have to say, in the class, to prevent misrepresentation. + + Should I be appropriating an unreasonable share of time, as a pupil, + Mr. Smith, to occupy four minutes of your time in reading them? I + should like very much to read them, that the class may pass their + honest criticisms upon them. + + + AN ANSWER TO THE QUESTION. + + I think we have no _intelligent_ reason for believing that the + motives with which we prosecute our secular business, have any + influence in the _pecuniary_ results. + + My reasons are _common sense_ reasons, rather than strictly Bible + proofs, viz.: I regard man as existing in three distinct departments + of being, viz., his physical or animal, his mental or intellectual, + his moral or spiritual; and each of these three distinct departments + are under the control of _laws_, peculiar to itself; and these + different laws do not interchange with, or affect each other's + department. + + For instance, a very _immoral_ man may be a very _healthy_, + long-lived man; for, notwithstanding he violates the _moral_ + department, he may live in conformity to the _physical_ laws of his + animal nature, which secure to him his physical health. And, on the + other hand, a very moral man may suffer greatly from a diseased body, + and be cut off in the very midst of his usefulness by an early death, + in consequence of having violated the physical laws of his animal + constitution. But on the moral plane he is the _gainer_, and the + immoral man is the _loser_. + + So our success in business depends upon our conformity to _those + laws_ on which success depends--_not_ upon the _motives_ which act + _only_ on the moral plane. + + On _this_ ground, the Christian farmer has no more _reason_ to expect + success in his farming operations, than the impenitent sinner. In + either case, the foundation for success must depend upon the degree + of _fidelity_ with which the _natural laws_ are applied, which cause + the natural result--_not_ upon the _motives_ of the operator; since + these moral acts receive their penalty and reward on an entirely + different plane of his being. + + Now comes in the question, how then is it true, that "godliness is + _profitable_ unto all things," if godliness is no guarantee to + success in business pursuits? + + I reply, that the profits of godliness cannot mean, simply, + _pecuniary_ profits, because this would limit the gain of godliness + to this world, alone; whereas, it is profitable not only for _this + life_, but also for the _life to come_. Gain and loss, dollars and + cents, are not the coins current in the spiritual world. + + But happiness and misery are coins which are current in _both_ + worlds. Therefore, it appears to me, that happiness is the profit + attendant upon godliness, and for this reason, a _practically godly_ + person, who lives in conformity to all the various laws of his entire + being, may expect to secure to himself, as a natural result, a + greater amount of happiness than the ungodly person. + + So that, in this sense, "Godliness is profitable unto all things," to + every department of our being. + + E. P. W. PACKARD. + + MANTENO, March 22, 1860. + +Mrs. Packard then stated that the above was presented to the class, the +15th day of the following April, and was _rejected_ by the teacher Deacon +Smith, on the ground of its being irrelevant to the subject, since she had +not confined herself to the Bible alone for proof of her position. + +As she took her seat, a murmur of applause arose from every part of the +room, which was promptly suppressed by the sheriff. + + +DANIEL BEEDY, sworn, and says: + +I live in Manteno. Have known Mrs. Packard six years; knew her in the +spring of 1860. I lived a mile and a half from them. Have seen her very +frequently since her return from Jacksonville. Had many conversations with +her before she was taken away, and since her return. She always appeared +to me like a sane woman. I heard she was insane, and my wife and I went to +satisfy ourselves. I went there soon after the difficulties in the Bible +class. + +She is not insane. We talked about religion, politics, and various +matters, such as a grey-haired old farmer could talk about, and I saw +nothing insane about her. + + +Mr. BLESSING, sworn, and says: + +I live in Manteno; have known Mrs. Packard six years; knew her in the +spring of 1860; lived eighty rods from their house. She visited at my +house. I have seen her at church. She attended the Methodist church for a +while after the difficulties commenced, and then I saw her every Sunday. I +never thought her insane. + +After the word was given out by her husband that she was insane, she +claimed my particular protection, and wanted me to obtain a trial for her +by the laws of the land, and such an investigation she said she was +willing to stand by. She claimed Mr. Packard was insane, if any one was. +She begged for a trial. I did not then do anything, because I did not like +to interfere between man and wife. I never saw anything that indicated +insanity. She was always rational. Had conversations with her since her +return. She first came to my house. She claimed a right to live with her +family. She considered herself more capable of taking care of her family +than any other person. + +I saw her at Jacksonville. I took Dr. Shirley with me to test her +insanity. Dr. Shirley told me she was not insane. + +Cross-examination waived. + + +Mrs. BLESSING, sworn, and says: + +Have known Mrs. Packard seven years; knew her in 1860. Lived near them; we +visited each other as neighbors. She first came to our house when she +returned from Jacksonville. I did not see anything that indicated that she +was insane. I saw her at Jacksonville. She had the keys, and showed me +around. I heard the conversation there with Dr. Shirley; they talked about +religion; did not think she talked unnatural. When I first went in, she +was at work on a dress for Dr. McFarland's wife. I saw her after she +returned home last fall, quite often, until she was locked in her room. On +Monday after she got home, I called on her; she was at work; she was +cleaning up the feather beds; they needed cleaning badly. I went there +afterward; her daughter let me in. On Saturday before the trial commenced, +I was let into her room by Mr. Packard; she had no fire in it; we sat +there in the cold. Mr. Packard had a handful of keys, and unlocked the +door and let me in. Mrs. Hanford was with me. Before this, Mrs. Hanford +and myself went there to see her; he would not let us see her; he shook +his hand at me, and threatened to put me out. + + +Mrs. HASLET, sworn, and said: + +Know Mrs. Packard very well; have known her since they lived in Manteno; +knew her in the spring of 1860; and since she returned from Jacksonville, +we have been on intimate terms. I never saw any signs of insanity with +her. I called often before she was kidnapped and carried to Jacksonville, +and since her return. + +I recollect the time Miss Rumsey was there; I did not see anything that +showed insanity. I called to see her in a few days after she returned from +Jacksonville; she was in the yard, cleaning feather beds. I called again +in a few days; she was still cleaning house. The house needed cleaning; +and when I again called, it looked as if the mistress of the house was at +home. She had no hired girl. I went again, and was not admitted. I +conversed with her through the window; the window was fastened down. The +son refused me admission. The window was fastened with nails on the +inside, and by two screws, passing through the lower part of the upper +sash and the upper part of the lower sash, from the outside. I did not see +Mr. Packard this time. + +_Cross-examination._--She talked about getting released from her +imprisonment. She asked if filing a bill of complaint would lead to a +divorce. She said she did not want a divorce; she only wanted protection +from Mr. Packard's cruelty. I advised her to not stand it quietly, but get +a divorce. + + +Dr. DUNCANSON, sworn, and said: + +I live here; am a physician; have been a clergyman; have been a practicing +physician twenty-one years. Have known Mrs. Packard since this trial +commenced. Have known her by general report for three years and upwards. I +visited her at Mr. Orr's. I was requested to go there and have a +conversation with her and determine if she was sane or insane. Talked +three hours with her, on political, religious and scientific subjects, and +on mental and moral philosophy. I was educated at and received diplomas +from the University of Glasgow, and Anderson University of Glasgow. I went +there to see her, and prove or disprove her insanity. I think not only +that she is sane, but the most intelligent lady I have talked with in many +years. We talked religion very thoroughly. I find her an expert in both +departments, Old School and New School theology. There are thousands of +persons who believe just as she does. Many of her ideas and doctrines are +embraced in Swedenborgianism, and many are found only in the New School +theology. The best and most learned men of both Europe and this country, +are advocates of these doctrines, in one shape or the other; and some +bigots and men with minds of small calibre may call these great minds +insane; but that does not make them insane. An insane mind is a diseased +mind. These minds are the perfection of intellectual powers, healthy, +strong, vigorous, and just the reverse of diseased minds, or insane. Her +explanation of woman representing the Holy Ghost, and man representing the +male attributes of the Father, and that the Son is the fruit of the Father +and the Holy Ghost, is a very ancient theological dogma, and entertained +by many of our most eminent men. On every topic I introduced, she was +perfectly familiar, and discussed them with an intelligence that at once +showed she was possessed of a good education, and a strong and vigorous +mind. I did not agree with her in sentiment on many things, but I do not +call people insane because they differ from me, nor from a majority, even, +of people. Many persons called Swedenborg insane. That is true; but he had +the largest brain of any person during the age in which he lived; and no +one now dares call him insane. You might with as much propriety call +Christ insane, because he taught the people many new and strange things; +or Galileo; or Newton; or Luther; or Robert Fulton; or Morse, who +electrified the world; or Watts or a thousand others I might name. Morse's +best friends for a long time thought him mad; yet there was a magnificent +mind, the embodiment of health and vigor. + +So with Mrs. Packard; there is wanting every indication of insanity that +is laid down in the books. I pronounce her a sane woman, and wish we had a +nation of such women. + +This witness was cross-examined at some length, which elicited nothing +new, when he retired. + + +The defense now announced to the court that they had closed all the +testimony they wished to introduce, and inasmuch as the case had occupied +so much time, they would propose to submit it without argument. The +prosecution would not consent to this arrangement. + +The case was argued ably and at length, by Messrs. Loomis and Bonfield for +the prosecution, and by Messrs. Orr and Loring on the part of the defense. + +It would be impossible to give even a statement of the arguments made, and +do the attorneys justice, in the space allotted to this report. + +On the 18th day of January, 1864, at 10 o'clock, P. M., the jury retired +for consultation, under the charge of the sheriff. After an absence of +seven minutes, they returned into court, and gave the following verdict: + + STATE OF ILLINOIS, } _ss._ + KANKAKEE COUNTY, } + + We, the undersigned, Jurors in the case of Mrs. Elizabeth P. W. + Packard, alleged to be insane, having heard the evidence in the case, + are satisfied that said Elizabeth P. W. Packard is SANE. + + JOHN STILES, _Foreman_. + DANIEL G. BEAN. + F. G. HUTCHINSON. + V. H. YOUNG. + G. M. LYONS. + THOMAS MUNCEY. + H. HIRSHBERG. + NELSON JERVAIS. + WILLIAM HYER. + GEO. H. ANDREWS. + J. F. MAFIT. + LEMUEL MILK. + +Cheers rose from every part, of the house; the ladies waved their +handkerchiefs, and pressed around Mrs. Packard, and extended her their +congratulations. It was sometime before the outburst of applause could be +checked. When order was restored, the counsel for Mrs. Packard moved the +court, that she be discharged. Thereupon the court ordered the clerk to +enter the following order: + + STATE OF ILLINOIS, } _ss._ + KANKAKEE COUNTY, } + + It is hereby ordered that Mrs. Elizabeth P. W. Packard be relieved + from all restraint incompatible with her condition as a sane woman. + + C. R. STARR, + _Judge of the 20th Judicial Circuit of the State of Illinois_ + + January 18, 1864. + +Thus ended the trial of this remarkable case. During each day of the +proceedings the court-room was crowded to excess by an anxious audience of +ladies and gentlemen, who are seldom in our courts. The verdict of the +jury was received with applause, and hosts of friends crowded upon Mrs. +Packard to congratulate her upon her release. + +During the past two months, Mr. Packard had locked her up in her own +house, fastened the windows outside, and carried the key to the door, and +made her a close prisoner. He was maturing a plan to immure her in an +Asylum in Massachusetts, and for that purpose was ready to start on the +Thursday before the writ was sued out, when his plan was disclosed to Mrs. +Packard by a letter he accidentally dropped in her room, written by his +sister in Massachusetts, telling him the route he should take, and that a +carriage would be ready at the station to put her in and convey her to the +Asylum. + +Vigorous action became necessary, and she communicated this startling +intelligence through her window to some ladies who had come to see her, +and were refused admission into the house. + +On Monday morning, and before the defense had rested their case, Mr. +Packard left the State, bag and baggage, for parts unknown, having first +mortgaged his property for all it is worth to his sister and other +parties. + + +We cannot do better than close this report with the following editorial +from the Kankakee Gazette, of January 21, 1864: + +MRS. PACKARD. + +The case of this lady, which has attracted so much attention and excited +so much interest for ten days past, was decided on Monday evening last and +resulted, as almost every person thought it must, in a complete +vindication of her sanity. The jury retired on Monday evening, after +hearing the arguments of the counsel; and after a brief consultation, they +brought in a verdict that Mrs. Packard is a _sane_ woman. + +Thus has resulted an investigation which Mrs. Packard has long and always +desired should be had, but which her cruel husband has ever sternly +refused her. She has always asked and earnestly pleaded for a jury trial +of her case, but her relentless persecutor has ever turned a deaf ear to +her entreaties, and flagrantly violated all the dictates of justice and +humanity. + +She has suffered the alienation of friends and relatives; the shock of a +kidnapping by her husband and his posse when forcibly removed to the +Asylum; has endured three years incarceration in that Asylum--upon the +general treatment, in which there is severe comment in the State, and +which in her special case was aggravatingly unpleasant and ill-favored; +returning to her home she found her husband's saintly blood still +congealed, a winter of perpetual frown on his face, and the sad dull +monotony of "insane, insane," escaping his lips in all his communications +to and concerning her; her young family, the youngest of the four at home +being less than four years of age, these children--over whose slumbers she +had watched, and whose wailings she had hushed with all a mother's care +and tenderness--had been taught to look upon her as insane, and they were +not to respect the counsels or heed the voice of a maniac just loosed from +the Asylum, doom sealed by official certificates. + +Soon her aberration of mind led her to seek some of her better clothing +carefully kept from her by her husband, which very woman-like act was +seized by him as an excuse for confining her in her room, and depriving +her of her apparel, and excluding her lady friends. Believing that he was +about to again forcibly take her to an asylum, four responsible citizens +of that village made affidavit of facts which caused the investigation as +to her sanity or insanity. During the whole of the trial she was present, +and counseled with her attorneys in the management of the case. + +Notwithstanding the severe treatment she has received for nearly four +years past, the outrages she has suffered, the wrong to her nature she has +endured, she deported herself during the trial as one who is not only not +insane, but as one possessing intellectual endowments of a high order, and +an equipoise and control of mind far above the majority of human kind. Let +the sapient Dr. Brown, who gave a certificate of insanity after a short +conversation with her, and which certificate was to be used in aid of her +incarceration for life--suffer as she has suffered, endure what she has +endured, and the world would be deprived of future clinical revealings +from his gigantic mind upon the subject of the spleen, and he would, to a +still greater extent than in the past, "fail to illuminate" the public as +to the virtues and glories of the martyr who is "watching and waiting" in +Canada. + +The heroic motto: "suffer and be strong," is fairly illustrated in her +case. While many would have opposed force to his force, displayed frantic +emotions of displeasure at such treatment, or sat convulsed and "maddened +with the passion of her part," she meekly submitted to the tortures of her +bigoted tormentor, trusting and believing in God's Providence the hour of +her vindication and her release from thraldom would come. And now the +fruit of her suffering and persecution have all the autumn glory of +perfection. + + "One who walked + From the throne's splendor to the bloody block, + Said: 'This completes my glory' with a smile + Which still illuminates men's thoughts of her." + +Feeling the accusations of his guilty conscience, seeing the meshes of the +net with which he had kept her surrounded were broken, and a storm-cloud +of indignation about to break over his head in pitiless fury, the +intolerant Packard, after encumbering their property with trust-deeds, and +despoiling her of her furniture and clothing, left the country. Let him +wander! with the mark of infamy upon his brow, through far-off States, +where distance and obscurity may diminish till the grave shall cover the +wrongs it cannot heal. + +It is to be hoped Mrs. Packard will make immediate application for a +divorce, and thereby relieve herself of a repetition of the wrongs and +outrages she has suffered by him who for the past four years has only used +the marriage relation to persecute and torment her in a merciless and +unfeeling manner. + + + + +NARRATIVE OF EVENTS--CONTINUED. + + +When this Trial terminated, I returned to my home in Manteno, where five +days previous I had bestowed the parting kiss upon my three youngest +children, little thinking it would be the last embrace I should be allowed +to bestow upon these dear objects of my warmest affections. But alas! so +it proved to be. Mr. Packard had fled with them to Massachusetts, leaving +me in the court room a childless widow. He could not but see that the tide +of popular indignation was concentrating against him, as the revelations +of the court ventilated the dreadful facts of this conspiracy, and he +"fled his country," a fugitive from justice. He, however, left a letter +for me which was handed me before I left the Court-house, wherein he +stated that he had moved to Massachusetts, and extended to me an +invitation to follow him, with the promise that he would provide me a +suitable home. But I did not feel much like trusting either to his +humanity or judgment in providing me another home. Indeed, I did not think +it safe to follow him, knowing that Massachusetts' laws gave him the +absolute custody of my person as well as Illinois' laws. He went to South +Deerfield, Massachusetts, and sought shelter for himself and his children +in the family of his sister, Mrs. Severance, one of his co-conspirators. +Here he found willing ears to credit his tale of abuses he had suffered in +this interference of his rights to do as he pleased with his lawful +wife--and in representing the trial as a "mock trial," an illegal +interference with his rights as head of his own household, and a "mob +triumph,"--and in short, he was an innocent victim of a persecution +against his legally constituted rights as a husband, to protect his wife +in the way his own feelings of bigotry and intolerance should dictate! + +This was the region of his nativity and former pastorate, which he had +left about eleven years previously, with an unblemished external +character, and sharing, to an uncommon degree, the entire confidence of +the public as a Christian man and a minister. Nothing had occurred, _to +their knowledge_, to disturb this confidence in his present integrity as +an honest reporter, and the entire community credited his testimony as +perfectly reliable, in his entire misrepresentations of the facts in the +case, and the character of the trial. His view was the only view the +community were allowed to hear, so far as it was in his power to prevent +it. The press also lent him its aid, as his organ of communication. He met +also his old associates in the ministry, and by his artfully arranged web +of lies, and his cunning sophistries, he deluded them also into a belief +of his views, so that they, unanimously, gave him their certificate of +confidence and fraternal sympathy. Yea, even my own father and brothers +became victims also of his sophisms and misrepresentations, so that they +honestly believed me to be insane, and that the Westerners had really +interfered with Mr. Packard's rights and kind intents towards his wife, in +intercepting as they had, his plans to keep her incarcerated for life. + +Thus this one-sided view of the facts in the case so moulded public +sentiment in this conservative part of New England, that he even obtained +a certificate from my own dear father, a retired orthodox clergyman in +Sunderland, Massachusetts, that, so far as he knew, he had treated his +daughter generally with propriety!! This certificate served as a passport +to the confidence of Sunderland people in Mr. Packard as a man and a +minister, and procured for him a call to become their minister in holy +things. He was accordingly hired, as stated supply, and paid fifteen +dollars a Sabbath for one year and a half, and was boarded by my father in +his family, part of the time, free of charge. + +The condition in which Mr. Packard left me I will now give in the language +of another, by inserting here a quotation from one of the many Chicago +papers which published an account of this trial with editorial remarks +accompanying it. The following is a part of one of these Editorial +Articles, which appeared under the caption:-- + + "A HEARTLESS CLERGYMAN." + + _Chicago, March 6, 1864._ + + "We recently gave an extended account of the melancholy case of Mrs. + Packard, of Manteno, Ill., and showed how she was persecuted by her + husband, Rev. Theophilus Packard, a bigoted Presbyterian minister of + Manteno. Mrs. Packard became liberal in her views, in fact, avowed + Universalist sentiments; and as her husband was unable to answer her + arguments, he thought he could silence her tongue, by calling her + _insane_, and having her incarcerated in the Insane Asylum at + Jacksonville, Illinois. He finally succeeded in finding one or two + orthodox physicians, as bigoted as himself, ready to aid him in his + nefarious work, and she was confined in the asylum, under the charge + (?) of Dr. McFarland, who kept her there three years. She at last + succeeded in having a jury trial, and was pronounced _sane_. + Previous, however, to the termination of the trial, this persecutor + of his wife, mortgaged his property, took away his children from the + mother, and left her penniless and homeless, without a cent to buy + food, or a place where to lay her head! And yet he pretended to + believe that she was _insane_! Is this the way to treat an insane + wife! Abandon her, turn her out upon the world without a morsel of + bread, and no home? Her husband calls her _insane_. Before the case + is decided by the jury, he starts for parts unknown. Was there ever + such a case of heartlessness? If Mr. Packard _believed_ his wife to + be hopelessly _insane_, why did he abandon her? Is this the way to + treat a companion afflicted with insanity? If he believed his own + story, he should, like a devoted husband, have watched over her with + tenderness, his heart full of love should have gone out towards the + poor, afflicted woman, and he should have bent over her and soothed + her, and spent the last penny he had, for her recovery! But instead + of this, he gathers in his funds, "packs up his duds," and leaves his + poor, _insane_ wife, as _he_ calls her, in the court room, without + food or shelter. He abandons her, leaving her penniless, homeless and + childless! + + "Mrs. Packard is now residing with Mr. Z. Handford, of Manteno, who + writes to the Kankakee _Gazette_ as follows: + + "In the first place, Mrs. Packard is now penniless. After having + aided her husband for twenty-one years, by her most indefatigable + exertions, to secure for themselves a home, with all its clustering + comforts, he, with no cause, except a difference in religious + opinions, exiled her from her home, by forcing her into Jacksonville + Insane Asylum, where he hoped to immure her for life, or until she + would abandon what _he_ calls her 'insane notions.' + + "But in the overruling providence of a just God, her case has been + ventilated, at last, by a jury trial, the account of which is already + before the public. + + "From the time of her banishment into exile, now more than three and + a half years, he has not allowed her the control of one dollar of + their personal property. And she has had nothing to do with their + real estate, within that time, excepting to sign one deed for the + transfer of some of their real estate in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, which + she did at her husband's earnest solicitations, and his promise to + let her have her 'defense,' long enough to copy, which document he + had robbed her of three years before, by means of Dr. McFarland as + agent. Her signature, _thus obtained_, was acknowledged as a valid + act, and the deed was presented to the purchaser as a valid + instrument, even after Mr. Packard had just before taken an _oath_ + that his wife was an _insane_ woman! + + "He has robbed her of all her patrimony, including not only her + furniture, but her valuable clothing also, and a note of six hundred + dollars on interest, which he gave her seven years before, as an + equivalent for this amount of patrimony which her father, Rev. Samuel + Ware, of Sunderland, Massachusetts, sent Mrs. Packard for her special + benefit, and to be used for her and her children as her own judgment + should dictate. He has taken her furniture and clothing, or the + avails of them, with him to Massachusetts, without allowing her a + single article of furniture for her own individual comfort and use. + Thus he has left her without a single penny of their common property + to procure for herself the necessaries of life. + + "He has left her homeless. Before the court closed, Mr. Packard left + this scene of revelations, and mortgaged and rented their home in + Manteno, and dispossessed it by night of its furniture, so that when + the court closed, Mrs. Packard had no sort of home to return to, the + new renter having claimed possession of her home, and claiming a + legal right to all its privileges, excluding her from its use + entirely as a home, without leaving her the least legal claim to any + of the avails of the rent or sales for the supply of her present + necessities. + + "Again, she is childless. Her cruel husband, not satisfied with + robbing his wife of all her rightful property, has actually + _kidnapped_ all her dear children who lived at home, taking them with + him, clandestinely, to Massachusetts, leaving her a 'childless + widow,' entirely dependent for her living, either upon her own + exertions, or the charities of the public. We will not attempt to + describe the desolation of her maternal heart, when she returned to + her deserted home, to find it despoiled of all her dearest earthly + treasures; with no sweet cherub, with its smiling, joyous face to + extend to her the happy, welcome kiss of a mother's return. + + "But one short week previous, Mrs. Packard had bestowed the parting + kiss upon her three youngest children, little dreaming it would be + the last embrace the mother would ever be allowed to bestow upon her + dear offspring, in their own dear home. But now, alas! where is her + only daughter, Elizabeth, of thirteen years, and her George Hastings, + of ten years, and her darling baby, Arthur Dwight, of five years? + Gone! gone! never to return, while the mandate of their father's iron + will usurps supreme control of this household! + + "Yes, the mother's home and heart are both desolate, for her + heart-treasures--her dear children--are no more to be found. At + length, rumor reaches her that her babe, Arthur, is at their brother + Dole's. The anxious mother hastens to seek for it there. But all in + vain. The family, faithful to their brother's wishes, keep the babe + carefully hid from the mother, so that she cannot get even one + glimpse of her sweet, darling boy. Her cruel husband, fearing her + attempts to secure the child might prove successful, has sent for it + to be brought to him in Massachusetts, where he now is fairly out of + the mother's reach." + + Z. HANFORD. + +I made various attempts to recover my furniture, which I found was stored +at Deacon Doles' house, a brother-in-law of Mr. Packard's, under the +pretense, that he had bought it, although he could never show one paper as +proof of property transferred. I took counsel of the Judge and lawyers at +Kankakee, to see if I could in any way recover my stolen furniture, which +I had bought with my own patrimony. "Can I replevy it as stolen property?" +said I. "No," said my advisers, "you cannot replevy anything, for you are +a married woman, and a married woman has no legal existence, unless she +holds property independent of her husband. As this is not your case, you +are nothing and nobody in law. Your husband has a legal right to all your +common property--you have not even a right to the hat on your head!" +"Why?" said I, "I have bought and paid for it with my own money." "That is +of no consequence--you can hold nothing, as you are _nothing and nobody_ +in law! You have a moral right to your own things, and your own children, +but no legal right at all; therefore you, a married woman, cannot replevy, +although any one else could under like circumstances." "Is this so? Has a +married woman no identity in Statute Book of Illinois?" "It is so. Her +interests are all lost in those of her husband, and he has the absolute +control of her home, her property, her children, and her personal +liberty." + +Yes, all this is but too true, as my own sad experience fully +demonstrates. Now I can realize the sad truths so often iterated, +reiterated to me by my husband, namely: "You have no _right_ to your home, +I have let you live with me twenty-one years in my home as a favor to you. +You have no _right_ to your children. I let you train them, as far as I +think it is proper to trust your judgment--this privilege of training and +educating your own children is a favor bestowed upon you by me, which I +can withhold or grant at my own option. You have no _right_ to your money +patrimony after you intrusted it to my care, and I gave you a note for it +on interest which I can either pay you or not at my own option. You have +no _right_ to your personal liberty if I feel disposed to christen your +opinions insane opinions, for I can then treat you as an insane person or +not, just at my own option." Yes, Mr. Packard has only treated me as he +said the laws of Illinois allowed him to do, and how can he be blamed +then? Did not "wise men" make the laws, as he often used to assert they +did? And can one be prosecuted for doing a legal act? Nay--verily--no law +can reach him; even his kidnapping me as he did is legalized in Illinois +Statute Book, as the following article which was published in several +Boston papers in the winter of 1865, demonstrates, namely: + + "LEGAL KIDNAPPING," OR PROVISION FOR A SANE PERSON'S IMPRISONMENT. + + "From the 'Disclosures' of Mrs. Packard's book, it appears a + self-evident fact that one State of our Union has an express + provision for the imprisonment of married women who are not insane. + And this process of legal kidnapping is most strikingly illustrated + in the facts developed in Mrs. Packard's own experience, as + delineated in her book entitled 'The Great Drama.' + + "The following is a copy of the Law, as it now stands on the Illinois + Statute Book:-- + + "AMENDATORY ACT." + + "Session Laws 15, 1851. Page 96." + + "SEC. 10. Married women and infants who, in the judgment of the + Medical Superintendent, [meaning the Superintendent of the + 'Illinois State Hospital' for the insane] are evidently insane or + distracted, may be entered or detained in the Hospital on the + request of the husband, or the woman or guardian of the infants, + _without_ the evidence of insanity required in other cases." + + "Hon. S. S. Jones of St. Charles, Illinois, thus remarks upon this + Act:-- + + "Thus we see a corrupt husband, with money enough to corrupt a + Superintendent, can get rid of a wife as effectually as was ever + done in a more barbarous age. The Superintendent may be corrupted + either with money or influence, that he thinks will give him + position, place, or emoluments. Is not this a pretty statute to be + incorporated into our laws no more than thirteen years ago? Why + not confine the husband at the instance of the wife, as well as + the wife at the instance of the husband? The wife evidently had no + voice in making the law. + + "Who, being a man, and seeing this section in the Statute Book of + Illinois, under the general head of 'Charities,' does not blush + and hang his head for very shame at legislative perversion of so + holy a term? I have no doubt, if the truth of the matter were + known, this act was passed at the special instance of the + Superintendent. A desire for power. I do not know why it has not + been noted by me and others before." + + "And we would also venture to inquire, what is the married woman's + protection under such a Statute law? Is she not allowed counter + testimony from a physician of her own choice, or can she not demand a + trial of some kind, to show whether the charge of insanity brought + against her is true or false? Nay, verily. The Statute expressly + states that the judgment of the medical Superintendent, to whom the + husband's request is made, is _all_ that is required for him to + incarcerate his wife for any indefinite period of time. Neither she, + her children, nor her relatives have any voice at all in the matter. + Her imprisonment may be life-long, for anything she or her friends + can do for her to prevent it. If the husband has money or influence + enough to corrupt the officials, he can carry out his single wishes + concerning his wife's life-destiny. + + "Are not the 'Divorce Laws' of Illinois made a necessity, to meet the + demands of the wife, as her only refuge from this exposure to a + 'false imprisonment' for life in an Insane Asylum? + + "We hope our readers will be able to read Mrs. Packard's book for + themselves; especially her 'Self-defence from the charge of + Insanity,' wherein the barbarities of this statute are made to appear + in their true light, as being merely a provision for 'Legal + Kidnapping.'" + + BOSTON, Feb. 24, 1865. + +Satisfied as I was that there was no legal redress for me in the laws, and +no hope in appealing to Mr. Packard's mercy or manliness, I determined to +do what I could to obtain a self-reliant position, by securing if possible +the protection of greenbacks, confident that this kind of protection is +better than none at all. I concluded, therefore, to publish the first +installment of "The Great Drama," an allegorical book I wrote while in the +Asylum, consisting of twelve parts. But how could this be done in my +penniless condition? was the great question to be practically settled. I +accordingly borrowed ten dollars of Mr. Z. Hanford, of Manteno, a noble, +kind hearted man, who offered me a home at his house after the trial, and +went to Chicago to consult the printers in reference to the expense of +printing one thousand copies of this book, and get it stereotyped. I found +it would cost me five hundred dollars. I then procured a few thousand +tickets on which was printed--"The bearer is entitled to the first volume +of Mrs. Packard's book, entitled the Great Drama. None are genuine without +my signature. Mrs. E. P. W. Packard." And commenced canvassing for my +unborn book, by selling these tickets for fifty cents each, assuring the +purchaser I would redeem the ticket in three month's time, by giving them +a book worth fifty cents. When I had sold about eight or nine hundred +tickets, I went to Chicago to set my printers and stereotypers, engravers +and binders, at work on my book. But I now met with a new and unlooked for +difficulty, in the sudden inflation of prices in labor and material. My +book could not now be printed for less than seven hundred dollars; so that +my first edition would not pay for itself into two hundred dollars. As the +case now was, instead of paying for my book by selling one thousand +tickets, I must sell fourteen hundred, besides superintending the various +workmen on the different departments of my book. Nothing daunted by this +reverse, instead of raising the price of my tickets to seventy-five cents +to meet this unfortunate turn in my finances, I found I must fall back +upon the only sure guarantee of success, namely: patient perseverance. By +the practical use of this great backbone of success, perseverance, I did +finally succeed in printing my book, and paying the whole seven hundred +dollars for it in three months' time, by selling four hundred tickets in +advance on another edition. I sold and printed, and then printed and sold, +and so on, until I have printed and sold in all, twelve thousand books in +fifteen months' time. Included in this twelve thousand are several +editions of smaller pamphlets, varying in price from five to twenty-five +cents each. + + +INTERVIEW WITH MAYOR SHERMAN. + +At this stage of my Narrative it may not be inappropriate to narrate my +interview with Mayor Sherman, of Chicago, since it not only discloses one +of the dangers and the difficulties I had to encounter, in prosecuting my +enterprise, but also serves as another exemplification of that marital +power which is legally guaranteed to the husband, leaving the wife utterly +helpless, and legally defenceless. + +I called upon him at his office in the court house, and was received with +respectful, manly courtesy. After introducing myself as the Mrs. Packard +whose case had recently acquired so much notoriety through the Chicago +press, and after briefly recapitulating the main facts of the persecution, +I said to him: + +"Now, Mr. Sherman, as the Mayor of this city, I appeal to you for +protection, while printing my book in your city. Will you protect me +here?" + +"Why, Mrs. Packard, what protection do you need? What dangers do you +apprehend?" + +"Sir, I am a married woman, and my husband is my persecutor, therefore I +have no legal protection. The husband is, you probably know, the wife's +only protector in the law, therefore, what I want now, Sir, is protection +against my protector!" + +"Is he in this city?" + +"No, Sir; but his agents are, and he can delegate his power to them, and +authorize them what to do." + +"What do you fear he will do?" + +"I fear he may intercept the publication of my book; for you probably +know, Sir, he can come either himself, or by proxy, and, with his Sheriff, +can demand my manuscript of my printer, and the printer, nor you, Sir, +have no legal power to defend it. He can demand it, and burn it, and I am +helpless in legal self-defense. For, Sir, my identity was legally lost in +his, when I married him, leaving me nothing and nobody in law; and +besides, all I have is his in law, and of course no one can prosecute him +for taking his own things--my manuscript is his, and entirely at his +disposal. I have no right in law even to my own thoughts, either spoken or +written--he has even claimed the right to superintend my written thoughts +as well as post office rights. I can not claim these rights--they are mine +only as he grants me them as his gifts to me." + +"What does your printer say about it?" + +"He says if the Sheriff comes to him for the book he shall tell him he +must get the book where he can find it; _I_ shall not find it for him. I +then said to my printer, supposing he should come with money, and offer to +buy the manuscript, what then?" "I say, it will take more money than there +is in Chicago to buy that manuscript of us," replied my printer. + +"I think that sounds like protection, Mrs. Packard. I think you have +nothing to fear." + +"No, Mr. Sherman, I have nothing to fear from the manliness of my printer, +for this is my sole and only protection--but as one man to whom I trusted +even myself, has proved a traitor to his manliness, is there not a +possibility another may. I should not object to a double guard, since the +single guard of manliness has not even protected me from imprisonment." + +"Well, Mrs. Packard, you shall have my protection; and I can also assure +you the protection of my counsel, also. If you get into trouble, apply to +us, and we will give you all the help the laws will allow." + +"I beg you to consider, Sir; the laws do not allow you to interfere in +such a matter. Are you authorized to stop a man from doing a _legal_ act?" + +"No, Mrs. Packard, I am not. I see you are without any legal protection. +Still I think you are safe in Chicago." + +"I hope it may so prove, Sir. But one thing more I wish your advice about; +how can I keep the money I get for my book from Mr. Packard, the legal +owner of it?" + +"Keep it about your person, so he can't get it." + +"But, Sir; Mr. Packard has a right to my person in law, and can take it +anywhere, and put it where he pleases; and if he can get my person, he can +take what is on it." + +"That's so--you are in a bad case, truly--I must say, I never before knew +that any one under our government was so utterly defenceless as you are. +Your case ought to be known. Every soldier in our army ought to have one +of your books, so as to have our laws changed." + +Soldiers of our army! receive this tacit compliment from Mayor Sherman. +_You_ are henceforth to hold the reins of the American Government. And it +is my candid opinion, they could not be in better or safer hands. And in +your hands would I most confidently trust my sacred cause--the cause of +Married Woman; for, so far as my observation extends, no class of +American citizens are more manly, than our soldiers. I am inclined to +cherish the idea, that gallantry and patriotism are identified; at least, +I find they are almost always associated together in the same manly heart. + +When I had sold about half of my twelve thousand books, I resolved to +visit my relatives in Massachusetts, who had not seen me for about twelve +years. I felt assured that my dear father, and brothers, and my kind +step-mother, were all looking at the facts of my persecution from a wrong +stand-point; and I determined to risk my exposure to Mr. Packard's +persecuting power again, so far as to let my relatives see me once for +themselves; hoping thus the scales might drop from their eyes, so far at +least as to protect me from another kidnapping from Mr. Packard. + +I arrived first at my brother Austin Ware's house in South Deerfield, who +lives about two miles from Mr. Severance, where were my three youngest +children, and where Mr. Packard spent one day of each week. I spent two +nights with him and his new wife, who both gave me a very kind and patient +hearing; and the result was, their eyes were opened to see their error in +believing me to be an insane person, and expressed their decided +condemnation of the course Mr. Packard had pursued towards me. Brother +became at once my gallant and manly protector, and the defender of my +rights. "Sister," said he, "you have a right to see your children, and you +shall see them. I will send for them to-day." He accordingly sent a team +for them twice, but was twice refused by Mr. Packard, who had heard of my +arrival. Still, he assured me I should see them in due time. He carried me +over to Sunderland, about four miles distant, to my father's house, +promising me I should meet my dear children there; feeling confident that +my father's request joined with his own, would induce Mr. Packard to let +me see once more my own dear offspring. As he expected, my father at once +espoused my cause, and assured me I should see my children; "for," added +he, "Mr. Packard knows it will not do for him to refuse me." He then +directed brother to go directly for them himself, and say to Mr. Packard: +"Elizabeth's father requests him to let the children have an interview +with their mother at his house." But, instead of the children, came a +letter from brother, saying, that Mr. Packard has refused, in the most +decided terms, to let sister see her own children; or, to use his own +language, he said, "I came from Illinois to Massachusetts to protect the +children from their mother, and I shall do it, in spite of you, or father +Ware, or any one else!" Brother adds, "the mystery of this dark case is +now solved, in my mind, completely. Mr. Packard is a monomaniac on this +subject; there is no more reason in his treatment of sister, than in a +brute." + +These facts of his refusal to let me see my children, were soon in +circulation in the two adjacent villages of Sunderland and South +Deerfield, and a strongly indignant feeling was manifested against Mr. +Packard's defiant and unreasonable position; and he, becoming aware of the +danger to his interests which a conflict with this tide of public +sentiment might occasion, seemed forced, by this pressure of public +opinion, to succumb; for, on the following Monday morning, (this was on +Saturday, P. M.,) he brought all of my three children to my father's +house, with himself and Mrs. Severance, as their body-guard, and with both +as my witnesses, I was allowed to talk with them an hour or two. He +refused me an interview with them alone in my room. + +I remained at my father's house a few days only, knowing that even in +Massachusetts the laws did not protect me from another similar outrage, if +Mr. Packard could procure the certificate of two physicians that I was +insane; for, with these alone, without any chance at self-defense, he +could force me into some of the Private Asylums here, as he did into a +State Asylum in Illinois. + +I knew that, as I was Mr. Packard's wife, neither my brother nor father +could be my legal protectors in such an event, as they could command no +influence in my defense, except that of public sentiment or mob-law. I +therefore felt forced to leave my father's house in self-defence, to seek +some protection of the Legislature of Massachusetts, by petitioning them +for a change in their laws on the mode of commitment into Insane Asylums. +As a preparatory step, I endeavored to get up an agitation on the subject, +by printing and selling about six thousand books relative to the subject; +and then, trusting to this enlightened public sentiment to back up the +movement, I petitioned Massachusetts Legislature to make the needed change +in the laws. Hon. S. E. Sewall, of Boston, drafted the Petition, and I +circulated it, and obtained between one and two hundred names of men of +the first standing and influence in Boston, such as the Aldermen, the +Common Council, the High Sheriff, and several other City Officers; and +besides, Judges, Lawyers, Editors, Bank Directors, Physicians, &c. Mr. +Sewall presented this petition to the Legislature, and they referred it to +a committee, and this committee had seven special meetings on the subject. +I was invited to meet with them each time, and did so, as were also Mrs. +Phelps and Mrs. Denny, two ladies of Boston who had suffered a term of +false imprisonment in a private institution at Sommersville, without any +previous trial. Hon. S. E. Sewall and Mr. Wendell Phillips both made a +plea in its behalf before this committee, and the gallantry and manliness +of this committee allowed me a hearing of several hour's time in all, +besides allowing me to present the two following Bills, which they +afterwards requested a copy of in writing. The three Superintendents, Dr. +Walker, Dr. Jarvis, and Dr. Tyler, represented the opposition. And my +reply to Dr. Walker constituted the preamble to my bills. + + +MRS. PACKARD'S BILLS. + +PREAMBLE. + +_Gentlemen of the Committee_: + +I feel it my duty to say one word in defence of the Petitioners, in reply +to Dr. Walker's statement, that, "in his opinion, nineteen twentieths of +the petitioners did not know nor care what they petitioned for, and that +they signed it out of compliment to the lady." + +I differ from Dr. Walker in opinion on this point, for this reason. I +obtained these names by my own individual appeals, except from most of the +members of the "Common Council," who signed it during an evening session, +by its being passed around for their names. I witnessed their signing, and +saw them read it, carefully, before signing it. And I _think_ they signed +it intelligently, and from a desire for safer legislation. The others I +_know_ signed intelligently, and for this reason. And I could easily have +got one thousand more names, had it been necessary; for, in selling my +books, I have conversed with many thousand men on this subject, and among +them all, I have only found one man who defends the present mode of +commitment, by leaving it all to the physicians. + +I spent a day in the Custom House, and a day and a half in the Navy Yard, +and these men, like all others, defend our movement. I have sold one +hundred and thirty-nine books in the Navy Yard within the last day and a +half, by conversing personally with gentlemen in their counting-rooms on +this subject, and they are carefully watching your decision on this +question. + +Now, from this stand-point of extensive observation, added to my own +personal experience, I feel fully confident these two Bills are needed to +meet the public demand at this crisis. + + +BILL NO. 1. + +No person shall be regarded or treated as an Insane person, or a +Monomaniac, simply for the _expression of opinions_, no matter how absurd +these opinions may appear to others. + +REASONS. + +1st. This Law is needed for the personal safety of Reformers. We are +living in a Progressive Age. Everything is in a state of transmutation, +and, as our laws now are, the Reformer, the Pioneer, the Originator of any +new idea is liable to be treated as a Monomaniac, with _imprisonment_. + +2d. It is a _Crime_ against human progress to allow Reformers to be +treated as Monomaniacs; for, who will dare to be true to the inspirations +of the divinity within them, if the Pioneers of truth are thus liable to +lose their personal liberty for life by so doing? + +3d. It is _Treason_ against the principles of our Government to treat +opinions as Insanity, and to imprison for it, as our present laws allow. + +4th. There always are those in every age who are opposed to every thing +_new_, and if allowed, will persecute Reformers with the stigma of +Insanity. This has been the fate of all Reformers, from the days of +Christ--the Great Reformer--until the present age. + +5th. Our Government, of all others, ought especially to guard, by +legislation, the vital principle on which it is based, namely: +_individuality_, which guarantees an individual right of opinion to all +persons. + +Therefore, gentlemen, _protect your thinkers!_ by a law, against the +charge of Monomania, and posterity shall bless our government, as a model +government, and Massachusetts as the Pioneer State, in thus protecting +individuality as the vital principle on which the highest development of +humanity rests. + + +BILL NO. 2. + +No person shall be imprisoned, and treated as an insane person, except for +_irregularities of conduct_, such as indicate that the individual is so +lost to reason, as to render him an unaccountable moral agent. + +REASONS. + +Multitudes are now imprisoned, without the least evidence that reason is +dethroned, as indicated by this test. And I am a representative of this +class of prisoners; for, when Dr. McFarland was driven to give his reasons +for regarding me as insane, on _this_ basis, the only reason which he +could name, after closely inspecting my conduct for three years, was, that +I once "_fell down stairs_!" + +I do insist upon it, gentlemen, that no person should be imprisoned +without a _just cause_; for personal liberty is the most blessed boon of +our existence and ought therefore to be reasonably guarded as an +inalienable right. But it is _not_ reasonably protected under our present +legislation, while it allows the simple _opinion_ of two doctors to +imprison a person for life, without one _proof_ in the _conduct_ of the +accused, that he is an unaccountable moral agent. We do not hang a person +on the simple _opinion_ that he is a murderer, but _proof_ is required +from the accused's _own actions_, that he is guilty of the charge which +forfeits his life. So the charge which forfeits our personal liberty ought +to be _proved_ from the individual's own conduct, before imprisonment. + +So long as insanity is treated as a _crime_, instead of a _misfortune_, as +our present system _practically_ does so treat it, the protection of our +individual liberty imperatively demands such an enactment. Many contend +that _every_ person is insane on some point. On this ground, _all_ persons +are liable to be legally imprisoned, under our present system; for +intelligent physicians are everywhere to be found, who will not scruple to +give a certificate that an individual is a Monomaniac on _that_ point +where he differs from _him_ in opinion! This Monomania in many instances +is not Insanity, but individuality, which is the highest _natural_ +development of a human being. + +Gentlemen, I know, and have felt, the horrors--the untold _soul_ +agonies--attendant on such a persecution. Therefore, as Philanthropists, I +beg of you to guard your own liberties, and those of your countrymen, by +recommending the adoption of these two Bills as an imperative necessity. + +The above Bills were presented to the Committee on the Commitment of the +Insane, in Boston State house, March 29, 1865, by + +MRS. E. P. W. PACKARD. + + +The result was, the petition triumphed, by so changing the mode of +commitment, that, instead of the husband being allowed to enter his wife +at his simple request, added to the certificate of two physicians, he must +now get ten of her nearest relatives to join with him in this request; and +the person committed, instead of not being allowed to communicate by +writing to any one outside of the Institution, except under the censorship +of the Superintendent, can now send a letter to each of these ten +relatives, and to any other two persons whom the person committed shall +designate. This the Superintendent is required to do within two days from +the time of commitment. + +This Law is found in Chapter 268, Section 2, of the General Laws of +Massachusetts. I regard my personal liberty in Massachusetts now as not +absolutely in the power of my husband; as my family friends must now +co-operate in order to make my commitment legal. And since my family +relatives are now fully satisfied of my sanity, after having seen me for +themselves, I feel now comparatively safe, while in Massachusetts. I +therefore returned to my father's house in Sunderland, and finding both of +my dear parents feeble, and in need of some one to care for them, and +finding myself in need of a season of rest and quiet, I accepted their +kind invitation to make their house my home for the present. At this point +my father indicated his true position in relation to my interests, by his +self-moved efforts in my behalf, in writing and sending the following +letter to Mr. Packard.[1] + + [1] See Appendix, p. 138. + + +COPY OF FATHER WARE'S LETTER TO MR. PACKARD. + + "_Sunderland, Sept. 2, 1865._ + + "REV. SIR: I think the time has fully come for you to give up to + Elizabeth her clothes. Whatever reason might have existed to justify + you in retaining them, has, in process of time, entirely vanished. + There is not a shadow of excuse for retaining them. It is my + presumption there is not an individual in this town who would justify + you in retaining them a single day. Elizabeth is about to make a home + at my house, and I must be her protector. She is very destitute of + clothing, and greatly needs all those articles which are hers. I hope + to hear from you soon, before I shall be constrained to take another + step. Yours, Respectfully, + + "REV. T. PACKARD. SAMUEL WARE." + +The result of this letter was, that in about twenty-four hours after the +letter was delivered, Mr. Packard brought the greater part of my wardrobe +and delivered it into the hands of my father. + +In a few weeks after this event, Mr. Packard's place in the pulpit in +Sunderland was filled by a candidate for settlement, and he left the +place. The reasons why he thus left his ministerial charge in this place, +cannot perhaps be more summarily given than by transcribing the following +letter which father got me to write for him, in answer to Rev. Dr. +Pomeroy's letter, inquiring of my father _why_ Mr. Packard had left +Sunderland. + + +LETTER TO REV. DR. POMEROY. + + _Sunderland, Oct. 28, 1865._ + + DR. POMEROY, DEAR SIR: I am sorry to say that my dear father feels + too weak to reply to your kind and affectionate letter of the + twenty-third instant, and therefore I cheerfully consent to reply to + it myself. + + As to the subject of your letter, it is as you intimated. We have + every reason to believe that father's defence of me, has been the + indirect cause of Mr. Packard's leaving Sunderland; although we knew + nothing of the matter until he left, and a candidate filled his + place. Neither father, mother, nor I, have used any direct influence + to undermine the confidence of this people in Mr. Packard. But where + this simple fact, that I have been imprisoned three years, is known, + to have become a demonstrated truth, by the decision of a jury, after + a thorough legal investigation of five day's trial, it is found to be + rather of an unfortunate truth for the public sentiment of the + present age to grapple with. And Mr. Packard and his persecuting + party may yet find I uttered no fictitious sentiment, when I remarked + to Dr. McFarland in the Asylum, that I shall yet _live down_ this + slander of Insanity, and also live down my persecutors. And Mr. + Packard is affording me every facility for so doing, by his + continuing strenuously to insist upon it, that I am, now, just as + insane as when he incarcerated me in Jacksonville Insane Asylum. And + he still insists upon it, that an Asylum Prison is the only suitable + place for me to spend the residue of my earth-life in. But, + fortunately for me, my friends judge differently upon seeing me for + themselves. Especially fortunate is it for me, that my own dear + father feels confident that his house is a more suitable home for me, + notwithstanding the assertion of Mrs. Dickinson, (the widow with whom + Mr. Packard boards,) that, "it is such a pity that Mrs. Packard + should come to Sunderland, where Mr. Packard preaches!" Mr. Johnson + replied in answer to this remark, that he thought Mrs. Packard had a + right to come to her father's house for protection, and also that her + father had an equal right to extend protection to his only daughter, + when thrown adrift and pennyless upon the cold world without a place + to shelter her defenceless head. + + Mr. Packard has withdrawn all intercourse with us all since he was + called upon by father to return my wardrobe to me. Would that Mr. + Packard's eyes might be opened to see what he is doing, and repent, + so that I might be allowed to extend to him the forgiveness my heart + longs to bestow, upon this gospel condition. + + Thankful for all the kindness and sympathy you have bestowed upon my + father and mother, as well as myself, I subscribe myself your true + friend, + + E. P. W. PACKARD. + + P. S. Father and mother both approve of the above, which I have + written at father's urgent request. + + E. P. W. P. + +Fidelity to the truth requires me to add one more melancholy fact, in +order to make this narrative of events complete, and that is, that Mr. +Packard has made merchandise of this stigma of Insanity he has branded me +with, and used it as a lucrative source of gain to himself, in the +following manner. He has made most pathetic appeals to the sympathies of +the public for their charities to be bestowed upon him, on the plea of his +great misfortune in having an insane wife to support--one who was +incapable of taking care of herself or her six children--and on this false +premise he has based a most pathetic argument and appeal to their +sympathies for pecuniary help, in the form of boxes of clothing for +himself and his destitute and defenceless children. These appeals have +been most generously responded to from the American Home Missionary +Society. So that when I returned to my home from the Asylum, I counted +twelve boxes of such clothing, some of which were very large, containing +the spoils he had thus purloined from this benevolent society, by entirely +false representations. + +My family were not destitute. But on the contrary, were abundantly +supplied with a supernumerary amount of such missionary gifts, which had +been lavished upon us, at his request, before I was imprisoned. I had +often said to him, that I and my children had already more than a supply +for our wants until they were grown up. Now, what could he do with twelve +more such boxes? My son, Isaac, now in Chicago, and twenty-one years of +age, told me he had counted fifty new vests in one pile, and he had as +many pants and coats, and overcoats, and almost every thing else, of men's +wearing apparel, in like ratio. He said I had a pile of dress patterns +accumulated from these boxes, to one yard in depth in one solid pile. And +this was only one sample of all kinds of ladies' apparel which he had thus +accumulated, by his cunningly devised begging system. + +Still, to this very date, he is pleading want and destitution as a basis +for more charities of like kind. He has even so moved the benevolent +sympathies of the widow Dickinson with whom he boarded, as to make her +feel that he was an honest claimant upon their charities in this line, on +the ground of poverty and destitution. She accordingly started a +subscription to procure him a suit of clothes, on the ground of his +extreme destitution, and finally succeeded in begging a subscription of +one hundred and thirteen dollars for his benefit, and presented it to him +as a token of sympathy and regard. + +Another fact, he has put his property out of his hands, so that he can say +he has nothing. And should I sue him for my maintainance, I could get +nothing. His rich brother-in-law, George Hastings, supports the three +youngest children, mostly, thus leaving scarcely no claimants upon his own +purse, except his own personal wants. His wife and six children he has so +disposed of, as to be almost entirely independent of him of any support. +And it is my honest opinion, that had Sunderland people known of these +facts in his financial matters, they would not have presented him with one +hundred and thirteen dollars, as a token of their sympathy and esteem. +Still, looking at the subject from their stand-point, I have no doubt they +acted conscientiously in this matter. I have never deemed it my duty to +enlighten them on this subject, except as the truth is sought for from me, +in a few individual isolated cases. I do not mingle with the people +scarcely at all, and have sold none of my books among them. Self-defence +does not require me to seek the protection of enlightened public sentiment +now that the laws protect my personal liberty, while in Massachusetts. + +But fidelity to the cause of humanity, especially the cause of "Married +Woman," requires me to make public the facts of this notorious +persecution, in order to have her true legal position known and fully +apprehended. And since my case is a practical illustration of what the law +is on this subject--showing how entirely destitute she is of any legal +protection, except what the will and wishes of her husband secures to +her--and also demonstrates the fact, that the common-law, everywhere, in +relation to married woman, not only gravitates towards an absolute +despotism, but even protects and sustains and defends a despotism of the +most arbitrary and absolute kind. Therefore, in order to have her social +position changed legally, the need of this change must first be seen and +appreciated by the common people--the law-makers of this Republic. And +this need or necessity for a revolution on this subject can be made to +appear in no more direct manner, than by a practical case such as my own +furnishes. As the need of a revolution of the law in relation to negro +servitude was made to appear, by the practical exhibition of the Slave +Code in "Uncle Tom's" experience, showing that all slaves were _liable_ to +suffer to the extent he did; so my experience, although like "Uncle +Tom's," an extreme case, shows how all married women are _liable_ to +suffer to the same extent that I have. Now justice to humanity claims that +such liabilities should not exist in any Christian government. The laws +should be so changed that such another outrage could not possibly take +place under the sanction of the laws of a Christian government. + +As Uncle Tom's case aroused the indignation of the people against the +slave code, so my case, so far as it is known, arouses this same feeling +of indignation against those laws which protect married servitude. Married +woman needs legal emancipation from married servitude, as much as the +slave needed legal emancipation from his servitude. + +Again, all slaves did not suffer under negro slavery, neither do all +married women suffer from this legalized servitude. Still, the principle +of slavery is wrong, and the principle of emancipation is right, and the +laws ought so to regard it. And this married servitude exposes the wife to +as great suffering as negro servitude did. It is my candid opinion, that +no Southern slave ever suffered more spiritual agony than I have suffered; +as I am more developed in my moral and spiritual nature than they are, +therefore more capable of suffering. I think no slave mother ever endured +more keen anguish by being deprived of her own offspring than I have in +being legally separated from mine. God grant that married woman's +emancipation may quickly follow in the wake of negro emancipation! + + + + +MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS ANSWERED. + +In canvassing for my books various important questions have been +propounded to me, which the preceding Narrative of Events does not fully +answer. + + +FIRST QUESTION. + +"Why, Mrs. Packard, do you not get a divorce?" + +Because, in the first place, I do not want to be a divorced woman; but, on +the contrary, I wish to be a married woman, and have my husband for my +protector; for I do not like this being divorced from my own home. I want +a home to live in, and I prefer the one I have labored twenty one years +myself to procure, and furnished to my own taste and mind. Neither do I +like this being divorced from my own children. I want to live with my dear +children, whom I have borne and nursed, reared and educated, almost +entirely by my own unwearied indefatigable exertions; and I love them, +with all the fondness of a mother's undying love, and no place is home to +me in this wide world without them. And again, I have done nothing to +_deserve_ this exclusion from the rights and privileges of my own dear +home; but on the contrary, my untiring fidelity to the best interests of +my family for twenty-one years of healthful, constant service, having +never been sick during this time so as to require five dollars doctor's +bill to be paid for me or my six children, and having done all the +housework, sewing, nursing, and so forth, of my entire family for +twenty-one years, with no hired girl help, except for only nine months, +during all this long period of constant toil and labor. I say, this +self-sacrifizing devotion to the best interests of my family and home, +deserve and claim a right to be protected in it, at least, so long as my +good conduct continues, instead of being divorced from it, against my own +will or consent. In short, what I want is, _protection in my home_, +instead of a divorce from it. I do not wish to drive Mr. Packard from his +own home, and exclude him from all its rights and privileges--neither do I +want he should treat me in this manner, especially so long as he himself +claims that I have _always_ been a most kind, patient, devoted wife and +mother. He even claims as his justification of his course, that I am so +_good_ a woman, and he _loves_ me so well, that he wants to save me from +fatal errors! + +It is my opinions--my religious opinions--and those alone, he makes an +occasion for treating me as he has. He frankly owned to me, that he was +putting me into an Asylum so that my reputation for being an insane person +might destroy the influence of my religious opinions; and I see in one +letter which he wrote to my father, he mentions this as the chief evidence +of my insanity. He writes: "Her many excellences and past services I +highly appreciate; but she says she has widely departed from, or +progressed beyond, her former religious views and sentiments--and I think +it is too true!!" Here is all the insanity he claims, or has attempted to +prove. + +Now comes the question: Is this a crime for which I ought to be divorced +from all the comforts and privileges of my own dear home? + +To do this,--that is, to get a divorce--would it not be becoming an +accomplice in crime, by doing the very deed which he is so desirous of +having done, namely: to remove me from my family, for fear of the +contaminating influence of my new views? Has a married woman no rights at +all? Can she not even think her own thoughts, and speak her own words, +unless her thoughts and expressions harmonize with those of her husband? I +think it is high time the merits of this question should be practically +tested, on a proper basis, the basis of truth--of facts. And the fact, +that I have been not only practically divorced from my own home and +children, but also incarcerated for three years in a prison, simply for my +religious belief, by the arbitrary will of my husband, ought to raise the +question, as to what are the married woman's rights, and what is her +protection? And it is to this practical issue I have ever striven to force +this question. And this issue I felt might be reached more directly and +promptly by the public mind, by laying the necessities of the case before +the community, and by a direct appeal to them for personal +protection--instead of getting a divorce for my protection. I know that by +so doing, I have run a great risk of losing my liberty again. Still, I +felt that the great cause of married woman's rights might be promoted by +this agitation; and so far as my own feelings were concerned, I felt +willing to suffer even another martyrdom in this cause, if so be, my +sisters in the bonds of marital power might be benefited thereby. + +I want and seek protection, _as a married woman_--not divorce, in order to +escape the abuses of marital power--that is, I want protection from the +abuse of marital power, not a divorce from it. I can live in my home with +my husband, if he will only let me do so; but he will not suffer it, +unless I recant my religious belief. Cannot religious bigotry under such +manifestations, receive _some_ check under our government, which is +professedly based on the very principle of religious tolerance to all? +Cannot there be laws enacted by which a married woman can stand on the +same platform as a married man--that is, have an equal right, at least, to +the protection of her inalienable rights? And is not this our petition for +protection founded in justice and humanity? + +Is it just to leave the weakest and most defenceless of these two parties +wholly without the shelter of law to shield her, while the strongest and +most independent has all the aid of the legal arm to strengthen his own? +Nay, verily, it is not right or manly for our man government thus to +usurp the whole legal power of self-protection and defence, and leave +confiding, trusting woman wholly at the mercy of this gigantic power. For +perverted men will use this absolute power to abuse the defenceless, +rather than protect them; and abuse of power inevitably leads to the +contempt of its victim. A man who can trample on all the inalienable +rights of his wife, will, by so doing, come to despise her as an +inevitable consequence of wrong doing. Woman, too, is a more spiritual +being than a man, and is therefore a more sensitive being, and a more +patient sufferer than a man; therefore she, more than any other being, +needs protection, and she should find it in that government she has +sacrificed so much to uphold and sustain. + +Again, I do not believe in the divorce principle. I say it is a +"Secession" principle. It undermines the very vital principle of our +Union, and saps the very foundation of our social and civil obligations. +For example. Suppose the small, weak and comparatively feeble States in +our Union were not protected by the Government in any of their State +rights, while the large, strong, and powerful ones had their State rights +fully guaranteed and secured to them. Would not this state of the Union +endanger the rights of the defenceless ones? and endanger the Union also? +Could these defenceless States resort to any other means of self-defence +from the usurpation of the powerful States than that of secession? But +secession is death to the Union--death to the principles of love and +harmony which ought to bind the parts in one sacred whole. + +Now, I claim that the Marriage Union rests on just this principle, as our +laws now stand. The woman has no alternative of resort from any kind of +abuse from her partner, but divorce, or secession from the Marriage Union. +Now the weak States have rights as well as the strong ones, and it is the +rights of the weak, which the government are especially bound to respect +and defend, to prevent usurpation and its legitimate issue, secession from +the Union. What we want of our government is to prevent this usurpation, +by protecting us equally with our partners, so that we shall not need a +divorce at all. + +By equality of rights, I do not mean that woman's rights and man's rights +are one and the same. By no means; we do not want the man's rights, but +simply our own, natural, womanly rights. There are man's rights and +woman's rights. Both different, yet both equally inalienable. There must +be a head in every firm; and the head in the Marriage Firm or Union is the +man, as the Bible and nature both plainly teach. We maintain that the +senior partner, the man, has rights of the greatest importance, as regards +the interests of the marriage firm, which should not only be respected and +protected by our government, but also enforced upon them as an obligation, +if the senior is not self-moved to use his rights practically--and one of +these his rights, is a right to protect his own wife and children. The +junior partner also has rights of equal moment to the interests of the +firm, and one of these is her right to be protected by her senior partner. +Not protected in a prison, but in her own home, as mistress of her own +house, and as a God appointed guardian of her infant children. The +government would then be protecting the marriage union, while it now +practically ignores it. + +To make this matter still plainer, suppose this government was under the +control of the female instead of the male influence, and suppose our +female government should enact laws which required the men when they +entered the marriage union to alienate their right to hold their own +property--their right to hold their future earnings--their right to their +own homes--their right to their own offspring, if they should have +any--their right to their personal liberty--and all these rights be passed +over into the hands of their wives for safe keeping, and so long as they +chose to be married men, all their claims on our womanly government for +protection should be abrogated entirely by this marriage contract. Now, I +ask, how many men would venture to get married under these laws? Would +they not be tempted to ignore the marriage laws of our woman government +altogether? Now, gentlemen, we are sorry to own it, this is the very +condition in which your man government places us. We, women, looking from +this very standpoint of sad experience, are tempted to exclaim, where is +the manliness of our man government! + +Divorce, I say, then, is in itself an evil--and is only employed as an +evil to avoid a greater one, in many instances. Therefore, instead of +being forced to choose the least of two evils, I would rather reject both +evils, and choose a good thing, that of being protected in my own dear +home from unmerited, unreasonable abuse--a restitution of my rights, +instead of a continuance of this robbery, sanctioned by a divorce. + +In short, we desire to live under such laws, as will _oblige_ our husbands +to treat us with decent respect, so long as our good conduct merits it, +and then will they be made to feel a decent regard for us as their +companions and partners, whom the laws protect from their abuse. + + +SECOND QUESTION. + +"What are your opinions, Mrs. Packard, which have caused all this rupture +in your once happy family?" + +My first impulse prompts we to answer, pertly, it is no one's business +what I _think_ but my own, since it is to God alone I am accountable for +my thoughts. Whether my thoughts are right or wrong, true or false, is no +one's business but my own. It is my own God given right to superintend my +own thoughts, and this right I shall never guarantee to any other human +being--for God himself has authorized me to "judge ye not of your own +selves what is right?" Yes, I do, and shall judge for myself what is right +for me to think, what is right for me to speak, and what is right for me +to do--and if I do wrong, I stand amenable to the laws of society and my +country; for to human tribunals I submit all my actions, as just and +proper matter for criticism and control. But my thoughts, I shall never +yield to any human tribunal or oligarchy, as a just and proper matter for +arbitration or discipline. It is my opinion that the time has gone by for +thoughts to be chained to any creeds or oligarchys; but on the contrary, +these chains and restraints which have so long bound the human reason to +human dictation, must be broken, for the reign of individual, spiritual +freedom is about dawning upon our progressive world. + +Yes, I insist upon it, that it is my own individual right to superintend +my own thoughts; and I say farther, it is not my right to superintend the +thoughts or conscience of any other developed being. It is none of my +business what Mr. Packard, my father, or any other developed man or woman +believe or think, for I do not hold myself responsible for their views. I +believe they are as honest and sincere as myself in the views they +cherish, although so antagonistic to my own; and I have no wish or desire +to harass or disturb them, by urging my views upon their notice. Yea, +further, I _prefer_ to have them left entirely free and unshackled to +believe just as their own developed reason dictates. And all I ask of them +is, that they allow me the same privilege. My own dear father does kindly +allow me this right of a developed moral agent, although we differ as +essentially and materially in our views as Mr. Packard and I do. We, like +two accountable moral agents, simply agree to differ, and all is peace and +harmony. + +My individuality has been naturally developed by a life of practical +godliness, so that I now know what I do believe, as is not the case with +that class in society who dare not individualize themselves. This class +are mere echoes or parasites, instead of individuals. They just flow on +with the tide of public sentiment, whether right or wrong; whereas the +individualized ones can and do stem or resist this tide, when they think +it is wrong, and in this way they meet with persecution. It is my +misfortune to belong to this unfortunate class. Therefore I am not ashamed +or afraid to avow my honest opinions even in the face of a frowning world. +Therefore, when duty to myself or others, or the cause of truth requires +it, I willingly avow my own honest convictions. On this ground, I feel not +only justified, but authorized, to give the question under consideration, +a plain and candid answer, knowing that this narrative of the case would +be incomplete without it. + +Another thing is necessary as an introduction, and that is, I do not +present my views for others to adopt or endorse as their own. They are +simply my individual opinions, and it is a matter of indifference to me, +whether they find an echo in any other individual's heart or not. I do not +arrogate to myself any popish right or power to enforce my opinions upon +the notice of any human being but myself. While at the same time I claim +that I have just as good a right to my opinions as Scott, Clark, Edwards, +Barnes, or Beecher, or any other human being has to theirs. And +furthermore, these theologians have no more right to dictate to me what I +must think and believe, than I have to dictate to them what they must +think and believe. All have an equal right to their own thoughts. + +And I know of no more compact form in which to give utterance to my +opinions, than by inserting the following letter, I wrote from my prison, +to a lady friend in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, and sent out on my "under ground +railroad." The only tidings I ever got from this letter, was a sight of it +in one of the Chicago papers, following a long and minute report of my +jury trial at Kankakee. I never knew how it found its way there; I only +knew it was my own identical letter, since I still retain a true copy of +the original among my Asylum papers. The following is a copy of the +original letter, as it now stands in my own hand-writing. The friend to +whom it was written has requested me to omit those portions of the letter +which refer directly to herself. In compliance with her wishes, I leave a +blank for such omissions. In other respects it is a true copy. The candid +reader can judge for himself, whether the cherishing of such radical +opinions is not a _crime_ of sufficient magnitude, to justify all my +wrongs and imprisonment! Is not my persecutor guiltless in this matter? + + +COPY OF THE LETTER. + +_Jacksonville, Ill., Oct. 23d, 1861._ + +MRS. FISHER. MY DEAR OLD FRIEND:-- + +My love and sympathy for you is undiminished. Changes do not sever our +hearts. I cannot but respect your self-reliant, independent, and therefore +progressive efforts to become more and more assimilated to Christ's +glorious image. I rejoice whenever I find one who dares to rely upon their +own organization, in the investigation of truth. In other words, one who +dares to be an independent thinker. * * * + +Yes, you, Mrs. Fisher, in your individuality, are just what God made you +to be. And I respect every one who respects himself enough not to try to +pervert their organization, by striving to remodel it, and thus defile +God's image in them. To be natural, is our highest praise. To let God's +image shine through our individuality, should be our highest aim. Alas, +Mrs. Fisher, how few there are, who dare to be true to their God given +nature! + +That terrible dogma that our natures are depraved, has ruined its +advocates, and led astray many a guileless, confiding soul. Why can we not +accept of God's well done work as perfect, and instead of defiling, +perverting it, let it stand in all its holy proportions, filling the place +God designed it to occupy, and adorn the temple it was fitted for? I, for +one, Mrs. Fisher, am determined to be a woman, true to my nature. I regard +my nature as holy, and every deviation from its instinctive tendency, I +regard as a perversion--a sin. To live a natural, holy life, as Christ +did, I regard as my highest honor, my chief glory. + +I know this sentiment conflicts with our educated belief--our Church +creeds--and the honestly cherished opinions of our relatives and friends. +Still I believe a "thus saith the Lord" supports it. Could Christ take +upon himself our nature, and yet know no sin, if our natures are +necessarily sinful? Are not God's simple, common sense teachings, +authority enough for our opinions? It is, to all honest souls. + +Indeed, Mrs. Fisher I have become so radical, as to call in question every +opinion in my educated belief, which conflicts with the dictates of reason +and common sense. I even believe that God has revealed to his creatures no +practical truth, which conflicts with the common instincts of our common +natures. In other words, I believe that God has adapted our natures to his +teachings. Truth and nature harmonize. I believe that all truth has its +source in God, and is eternal. But some perceive truth before others, +because some are less perverted in their natures than others, by their +educational influences, so that the light of the sun of righteousness +finds less to obstruct its beams in some than in others. Thus they become +lights in the world, for the benefit of others less favored. * * * + +You preceded me, in bursting the shackles of preconceived opinions and +creeds, and have been longer basking in the liberty wherewith Christ makes +his people free, and have therefore longer been taught of him in things +pertaining to life and godliness. Would that I had had the mental courage +sooner to have imitated you, and thus have broken the fetters which bound +me to dogmas and creeds. O, Mrs. Fisher, how trammelled and crippled our +consciences have been! O, that we might have an open Bible, and an +unshackled conscience! And these precious boons we shall have, for God, by +his providence, is securing them to us. Yes, Mrs. Fisher, the persecutions +through which we are now passing is securing to us spiritual freedom, +liberty, a right, a determination to call no man master, to know no +teacher but the Spirit, to follow no light or guide not sanctioned by the +Word of God and our conscience--to know no "ism" or creed, but truthism, +and no pattern but Christ. + +Henceforth, I am determined to use my own reason and conscience in my +investigation of truth, and in the establishment of my own opinions and +practice I shall give my own reason and conscience the preference to all +others. * * * + +I know, also, that I am a sincere seeker after the simple truth. I know I +am not willful, but conscientious, in my conduct. And, notwithstanding +others deny this, I know their testimony is false. The Searcher of hearts +knows that I am as honest with myself, as I am with others. And, although +like Paul, I may appear foolish to others in so doing, yet my regard for +truth, transcends all other considerations of minor importance. God's good +work of grace in me shall never be denied by me, let others defame it, and +stigmatize it as insanity, as they will. They, not I, are responsible for +this sacrilegious act. God himself has made me dare to be honest and +truthful, even in defiance of this heaven daring charge, and God's work +will stand in spite of all opposition. "He always wins, who sides with +God." Mrs. Fisher, I am not now afraid or ashamed to utter my honest +opinions. The worst that my enemies can do to defame my character, they +have done, and I fear them no more. I am now free to be true and honest, +for this persecution for opinion and conscience' sake, has so strengthened +and confirmed me in the free exercise of these inalienable rights in +future, that no opposition can overcome me. For I stand by faith in what +is true and right. I feel that I am born into a new element--freedom, +spiritual freedom. And although the birth throes are agonizing, yet the +joyous results compensate for all. + +How mysterious are God's ways and plans! My persecutors verily thought +they could compel me to yield these rights to human dictation, when they +have only fortified them against human dictation. God saw that suffering +for my opinions, was necessary to confirm me in them. And the work is +done, and well done, as all God's work always is. No fear of any human +oligarchy will, henceforth, terrify me, or tempt me to succumb to it. + +I am not now afraid that I shall be called insane, if I avow my belief +that Christ died for all mankind, and that this atonement will be +effectual in saving all mankind from endless torment--that good will +ultimately overcome all evil--that God's benevolent purposes concerning +his creatures will never be thwarted--that no rebellious child of God's +great family will ever transcend his ability to discipline into entire +willing obedience to his will. Can I ever believe that God loves his +children less than I do mine? * * * And has God less power to execute his +kind plans than I have? Yes, I do and will rejoice to utter with a trumpet +tongue, the glorious truth, that God is infinitely benevolent as well as +infinitely wise and just. + +Mrs. Fisher, what can have tempted us ever to doubt this glorious truth? +And do we not practically deny it, when we endorse the revolting doctrine +of endless punishment? I cannot but feel that the Bible, literally +interpreted, teaches the doctrine of endless punishment; yet, since the +teachings of nature, and God's holy character and government, seem to +contradict this interpretation, I conclude we must have misinterpreted its +holy teachings. For example, Jonah uses the word everlasting with a +limited meaning, when he says, "thine everlasting bars are about me." +Although to _his_ view his punishment was everlasting, yet the issue +proved that in reality, there was a limit to the time he was to be in the +whale's belly. So it may be in the case of the incorrigible; they may be +compelled to suffer what _to them_ is endless torment, because they see no +hope for them in the future. Yet the issue will prove God's love to be +infinite, in rescuing them from eternal perdition. + +Again, Mrs. Fisher, my determination and aim is, to become a perfect +person in _Christ's_ estimation, although by so doing, I may become the +filth and off-scouring of all perverted humanity. What consequence is it +to us to be judged of man's judgment, when the cause of our being thus +condemned by them as insane, is the very character which entitles us to a +rank among the archangels in heaven? + +Again, I am calling in question my right to unite myself to any Church of +Christ militant on earth; fearing I shall be thereby entrammelled by some +yoke of bondage--that the liberty wherewith Christ makes his people free +may thus be circumscribed. There is so much of the spirit of bigotry and +intolerance in every denomination of Christians now on earth, that they do +not allow us an open Bible and an unshackled conscience. Or, in other +words, there are some to be found in almost every church, to whom we shall +become stumbling blocks or rocks of offence, if we practically use the +liberty which Christ offers us. Now what shall I do? I do want to obey +Christ's direct command to come out from the world and be separate, while +at the same time I feel that there is more Christian liberty and charity +out of the Church than in it. I am now waiting and seeking the Spirit's +aid in bringing this question to a practical test and issue. + +And, Mrs. Fisher, I fully believe, from God's past care of me, that he +will lead me to see the true and living way in which I ought to walk. I +will not hide my light under a bushel, but put it upon a candlestick, that +it may give light to others. I will also live out, practically, my +honestly cherished opinions, believing "that they that _do_ his +commandments shall _know_ of the doctrine." I also fully believe that the +more fully and exclusively I _live out_ the teachings of the Holy Spirit, +the more persecution I shall experience. For they that will live godly, in +Christ's estimation, "shall suffer persecution." + +Mrs. Fisher, I fully believe that Christ's coming cannot be far distant. +His coming will restore all things, which we have lost for his sake. Our +cause will then find an eloquent pleader in Christ himself, and through +our Advocate, the Judge, Himself, will acknowledge us to be his true, +loyal subjects, and we shall enter into the full possession of our +promised inheritance. With this glorious prospect in full view to the eye +of faith, let us "gird up the loins of our mind." In other words, let us +dare to pursue the course of the _independent thinker_, and let us run +with patience the race set before us. Let us carry uncomplainingly the +mortifying cross, which is laid upon us, so long as God suffers it to +remain; remembering that it is enough for the servant that he be as his +Master. For "as they have persecuted me, they will persecute you also." +"Be of good cheer." Mrs. Fisher, "I have overcome the world." Blessed +consolation! Mrs. Fisher, the only response I expect to get from this +letter, is your silent heartfelt sympathy in my sorrows. No utterance is +allowed for my alleviation. And the only way that I am allowed to +administer consolation through the pen is by stratagem. I shall employ +this means so far as lies in my power, so that when the day of revelation +arrives, it may be said truthfully of me, "she hath done what she could." +Impossibilities are not required of us. + +Please tell Theophilus, my oft repeated attempts to send him a motherly +letter, have been thwarted. And he, poor persecuted boy! cannot be allowed +a mother's tender, heartfelt sympathy. O, my God, protect my precious boy! +and carry him safely through this pitiless storm of cruel persecution. Do +be to him a mother and a sister, and God shall bless you. Please deliver +this message, charged to overflowing with a mother's undying love. Be true +to Jesus. Ever believe me your true friend and sympathizing sister, + +E. P. W. PACKARD. + + +THIRD QUESTION. + +"Do you think, Mrs. Packard, that your husband really believes you are an +insane person?" + +I do not. I really believe he knows I am a sane person; and still, he is +struggling with all his might to make himself and others believe this +delusion, because his own conscience is accusing him constantly with this +lie against it. With all his accumulated testimonials that I am insane, +and all his sophistries and reasoning upon false premises to establish +this lie, he cannot silence this accusing monitor within himself, +testifying to the contrary. Either this is in reality the case, or he has +at last reached that point, where a person has made such a sinner of his +own conscience as to believe his own lies; or, in other words, he has so +perverted his conscience as to become _conscientiously wrong_. But it is +not for me to judge his heart, only from the standpoint of his own +actions, and from this basis, I give the above as my honest opinion on +this point. + +Two facts alone may be sufficient to give some corroboration in support of +this opinion. After taking me from my asylum prison, and while his +prisoner at my own house, he asked me to sign a deed for the transfer of +some of his real estate in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, and finding I could not be +induced to do it, without returning to me my note of six hundred dollars +he had robbed me of, and also some of my good clothing, he sought to +transfer it, as the law allows one to do, in case the needed witness is +legally incapacitated by insanity to give their signature; and for this +purpose he was obliged to take an _oath_ that I was insane. He did take +this oath that I was insane, and thereby outlawed as a legal witness. It +was administered by Justice Labrie. A few days after this, he called this +same Justice in to our house to witness my signing this deed, and used it +as a valid signature. Now to say under oath one thing one day, and to deny +it the next, is rather crooked business for a healthy Christian conscience +to sanction. + +Another fact. When he was preparing to put me into an Insane Asylum, I +asked him why he was so very anxious to put the stigma of insanity upon +me, when he knew I was not insane? Said he, "I am doing it so that your +opinions need not be believed. I must protect the cause of Christ." + +Cause of Christ! I felt like exclaiming, if _your_ cause of Christ needs +_such_ a defence, I think it must be in a sad condition. If it can't stand +before the opinions of a woman, I shouldn't think a man would attempt to +protect it! The truth is, the cause of Christ _to him_ is his creed--a set +of human opinions. While the real cause of Christ is _humanity_; and a +very important part of this cause of Christ to a true man, is the +protection of his own wife. + + +FOURTH QUESTION. + +"Could you forgive Mr. Packard, and live with him again as his wife?" + +Yes, I could, freely, promptly and fully forgive him, on the gospel +condition of _practical repentance_. This condition could secure it, and +this alone. As I understand Christ's teachings, he does not allow me to +forgive him until he does repent, and in some sense make restitution. He +directs me to forgive my brother _if he repent_--yea, if he sins and +repents seventy times seven, I must forgive as many times. But if he does +not repent, I am not allowed to forgive him. And so long as he insists +upon it, both by word and deed, that he has done only what was right for +him to do, and that he shall do the same thing again, if he has a chance +to, I do not see any chance for me to bestow my forgiveness upon a +penitent transgressor. + +He feels that I am the one to ask forgiveness, for not yielding my +opinions to his dictation, instead of causing him so much trouble in +trying to bring me under subjection to his will, in this particular. He +does not claim that I ever resisted his will in any other particular--and +I have not felt it my duty to do so. I had rather yield than quarrel any +time, where conscience is not concerned. He knows I have done so, for +twenty-one years of married life. But to tell a lie, and be false to my +honest convictions, by saying, I believed what I did not believe, I could +not be made to do. + +My truth loving nature could never be subjected to falsify itself--I must +and shall be honest and truthful. And although King David said in his +haste, "all _men_ are liars," I rejoice he did not say all _women_ were, +for then there would have been no chance for my vindication of myself as a +_truthful_ woman! This one thing is certain, I have been imprisoned three +years because I could not tell a lie, and now I think it would be bad +business for me to commence at this late hour. + +I cannot love oppression, wrong, or injustice under any circumstances. But +on the contrary, I do hate it, while at the same time I can love the +sinner who thus sins; for I find it in my heart to forgive to any extent +the _penitent_ transgressor. I am not conscious of feeling one particle of +revengeful feeling towards Mr. Packard, while at the same time I feel the +deepest kind of indignation at his abuses of me. And furthermore, I really +feel that if any individual ever _deserved_ penitentiary punishment, Mr. +Packard does, for his treatment of me. Still, _I_ would not inflict _any_ +punishment, upon him--for this business of punishing my enemies I am +perfectly content to leave entirely with my Heavenly Father, as he +requires me to do, as I understand his directions. And my heart daily +thanks God that it is not my business to punish him. One sinner has no +right to punish another sinner. God, our Common Father, is the only being +who holds this right to punish any of his great family of human children. + +All that is required of me is, to do him good, and to protect myself from +his abuse as best I can; and it is not doing him good to forgive him +before he repents. It is reversing God's order. It is not to criminate him +that I have laid the truth before the public. Duty demands it as an act of +self-defence on my part, and a defence of the rights of that oppressed +class of married women which my case represents. I do not ask for him to +be punished at any human tribunal; all I ask is, protection for myself, +and also the class I represent. + +One other fact it may be well here to mention, and that is: I have +withdrawn all fellowship with him in his present attitude towards me. I do +not so much as speak or write to him, and this I do from the principle of +self-defence, and not from a spirit of revenge. I know all my words and +actions are looked upon through a very distorted medium, and whatever I +say or do, he weaves into capital to carry on his persecution with. And I +think I have Christ's example too as my defence in this course; for when +he was convinced his persecutors questioned him only for the purpose of +catching him in his words, "he was speechless." I have said all I have to +say to Mr. Packard in his present character. But when he repents, I will +forgive him, and restore him to full communion. + + +FIFTH QUESTION. + +"In what estimation is Mr. Packard held in the region where these scenes +were enacted?" + +Where the truth is known, and as the revelations of the court room +developed the facts exactly as they were found to exist, the popular +verdict is decidedly against him. Indeed, the tide of popular indignation +rises very high among that class, who defend religious liberty and equal +rights, free thought, free speech, free press. + +I state this as a fact which my own personal observation demonstrates. In +canvassing for my book in many of the largest cities in the State of +Illinois, I had ample opportunity to test this truth, and were I to +transcribe a tithe of the expressions of this indignant feeling which I +alone have heard, it would swell this pamphlet to a mammoth size. A few +specimen expressions must therefore be taken as a fair representation of +this popular indignation. "Mr. Packard cannot enter our State without +being in danger of being lynched," is an expression I have often heard +made from the common people. + +From the soldiers I have often heard these, and similar expressions; "Mrs. +Packard, if you need protection again, just let us know it, and we will +protect you with the bullet, if there is no other defence." "If he ever +gets you into another Asylum, our cannon shall open its walls for your +deliverance," &c. + +The Bar in Illinois may be represented by the following expressions, made +to me by the Judges of the Supreme Court, in Ottawa Court house. "Mrs. +Packard, this is the foulest outrage we ever heard of in real life; we +have read of such deep laid plots in romances, but we never knew one +_acted out_ in real life before. We did not suppose such a plot could be +enacted under the laws of our State. But this we will say, if ever you are +molested again in our State, let us know it, and we will put Mr. Packard +and his conspiracy where they ought to be put." + +The pulpit of Illinois almost universally condemns the outrage, as a crime +against humanity and human rights. But fidelity to the truth requires me +to say that there are some exceptions. The only open defenders I ever +heard for Mr. Packard, came from the Church influence, and the pulpit. +Among all the ministers I have conversed with on this subject, I have +found only two ministers who uphold his course. One Presbyterian minister +told me, he thought Mr. Packard had done right in treating me as he had; +"you have no right," said he, "to cherish opinions which he does not +approve, and he did right in putting you in an Asylum for it. I would +treat my wife just so, if she did so!" The name and residence of this +minister I could give if I chose, but I forbear to do so, lest I expose +him unnecessarily. + +The other clergyman was a Baptist minister. "I uphold Mr. Packard in what +he has done, and I would help him in putting you in again should he +attempt it." The name and place of this minister I shall withold unless +self-defence requires the exposure. + +When I have added one or two more church members to those two just named, +it includes the whole number I ever heard defend, in my presence, Mr. +Packard's course. Still, I have no doubt but that these four represent a +minority in Illinois, who are governed by the same popish principles of +bigotry and intolerance as Mr. Packard is. And I think it may be said of +this class, as a Chicago paper did of Mr. Packard, after giving an account +of the case, the writer said: "The days of bigotry and oppression are not +yet past. If three-fourths of the people of the world were of the belief +of Rev. Packard and his witnesses, the other fourth would be burned at the +stake." + +The opinion of his own church and community in Manteno, where he preached +at the time I was kidnapped, is another class whose verdict the public +desire to know also. I will state a few facts, and leave the public to +draw their own inferences. When he put me off, his church and people were +well united in him, and as a whole, the church not only sustained him in +his course, but were active co-conspirators. When I returned, he preached +nowhere. He was closeted at his own domicil on the Sabbath, cooking the +family dinner, while his children were at church and sabbath school. His +society was almost entirely broken up. I was told he preached until none +would come to hear him; and his deacons gave as their reason for not +sustaining him, that the trouble in his family had destroyed his influence +in that community. Multitudes of his people who attended my trial, whom I +know defended him at the time he kidnapped me, came to me with these +voluntary confessions: "Mrs. Packard, I always knew you were not insane." +"I never believed Mr. Packard's stories." "I always felt that you was an +abused woman," &c., &c. + +These facts indicated some change even in the opinion of his own allies +during my absence. As I said, I leave the public to draw their own +inferences. I have done my part to give them the premises of facts, to +draw them from. + + +SIXTH QUESTION. + +"Mrs. Packard, is your husband's real reason for treating you as he has, +merely a difference in your religious belief, or is there not something +back of all this? It seems unaccountable to us, that mere bigotry should +so annihilate all human feeling." + +This is a question I have never been able hitherto to answer, +satisfactorily, either to myself or others; but now I am fully prepared to +answer it with satisfaction to myself, at least; that is, facts, stubborn +facts, which never before came to my knowledge until my visit home, compel +me to feel that my solution of this perplexing question, is now based on +the unchangeable truth of facts. For I have read with my own eyes the +secret correspondence which he has kept up with my father, for about eight +years past, wherein this question is answered by himself, by his own +confessions, and in his own words. + +And as a very natural prelude to this answer, it seems to me not +inappropriate to answer one other question often put to me first, namely: +"has he not some other woman in view?" + +I can give my opinion now, not only with my usual promptness, but more +than my usual confidence that I am correct in my opinion. I say +confidently, he has _not_ any other woman in view, nor never had; and it +was only because I could not fathom to _the cause_ of this "Great Drama," +that this was ever presented to my own mind, as a question. I believe that +if ever there was a man who _practically_ believed in the monogamy +principle of marriage, he is the man. Yes, I believe, with only one degree +of faith less than that of knowledge, that the only Bible reason for a +divorce never had an existence in our case. + +And here, as the subject is now opened, I will take occasion to say, that +as I profess to be a Bible woman both in spirit and practice, I cannot +conscientiously claim a Bible right to be divorced. I never have had the +first cause to doubt his fidelity to me in this respect, and he never has +had the first cause to doubt my own to him. + +But fidelity to the truth of God's providential events compel me to give +it as my candid opinion, that the only key to the solution of this +mysterious problem will yet be found to be concealed in the fact, that Mr. +Packard is a _monomaniac_ on the subject of woman's rights, and that it +was the triumph of bigotry over his manliness, which occasioned this +public manifestation of this peculiar mental phenomenon. Some of the +reasons for this opinion, added to the facts of this dark drama which are +already before the public, lie in the following statement. + +In looking over the correspondence above referred to, I find the +"confidential" part all refers to dates and occasions wherein I can +distinctly recollect we had had a warm discussion on the subject of +woman's rights; that is, I had taken occasion from the application of his +insane dogma, namely, that "_a woman has no rights that a man is bound to +respect_," to defend the opposite position of equal rights. I used +sometimes to put my argument into a written form, hoping thus to secure +for it a more calm and quiet consideration. I never used any other weapons +in self-defence, except those paper pellets of the brain. And is not that +man a coward who cannot stand before such artillery? + +But not to accuse Mr. Packard of cowardice, I will say, that instead of +boldly meeting me as his antagonist on the arena of argument and +discussion, and there openly defending himself against my knockdown +arguments, with his Cudgel of Insanity, I find he closed off such +discussions with his secret "confidential" letters to my relatives and +dear friends, saying, that he had sad reason to fear his wife's mind was +getting out of order; she was becoming insane on the subject of woman's +rights; "but be sure to keep this fact a profound secret--especially, +never let Elizabeth hear that _I_ ever intimated such a thing." + +I presume this is not the first time an opponent in argument has called +his conqueror insane, or lost to reason, simply because his logic was too +sound for him to grapple with, and the will of the accuser was too +obstinate to yield, when conscientiously convinced. But it certainly is +more honorable and manly, to accuse him of insanity _to his face_, than +it is to thus _secretly_ plot against him an imprisonable offence, without +giving him the least chance at self-defence. + +Again, I visited Hon. Gerrit Smith, of Peterborough, New York, about three +years before this secret plot culminated, to get light on this subject of +woman's rights, as I had great confidence in the deductions of his noble, +capacious mind; and here I found my positions were each, and all, indorsed +most fully by him. Said he, "Mrs. Packard, it is high time that you +_assert your rights_, there is no other way for you to live a Christian +life with such a man." And, as I left, while he held my hand in his, he +remarked, "You may give my love to Mr. Packard, and say to him, if he is +as developed a man as I consider his wife to be a woman, I should esteem +it an honor to form his acquaintance." So it appears that Mr. Smith did +not consider my views on this subject as in conflict either with reason or +common sense. + +Again, his physician, Dr. Fordice Rice, of Cazenovia, New York, to whom I +opened my whole mind on this subject, said to me in conclusion--"I can +unravel the whole secret of your family trouble. Mr. Packard is a +monomaniac on the treatment of woman. I don't see how you have ever lived +with so unreasonable a man." + +I replied, "Doctor, I can live with any man--for I will never quarrel with +any one, especially a man, and much less with my husband. I can respect +Mr. Packard enough, notwithstanding, to do him good all the days of my +life, and no evil do I desire to do him; and moreover, I would not +exchange him for any man I know of, even if I could do so, simply by +turning over my hand; for I believe he is just the man God appointed from +all eternity to be my husband. Therefore, I am content with my appointed +portion and lot of conjugal happiness." + +Again. It was only about four years before I was kidnapped, that Mr. O. S. +Fowler, the great Phrenologist, examined his head, and expressed his +opinion of his mental condition in nearly these words. "Mr. Packard, you +are losing your mind--your faculties are all dwindling--your mind is fast +running out--in a few years you will not even know your own name, unless +your tread-mill habits are broken up. Your mind now is only working like +an old worn out horse in a tread mill." + +Thus our differences of opinion can be accounted for on scientific +principles. Here we see his sluggish, conservative temperament, rejecting +light, which costs any effort to obtain or use--clinging, serf-like, to +the old paths, as with a death grasp; while my active, radical +temperament, calls for light, to bear me onward and upward, never +satisfied until all available means are faithfully used to reach a more +progressive state. Now comes the question. Is activity and progression in +knowledge and intelligence, an indication of a sane, natural condition, or +is it an unnatural, insane indication? And is a stagnant, torpid, and +retrogressive state of mentality, a natural or an unnatural condition--a +sane, or an insane state? + +In our mental states we simply grew apart, instead of together. He was +dwindling, dying; I was living, growing, expanding. And this natural +development of intellectual power in me, seemed to arouse this morbid +feeling of jealousy towards me, lest I outshine him. That is, it +stimulated his monomania into exercise, by determining to annihilate or +crush the victim in whose mental and moral magnetism he felt so uneasy and +dissatisfied with himself. While, at the same time, the influence of my +animal magnetism, was never unpleasant to him; but, on the contrary, +highly gratifying. Yea, I have every reason to believe he ever regarded me +as a model wife, and model mother, and housekeeper. He often made this +remark to me: "I never knew a woman whom I think could equal you in +womanly virtues." + +Again. While on this recruiting tour, I made it my home for several weeks +at Mr. David Field's, who married my adopted sister, then living in Lyons, +New York. I made his wife my confidant of my family trials, to a fuller +degree than I ever had to any other human being, little dreaming or +suspecting that she was noting my every word and act, to detect if +possible, some insane manifestations. But, to her surprise, eleven weeks +observation failed to develop the first indication of insanity. The reason +she was thus on the alert, was, that my arrival was preceded by a letter +from Mr. Packard, saying his wife was insane, and urged her to regard all +my representations of family matters as insane statements. Then he added, +"Now, Mrs. Field, I must require of you one thing, and that is, that you +burn this letter as soon as you have read it; don't even let your husband +see it at all, or know that you have had a letter from me, and by all +means, keep this whole subject a profound secret from Elizabeth." + +My sister, true to Mr. Packard's wishes, burned this letter, and buried +the subject entirely in oblivion. But when she heard that I was +incarcerated in an Asylum, then, in view of all she did know, and in view +of what she did not know, she deeply suspected there was foul play in the +transaction, and felt it to be her duty to tell her husband all she knew. +He fully indorsed her suspicions, and they both undertook a defence for +me, when she received a most insulting and abusive letter from Mr. +Packard, wherein he, in the most despotic manner, tried to browbeat her +into silence. Many tears did this devoted sister shed in secret over this +letter and my sad fate--as this letter revealed Mr. Packard's true +character to her in an unmasked state. "O, how could that dear, kind woman +live with such a man!" was her constant thought. + +Nerved and strengthened by her husband's advice, she determined to visit +me in the Asylum, and, if possible, obtain a personal interview. She did +so. She was admitted to my room. There she gave me the first tidings I +ever heard of that letter. While at the Asylum, my attendants, amongst +others, asked her this question: "Mrs. Field, can you tell us why such a +lady as Mrs. Packard, is shut up in this Asylum; we have never seen the +least exhibition of insanity in her; and one in particular said, I saw her +the first day she was entered, and she was then just the same quiet, +perfect lady, you see her to be to day--now do tell us why she is here?" + +Her reply I will not give, since her aggravated and indignant feelings +prompted her to clothe it in very strong language against Mr. Packard, +indicating that he ought to be treated as a criminal, who deserved capital +punishment. In my opinion, sister would have come nearer the truth, had +she said he ought to be treated just as he is treating his wife--as a +monomaniac. + +And I hope I shall be pardoned, if I give utterance to brother's indignant +feelings, in his own words, for the language, although strong, does not +conflict with Christ's teachings or example. Among the pile of letters +above alluded to, which Mr. Packard left accidentally in my room, was one +from this Mr. Field, which seemed to be an answer to one Mr. Packard wrote +him, wherein it seemed he had been calling Mr. Field to account for having +heard that he had called him a "devil," and demanded of him satisfaction, +if he had done so; for Mr. Field makes reply: "I do believe men are +possessed with devils now a days, as much as they were in Christ's days, +and I believe too that some are not only possessed with one devil, but +even seven devils, and I believe _you are the man_!" I never heard of his +denying the charge as due Mr. Field afterwards! + +From my own observations in an insane asylum, I am fully satisfied that +Mr. Field is correct in his premises, and I must also allow that he has a +right of opinion in its application. + +Looking from these various stand-points, it seems to me self-evident, that +this Great Drama is a woman's rights struggle. From the commencement to +its present stage of development, this one insane idea seems to be the +backbone of the rebellion: A married woman has no rights which her husband +is bound to respect. + +While he simply defended his insane dogma as an _opinion_ only, no one had +the least right to call him a monomaniac; but when this insane idea became +a _practical_ one, then, and only till then, had we any right to call him +an insane person. Now, if the course he has taken with me is not +insanity--that is, an unreasonable course, I ask, what is insanity? + +Now let this great practical truth be for one moment considered, namely, +All that renders an earth-life desirable--all the inalienable rights and +privileges of one developed, moral, and accountable, sensitive being, lie +wholly suspended on the arbitrary will of this intolerant man, or +monomaniac. No law, no friend, no logic, can defend me in the least, +_legally_, from this despotic, cruel power; for the heart which controls +this will has become, as it respects his treatment of me, "without +understanding, a covenant breaker, without natural affection, implacable, +unmerciful." + +And let another truth also be borne in mind, namely, that this one man +stands now as a fit representative of all that class in society, and God +grant it may be found to be a very small class! who claim that the +subjection of the wife, instead of the protection of the wife, is the true +law of marriage. This marriage law of subjection has now culminated, so +that it has become a demonstrated fact, that its track lies wholly in the +direction of usurpation; and therefore this track, on which so many +devoted, true women, have taken a through or life ticket upon, is one +which the American government ought to guard and protect by legal +enactments; so that such a drama as mine cannot be again legally tolerated +under the flag of our protective government. God grant, that this one mute +appeal of _stubborn fact_, may be sufficient to nerve up the woman +protectors of our manly government, to guard us, in some manner, against +woman's greatest foe--the women subjectors of society. + +It may be proper here to add the result of this recruiting tour. After +being absent eleven weeks from my home, and this being the first time I +had left my husband during all my married life, longer than for one week's +time, I returned to my home, to receive as cordial and as loving a welcome +as any wife could desire. Indeed, it seemed to me, that the home of my +husband's heart had become "empty, swept, and garnished," during my +absence, and that the foul spirits of usurpation had left this citadel, as +I fondly hoped, forever. Indeed, I felt that I had good reason to hope, +that my logic had been calmly and impassionately digested and indorsed, +during my absence, so that now this merely practical recognition of my +womanly rights, almost instantly moved my forgiving heart, not only to +extend to him, unasked, my full and free forgiveness for the past, but all +this abuse seemed to be seeking to find its proper place in the grave of +forgetful oblivion. + +This radical transformation in the bearing of my husband towards me, +allowing me not only the rights and privileges of a junior partner in the +family firm, but also such a liberal portion of manly expressed love and +sympathy, as caused my susceptible, sensitive, heart of affection fairly +to leap for joy. Indeed, I could now say, what I could never say in truth +before, I am happy in my husband's love--happy in simply being treated as +a true woman deserves to be treated--with love and confidence. All the +noblest, purest, sensibilities of woman's sympathetic nature find in this, +her native element, room for full expansion and growth, by stimulating +them into a natural, healthful exercise. It is one of the truths of God's +providential events, that the three last years of married life were by far +the happiest I ever spent with Mr. Packard. + +So open and bold was I in this avowal, during these three happy years, +that my correspondence of those days is radiant with this truth. And it +was not three months, and perhaps not even two months, previous to my +being kidnapped, that I made a verbal declaration of this fact, in Mr. +Packard's presence, to Deacon Dole, his sister's husband, in these words. +The interests of the Bible class had been our topic of conversation, when +I had occasion to make this remark: "Brother," said I, "don't you think +Mr. Packard is remarkably tolerant to me these days, in allowing me to +bring my radical views before your class? And don't you think he is +changing as fast as we can expect, considering his conservative +organization? We cannot, of course, expect him to keep up with my radical +temperament. I think we shall make a man of him yet!" + +Mr. Packard laughed outright, and replied, "Well, wife, I am glad you +have got so good an opinion of me. I hope I shall not disappoint your +expectations!" + +But, alas! where is he now? O, the dreadful demon of bigotry, was allowed +to enter and take possession of this once garnished house, through the +entreaties, and persuasions, and threats, of his Deacon Smith, and his +perverted sister, Mrs. Dole. These two spirits united, were stronger than +his own, and they overcame him, and took from him all his manly armor, so +that the demon he let in, "brought with him seven other spirits more +wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there," still; so that I +sadly fear "the last state of that man will be worse than the first." + +I saw and felt the danger of the vortex into which his sister and deacon +were dragging him, and I tried to save him, with all the logic of love, +and pure devotion to his highest and best interests; but all in vain. +Never shall I forget this fatal crisis. When, just three weeks before he +kidnapped me, I sat alone with him in his study, and while upon his lap, +with my arms encircling his neck, and my briny cheek pressed against his +own, I begged of him to be my protector, in these words: "O, husband! +don't yield to their entreaties! Do be true to your marriage vow--true to +yourself--true to God. Instead of taking the side of bigotry, and going +against your wife, do just protect to me my right of opinion, which this +deacon and sister seem determined to wrest from me. Just say to the class, +"My wife has as good a right to her opinion as the class have to +theirs--and I shall _protect_ her in this right--you need not believe her +opinions unless you choose; but she shall have her rights of opinion, +unmolested, for I shall be my wife's protector." I added, "Then, husband, +you will be a _man_. You will deserve honor, and you will be sure to have +it; but if you become my persecutor, you will become a traitor to your +manliness; you will deserve dishonor, and you will surely get it in full +measure." + +My earnestness he construed into anger. He thrust me from him. He +determined, at all hazard, to subject my rights of opinion to his will, +instead of protecting them by his manliness. The plot already laid, eight +years previous, now had a rare opportunity to culminate, sure as he was of +all needed help in its dreadful execution. In three short weeks I was a +State's prisoner of Illinois Lunatic Asylum, being supported as a State +pauper! + +From this fatal evening all appeals to his reason and humanity have been +worse than fruitless. They have only served to aggravate his maddened +feelings, and goad him on to greater deeds of desperation. Like +Nebuchadnezzar, his reason is taken from him, on this one subject; and +unrestrained, maddened, resentment fills his depraved soul--his manliness +is dead. Is he not a monomaniac? + + + + +FALSE REPORTS CORRECTED. + + +I find in circulation various false reports and misrepresentations, so +slanderous in their bearing upon my character and reputation, and that of +my family relatives, that I think they demand a passing notice from me, in +summing up this brief record of events. + + +FIRST REPORT. + +"Mrs. Packard's mother was an insane woman, and several of her relatives +have been insane; and, therefore, Mrs. Packard's insanity is hereditary, +consequently, she is hopelessly insane." + +This base and most cruel slander originated from Mr. Packard's own heart; +was echoed before the eyes of the public, by Dr. McFarland, Superintendent +of the Insane Asylum, through the Chicago Tribune, in a letter which he +wrote to the Tribune in self-defence, after my trial. The verdict of the +jury virtually impeached Dr. McFarland as an accomplice in this foul +drama, and as one who had prostituted his high public trust, in a most +notorious manner. This presentation of him and his institution before the +public, seemed to provoke this letter, as a vindication of his course. And +the most prominent part of this defence seemed to depend upon his making +the people believe that the opinion of the jury was not correct, in +pronouncing me sane. And he used this slander as the backbone of his +argument, to prove that I was hopelessly insane, there having been no +change either for the better or worse, while under his care, and that I +left the institution just as I entered it, incurably insane. + +I think I cannot answer this slander more summarily and concisely, than by +quoting, verbatim, Mr. Stephen R. Moore's, my attorney, reply to this +letter, as it was published at the time in the public papers. + +MR. MOORE'S REPLY TO DR. MCFARLAND'S SLANDER. + +"Your letter starts out with a statement of an error, which I believe, to +be wholly unintentional, and results from placing too much confidence in +the statements of your friend, Rev. Theophilus Packard. You say, "Mrs. +P., as one of the results of a strongly inherited predisposition, (her +mother having been for a long period of her life insane,) had an attack of +insanity previous to her marriage." Such are _not_ the facts. Neither the +mother, nor any blood relations of Mrs. Packard, were ever suspected or +charged with being insane. And it is a slander of one of the best and most +pious mothers of New England, and her ancestry, to charge her and them +with insanity; and could have emanated only from the heart of the pious +----, who would incarcerate the companion of his bosom for three years, +with gibbering idiots and raving maniacs. + +"Nor had Mrs. Packard an attack of insanity before her marriage. The pious +Packard has fabricated this story to order, from the circumstance, that +when a young lady, Mrs. Packard had a severe attack of brain fever, and +under which fever she was for a time delirious, and no further, has this a +semblance of truth." + +This is the simple truth, which all my relatives are ready, and many of +them very anxious to certify to; but the limits of this pamphlet will not +admit any more space in answer to this slander. + + +SECOND REPORT. + +"Mrs. Packard is very adroit in concealing her insanity." + +This report originated from the same source, and I will answer it in the +words of the same writer, as found in his printed reply: "You say, 'Mrs. +Packard is very adroit in concealing her insanity.' She has indeed been +most adroit in this concealment, when her family physician of seven year's +acquaintance, and all her friends and neighbors, with whom she visited +daily, and her children, and the domestics, and lastly, the court and jury +had not, and could not, discover any traces of insanity; and the only +persons who say they find her insane, were Dr. McFarland, your pious +friend Rev. Packard, his sister, and her husband, one deacon of the +church, and a fascinating young convert--all members of his church--and a +doctor. These witnesses each and every one swore upon the stand, "That it +was evidence of insanity in Mrs. Packard, because she wished to leave the +Presbyterian church, and join the Methodist." I quote the reasons given by +these "Lambs of the Church," that you may know what weight their opinions +are entitled to. The physician, upon whose certificate you say you held +Mrs. Packard, swore upon the trial, that three-fourths of the religious +community were just as insane as Mrs. Packard." + + +THIRD REPORT. + +"All her family friends, almost without exception, sustain Mr. Packard in +his course." + +Not one of my family friends ever _intelligently_ sustained Mr. Packard in +his course. But they did sustain him ignorantly and undesignedly, for a +time, while his tissue of lies held them back from investigating the +merits of the case for themselves. But as soon as they did know, they +became my firm friends and defenders, and Mr. Packard's private foes and +public adversaries. I do not mean by this, that they manifest any +revengeful feelings towards him, but simply a God-like resentment of his +inhuman course towards me. All my relatives, without exception, who have +heard my own statement from my own lips, now unite in this one opinion, +that Mr. Packard has had no right nor occasion for putting me into an +insane asylum. + +But fidelity to the truth requires me to say in this connection, that +among my family relatives, are three families of Congregational +ministers--that each of these families have refused me any hearing, so +that they are still in league with, and defenders of, Mr. Packard. All I +have to say for them is, "May the Lord forgive them, for they know not +what they do." + +But it may be urged that the published certificates of her friends +contradict this statement. This is not the case. Those certificates which +have appeared in print since my return to my friends, all bear date to the +time they were given previous to my return. + +And in this connection I feel conscientiously bound, in defence of my +kindred, to say, that some of these certificates are mere forgeries in its +strict sense; that is, they were drafted by Mr. Packard, himself, and most +adroitly urged upon the individual whose signature he desired to obtain, +and thus his logic, being based in a falsehood, which was used as a truth, +and received as such, they are thus made to certify to what was not the +real truth. My minor children's certificates are the mere echoes of their +father's will and dictation. He has tried to buy the signatures of my two +oldest sons, now of age, in Chicago, by offering them some of his abundant +surplus clothing, from his missionary boxes, if they would only certify +that their mother was insane. But these noble sons have too much moral +rectitude to sell their consciences for clothes or gold. Instead of being +abettors in their father's crimes, they have, and do still, maintain a +most firm stand in defence of me. And for this manly act of filial piety +towards me, their father has disinherited both of them, as he has me, from +our family rights. + +Another thing, it is no new business for Mr. Packard to practice forgery. +This assertion I can prove by his own confession. Not long before I was +exiled from my home, he said to me one day, "I have just signed a note, +which, if brought against me in law, would place me in a penitentiary; but +I think I am safe, as I have fixed it." Again, Mr. Packard sent a great +many forged letters to the Superintendent of the Asylum, while I was +there, professing to come from a different source, wherein the writer +urged, very strongly, the necessity of keeping me in an asylum, and +begging him, most pathetically, to _keep me there_, not only for Mr. +Packard's sake, but also for his children's sake, and community's sake, +and, lastly, for the cause of Christ's sake! Dr. McFarland used to come to +me for an explanation of this singular phenomenon. I would promptly tell +him the letters are a forgery--the very face of them so speaks--for who +would think of a minister in Ohio writing, self-moved, to a Superintendent +in Illinois, begging of him to keep another man's wife in his Asylum! +Either these letters were exact copies of Mr. Packard's, with the +exception of the signature, or, they were entirely drafted from Mr. +Packard's statement, and made so as to be an echo of Mr. Packard's wishes, +but seeming to be a self-moved act of the writer's own mind and wishes. + +O, how fruitful is a depraved heart in devising lies, and masking them +with the semblance of truth! and how many lies it takes to defend one! The +lie he was thus trying to defend was, that I was insane, when I was not, +and all this gigantic frame work of certificates and testimony became +necessary as props to sustain it. + +I now give the testimony of my lawyer, who, after witnessing the +revelations of the court room, thus alludes to this subject in his reply +to Dr. McFarland's letter. "The certificates produced, fully attesting her +insanity, before she was admitted, I suspect were forgeries of the pious +Packard, altered to suit the occasion, and your too generous disposition +to rely upon the statements made to you, was taken advantage of again, and +they were imposed upon you, without the critical examination their +importance demanded." + + +FOURTH REPORT. + +"Mrs. Packard is alienated from her kindred, and even her own father and +husband." + +I will confess I am alienated from _such_ manifestations of love as they +showed me while in the Asylum; that is, from none at all. Not one, except +my adopted sister, and my two sons at Chicago, ever made an attempt to +visit me, or even wrote me scarcely one line. I do say, this was rather +cold sympathy for one passing through such scenes as I was called to pass +through. This fact was not only an enigma to myself, but it was so to all +my Asylum friends, and even to the Doctor himself, if I can believe his +own words. He would often say to me, "Mrs. Packard, who are your friends? +have you any in the wide world? If so, why do they not look after you?" + +I used at first to say, I have many friends, and no enemies, except Mr. +Packard, that I know of in the whole world. All my relatives love me +tenderly. But after watching in vain for three years of prison life for +them to show me some proof of it, I changed my song, and owned up, I had +no friends worth the name; for my adversity had tried or tested their +love, and it had all been found wanting--entirely wanting. So it looked to +me from _that_ stand point. And I still insist upon it, this was a sane +conclusion. For what is that love worth, that can't defend its friend in +adversity? I say it is not worth the name of love. + +But it must be remembered, I saw then only one side of the picture. The +other side I could not see until I saw my friends, and looked from _their_ +standpoint. Then I found that the many letters I had written had never +reached them; for Mr. Packard had instructed Dr. McFarland, and had +insisted upon it, that not a single letter should be sent to any of my +friends, not even my father, or sons, without reading it himself, and then +sending it to him to read, before sending it; and so he must do with all +the letters sent to me; and the result was, scarcely none were delivered +to me, nor were mine sent to my friends. But instead of this, a brisk +correspondence was kept up between Dr. McFarland and Mr. Packard, who both +agreed in representing me as very insane; so much so, that my good +demanded that I be kept entirely aloof from their sympathy. I have seen +and read these letters, and now, instead of blaming my friends for +regarding me as insane, I don't see how they could have come to any other +conclusion. From _their_ standpoint, they acted judiciously, and kindly. + +They were anxious to aid the afflicted minister to the extent they could, +in restoring reason to his poor afflicted, maniac wife, and they thought +the Superintendent understood his business, and with him, and her kind +husband to superintend, they considered I must be well cared for. + +And again, how could they imagine, that a man would wish to have the +reputation of having an insane wife, when he had not? And could the good +and kind Mr. Packard neglect even his poor afflicted wife? No, she must be +in good hands, under the best of care, and it is her husband on whom we +must lavish our warmest, tenderest, sympathies! Yes, so it was; Mr. +Packard managed so as to get all the sympathy, and his wife none at all. +He got all the money, and she not a cent. He got abundant tokens of +regard, and she none at all. In short, he had buried me in a living tomb, +with his own hands, and he meant there should be no resurrection. And the +statement that I was alienated from my friends when I was entered, is +utterly _false_. No one ever loved their kindred or friends with a warmer +or a purer love than I ever loved mine. + +Neither was I alienated even from Mr. Packard, when he entered me. As +proof of this, I will describe my feelings as indicated by my conduct, at +the time he forced me from my dear ones at home. After the physicians had +examined me as described in my Introduction, and Mr. Packard had ordered +me to dress for a ride to the Asylum, I asked the privilege of having my +room vacated, so that I might bathe myself, as usual, before dressing; +intending myself to then secure about my person, _secretly_, my +Bible-class documents, as all that I had said in defence of my opinions +was in writing, never having trusted myself to an extemporaneous +discussion of my new ideas, lest I be misrepresented. And I then felt that +these documents, alone, were my only _defence_, being denied all and every +form of justice, by any trial. I therefore resorted to this innocent +stratagem, as it seemed to me, to secure them; that is, I did not tell Mr. +Packard that I had any other reason for being left alone in my room than +the one I gave him. + +But he refused me this request, giving as his only reason, that he did not +think it best to leave me alone. He doubtless had the same documents in +view, intending thus to keep me from getting them, for he ordered Miss +Rumsey to be my lady's maid, as a spy upon my actions. I dared not attempt +to get them with her eye upon me, lest she take them from me, or report me +to Mr. Packard, as directed by him so to do, as I believed. I resolved +upon one more stratagem as my last and only hope, and this was, to ask to +be left alone long enough to pray in my own room once more, before being +forced from it into my prison. When, therefore, I was all dressed, ready +to be kidnapped, I asked to see my dear little ones, to bestow upon them +my parting kiss. But was denied this favor also! + +"Then," said I, "can I bear such trials as these without God's help? And +is not this help given us in answer to our own prayers? May I not be +allowed, husband, to ask this favor of God _alone_ in my room, before +being thus exiled from it?" + +"No," said he, "I don't think it is best to let you be alone in your +room." + +"O, husband," said I, "you have allowed me no chance for my secret +devotions this morning, can't I be allowed this one last request?" + +"No; I think it is not best; but you may pray with your door open." + +I then kneeled down in my room, with my bonnet and shawl on, and in the +presence and hearing of the sheriff, and the conspiracy I offered up my +petition, in an audible voice, wherein I laid my burdens frankly, fully, +before my sympathizing Saviour, as I would have done in secret. And this +Miss Rumsey reports, that the burden of this prayer was for _Mr. Packard's +forgiveness_. She says, I first told God what a great crime Mr. Packard +was committing in treating his wife as he was doing, and what great guilt +he was thus treasuring up to himself, by this cruel and unjust treatment +of the woman he had sworn before God to protect; and what an awful doom he +must surely meet with, under the government of a just God, for these his +great sins against me, and so forth; and then added, that if it was +possible for God to allow me to bear his punishment _for him_, that he +would allow me so to do, if in that way, his soul might be redeemed from +the curse which must now rest upon it. In short, the burden of my prayer +was, that I might be his redeemer, if my sufferings could in any possible +way atone for his sins. Such a petition was, of course looked upon by this +conspiracy, as evidence of my insanity, and has been used by them, as +such. But I cannot but feel that in God's sight, it was regarded as an +echo of Christ's dying prayer for his murderers, prompted by the same +spirit of gospel forgiveness of enemies. In fact, if I know anything of my +own heart, I do know that it then cherished not a single feeling of +resentment towards him. But my soul was burdened by a sense of his great +guilt, and only desired his pardon and forgiveness. + +As another proof of this assertion, I will describe our parting interview +at the Asylum. He had stayed two nights at the Asylum, occupying the +stately guest chamber and bed alone, while I was being locked up in my +narrow cell, on my narrow single bed, with the howling maniacs around for +my serenaders. He sat at the sumptuous table of the Superintendent, +sharing in all its costly viands and dainties, and entertained by its +refined guests, for his company and companions. While I, his companion, +ever accustomed to the most polished and best society, was sitting at our +long table, furnished with nothing but bread and meat; and my companions, +some of them, gibbering maniacs, whose presence and society must be +purchased only at the risk of life or physical injury. He could walk about +the city at his pleasure, or be escorted in the sumptuous carriage, while +I could only circumambulate the Asylum yard, under the vigilant eye of my +keeper. O, it did seem, these two days and nights, as though my +affectionate heart would break with my over much sorrow. No sweet darling +babe to hug to my heart's embrace--no child arms to encircle my neck and +bestow on my cheek its hearty "good night" kiss. No--nothing, nothing, in +my surroundings, to cheer and soothe my tempest tossed soul. + +In this sorrowful state of mind Mr. Packard found me in my cell, and asked +me if I should not like an interview with him, in the parlor, as he was +about to leave me soon. + +"Yes," said I, "I should be very glad of one," and taking his arm, I +walked out of the hall. As I passed on, one of the attendants remarked: +"See, she is not alienated from her husband, see how kindly she takes his +arm!" When we reached the parlor, I seated myself by his side, on the +sofa, and gave full vent to my long pent up emotions and feelings. + +"O, husband!" said I, "how can you leave me in such a place? It seems as +though I cannot bear it. And my darling babe! O, what will become of him! +How can he live without his mother! And how can I live without my babe, +and my children! O, do, do, I beg of you, take me home. You know I have +_always_ been a true and loving wife to you, and how can you treat me so?" +My entreaties and prayers were accompanied with my tears, which is a very +uncommon manifestation with me; and while I talked, I arose from my seat +and walked the room, with my handkerchief to my eyes; for it seemed as if +my heart would break. Getting no response whatever from him, I took down +my hand to see why he did not speak to me when--what did I see! my husband +sound asleep, nodding his head! + +"O, husband!" said I, "can you sleep while your wife is in such agony?" + +Said he, "I can't keep awake; I have been broke of my rest." + +"I see," said I, "there is no use in trying to move your feelings, we may +as well say our 'good bye' now as ever." And as I bestowed upon him the +parting kiss, I said, "May our next meeting be in the spirit land! And if +there you find yourself in a sphere of lower development than myself; and +you have any desire to rise to a higher plane, remember, there is one +spirit in the universe, who will leave any height of enjoyment, and +descend to any depth of misery, to raise you to a higher plane of +happiness, if it is possible so to do. And that spirit is the spirit of +your Elizabeth. Farewell! husband, forever!!" + +This is the exact picture. Now see what use he makes of it. In his letter +to my father, he says: "She did not like to be left. I pitied her." +(Pitied her! How was his sympathy manifested?) "It was an affecting scene. +But she was very mad at me, and tried to wound my feelings every way. She +would send no word to the children, and would not _pleasantly_ bid me good +bye." Pleasantly was underlined, to make it appear, that, because I did +not pleasantly bid him good bye, under these circumstances, I felt hard +towards him, and this was a proof of my alienation, and is as strong a one +as it is possible for him to bring in support of his charge. + +Let the tender hearted mother draw her own inferences--man cannot know +what I then suffered. And may a kind God grant, that no other mother may +ever know what I then felt, in her own sad experience! + +The truth is, I never was alienated from my husband, until he gave me just +_cause_ for this alienation, and not until he put me into the Asylum, and +then it took four long months more, of the most intense spiritual torture, +to develop in my loving, forgiving heart, one feeling of hate towards him. +As proof of this, I will here insert two letters I wrote him several weeks +after my incarceration. + + +COPY OF THE LETTER. + +_Jacksonville, July 14th, 1860, Sabbath, P. M._ + +MY DEAR CHILDREN AND HUSBAND: + +Your letter of July eleventh arrived yesterday. It was the third I have +received from home, and, indeed, is all I have received from any source +since I came to the Asylum. And the one you received from me is all I have +sent from here. I thank you for writing so often. I shall be happy to +answer all letters from you, if you desire it, as I see you do, by your +last. I like anything to relieve the monotony of my daily routine. * * * + +Dr. McFarland told me, after I had been here one week, "I do not think you +will remain but a few days longer." I suspect he found me an unfit +subject, upon a personal acquaintance with me. Still, unfit as I consider +myself, to be numbered amongst the insane, I am so numbered at my +husband's request. And for his sake, I must, until my death, carry about +with me, "This thorn in the flesh--this messenger of Satan to buffet me," +and probably, to keep me humble, and in my proper place. God grant it may +be a sanctified affliction to me! I do try to bear it, uncomplainingly, +and submissively. But, O! 'tis hard--'tis very hard. O, may you never know +what it is to be numbered with the insane, within the walls of an insane +asylum, not knowing as your friends will ever regard you as a fit +companion or associate for them again, outside its walls. + +O, the bitter, bitter cup, I have been called to drink, even to its very +dregs, just because I choose to obey God rather than man! But, as my +Saviour said, "the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink +it?" O, yes, for thy sake, kind Saviour, I rejoice, that I am counted +worthy to suffer the loss of all things, for thy sake. And thou hast made +me worthy, by thine own free and sovereign grace. Yes, dear Jesus, I +believe that I have learned the lesson thou hast thus taught me, that "in +whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content." + +Yes, content, to sit at a table with twenty-four maniacs, three times a +day, and eat my bread and meat, and drink my milk and water, while I +remember, almost each time, how many vegetables and berries are upon my +own dear table at home, and I not allowed to taste, because my husband +counts me unworthy, or unfit, or unsafe, to be an inmate at his fireside +and table. I eat, and retire, and pray God to keep me from complaining. My +fare does not agree with my health, and so I have begged of our kind +attendants, to furnish me some poor, shriveled wheat, to keep in my room, +to eat raw, to keep my bowels open. This morning, after asking a blessing +at the table, I retired to my own room, to eat my raw, hard wheat alone, +with my pine-apple to soften it, or rather to moisten it going down. Yes, +the berries I toiled so very hard to get for our health and comfort, I +only must be deprived of them at my husband's appointment. The past, O, +the sad past! together with the present, and the unknown future. O, let +oblivion cover the past--let no record of my wrongs be ever made, for +posterity to see, for your sake, my own lawful husband. + +O, my dear precious children! how I pity you! My heart aches for you. But +I can do nothing for you. I am your father's victim, and cannot escape +from my prison to help you, even you--my own flesh and blood--my heart's +treasures, my jewels, my honor and rejoicing. + +For I do believe you remain true to the mother who loves you so tenderly, +that she would die to save you from the disgrace she has brought upon your +fair names, by being stigmatised as the children of an insane mother, whom +your father said he regarded as unsafe, as an inmate of your own quiet +home, and, therefore, has confined me within these awful enclosures. + +O, may you never know what it is to go to sleep within the hearing of such +unearthly sounds, as can be heard here almost at any hour of the night! I +can sleep in the hearing of it, for "so he giveth his beloved sleep." O, +children dear, do not be discouraged at my sad fate, for well doing. But +be assured that, although you may suffer in this world for it, you may be +sure your reward will come in the next. "For, if we suffer with him, we +shall also reign with him." + +O, do commit your souls to him in well-doing for my sake, if you dare not +for your own sake, for I do entreat you to let me be with you in heaven, +if your father prevents it on earth. + +I may not have much longer to suffer here on earth. Several in our ward +are now sick in bed, and I give them more of my fruit than I eat myself, +hoping that, when my turn comes to be sick, some one may thus serve me. +But if not, I can bear it, perhaps better than they can, to be without any +solace or comfort in sickness here, such as a friend needs. I have nothing +to live for now, but to serve you, as I know of. But you can get along +without me, can't you? Pa will take care of you. Do be kind to him, and +make him as happy as possible. Yes, honor your father, if he has brought +such dishonor upon your name and reputation. + +I will devote my energies to these distressed objects around me, instead +of attending to your wants, as a mother should be allowed to do, at least, +so long as she could do so, as well as I could, and did, when I was taken +from you. I know I could not, for lack of physical strength, do as much +for you as I once could, still I was willing, and did do all I could for +you. Indeed, I find I am almost worn out by my sufferings. I am very weak +and feeble. Still, I make no complaints, for I am so much better off than +many others here. + +Do bring my poor lifeless body home when my spirit, which troubled your +father so much, has fled to Jesus' arms for protection, and lay me by my +asparagus bed, so you can visit my grave, and weep over my sad fate in +this world. I do not wish to be buried in Shelburne, but let me rise where +I suffered so much for Christ's sake. + +O, do not, do not, be weary in well doing, for, did I not hope to meet you +in heaven, it seems as though my heart would break! + +I am useful here, I hope. Some of our patients say, it is a paradise here +now, compared with what it was before I came. The authorities assure me, +that I am doing a great work here, for the institution. + +When I had the prospect of returning home in a few days, as I told you, I +begged with tears not to send me, as my husband would have the same reason +for sending me back as he had for bringing me here. For the will of God is +still my law and guide, so I cannot do wrong, and until I become insane, I +can take no other guide for my conduct. Here I can exercise my rights of +conscience, without offending any one. + +Yes, I am getting friends, from high and low, rich and poor. I am loved, +and respected here by all that know me. I am their confident, their +counsellor, their bosom friend. O, how I love this new circle of friends! +There are several patients here, who are no more insane than I am; but are +put here, like me, to get rid of them. But here we can work for God, and +here die for him. + +Love to all my children, and yourself also. I thank you for the fruit, and +mirror. It came safe. I had bought one before. + +I am at rest--and my mind enjoys that peace the world cannot give or take +away. When I am gone to rest, rejoice for me. Weep not for me. I am, and +must be forever happy in God's love. + +The questions are often asked me, "Why were you sent here? you are not +insane. Did you injure any one? Did you give up, and neglect your duties? +Did you tear your clothes, and destroy your things? What did you do that +made your friends treat such a good woman so?" Let silence be my only +reply, for your sake, my husband. Now, my husband, do repent, and secure +forgiveness from God, and me, before it is too late. Indeed, I pity you; +my soul weeps on your account. But God is merciful, and his mercies are +great above the heavens. Therefore, do not despair; by speedy repentance +secure gospel peace to your tempest-tossed soul. So prays your loving +wife, + +ELIZABETH. + + +EXTRACT FROM ANOTHER LETTER. + +MY DEAR HUSBAND. + +I thank you kindly for writing me, and thus relieving my burdened heart, +by assuring me that my dear children are alive and well. I have been sadly +burdened at the thought of what they are called to suffer on their +mother's account. Yes, the mother's heart has wept for them every moment: +yet my heart has rejoiced in God my Savior, for to suffer as well as to do +His holy will, is my highest delight, my chief joy. Yes, my dear husband, +I can say in all sincerity and honesty, "The will of the Lord be done." I +can still by his abundant grace utter the true emotions of my full heart, +in the words of my favorite verse, which you all know has been my solace +in times of doubt, perplexity and trial. It is this: + + "With cheerful feet the path of duty run, + God nothing does, nor suffers to be done, + But what thou wouldst thyself, couldst thou but see, + Through all events of things as well as He." + +O, the consolation the tempest tossed spirit feels in the thought that our +Father is at the helm, and that no real harm can befall us with such a +pilot to direct our course. And let me assure you all for your +encouragement, that my own experience bears honest, practical testimony +that great peace they have who make God their shield, their trust, their +refuge; and I can even add that this Insane Asylum has been to me the gate +to Heaven. * * * + +By Dr. McFarland's leave, I have established family worship in our hall; +and we never have less than twelve, and sometimes eighteen or more, quite +quiet and orderly, while I read and explain a chapter--then join in +singing a hymn--then kneeling down, I offer a prayer, as long as I +usually do at our own family altar. I also implore the blessing of God at +the table at every meal, while twenty-nine maniacs, as we are called, +silently join with me. Our conversation, for the most part, is +intelligent, and to me most instructive. At first, quite a spirit of +discord seemed to pervade our circle. But now it is quiet and even +cheerful. I find that we as individuals hold the happiness of others to a +great degree in our own keeping, and that "A merry heart doeth good like +medicine." * * * + +If God so permit, I should rejoice to join the dear circle at home, and +serve them to the best of my ability. "Nevertheless, not as I will, but as +Thou wilt." I thank you, husband, for your kindness, both past and +prospective. Do forgive me, wherein I have wronged you, or needlessly +injured your feelings, and believe me yours, + +ELIZABETH. + +P. S. Tell the dear children to trust God, by doing right. + + +I now do frankly own, I am fully alienated from him, in his present +detestable character, as developed towards me, his lawful wife. And I +claim that it is not consistent with the laws of God's moral government, +for a fully sane being to feel otherwise. + +But it is not so with my kindred, and other friends. I am not alienated +from them, for I have had no just and adequate cause for alienation. They +erred ignorantly, not willfully. They were willing to know the truth; they +were convicted, and are now converted to the truth. They have confessed +their sin against me in thus neglecting me, and have asked my forgiveness. +I have most freely forgiven them, and such penitents are fully restored to +my full fellowship and confidence. To prove they are penitent, one +confession will serve as a fair representation of the whole. I give it in +the writer's own words, verbatim, from the letter now before me. "We are +all glad you have been to visit us, and we regret we have not tried to do +more for _you_, in times past. I am grieved that you have been left to +suffer so much _alone_--had we known, I think something would have been +done for _you_. Forgive us, won't you, for our cruel neglect?" Yes, I do +rejoice to forgive them, for Christ allows me to forgive the penitent +transgressor. But he does not allow me to do better than he does--to +forgive the impenitent transgressor. And I do not; but as I have before +said, I stand ready with my forgiveness in my heart to extend it to him, +most freely, on this gospel condition of repentance--_practical_ +repentance. + + +FIFTH REPORT. + +"Dr. McFarland, the Superintendent of the Asylum, says she is insane; and +he ought to _know_." + +Yes, he ought to know. But, in my opinion, Dr. McFarland, does not know a +sane from an insane person; or else, why does he keep so many in that +Asylum, as sane as himself? And mine is not the first case a court and +jury differed from him in opinion on this subject. He has been so long +conversant with the insane, that he has become a perfect monomaniac on +insanity and in his treatment of the insane. I never saw such inhumanity, +and cruelty, and barbarity, practiced towards the innocent and helpless as +he sanctions and allows in that Asylum. I could write a large volume in +confirmation of this assertion, made up of scenes I myself witnessed, +during my three years' incarceration in that terrible place. The material +is all on hand for such a book, since I kept a secret journal of daily +events, just as they occurred, so that my memory is not my only laboratory +of such truths. And in arranging this matter for a book, I intend to turn +Jacksonville Asylum inside out. That is, I shall report that Asylum from +the standpoint of a patient, and if this book don't prove my assertion +that Dr. McFarland is a monomaniac, I am sure it will prove him to be +something worse. But I claim to defend his heart from the charge of +villainy, and his intellect from imbecility, for I have often said of him, +"Dr. McFarland is the _greatest_ man I ever saw, and he would be the +_best_ if he wasn't _so bad_!" + +But this is not the place to make a defence for Dr. McFarland. Let him +stand where his own actions put him, for that is the only proper place for +either superintendent or patient to stand upon. But I will own, God made +him fit for one of his great resplendent luminaries; but Satan has marred +this noble orb, so that now it has some very dark spots on its disk, such +as his patients can behold without the aid of a telescope! Yes, as a +general thing, his patients are not allowed to behold anything else but +these dark spots, while the public are allowed to see nothing except the +splendors of this luminary. And when my telescopic book is in print, the +public may look, or not look, at the scenes behind the curtain, just as +they please. The exact scenes are now fully daguerreotyped on my brain and +heart both, as well as on my manuscript journal. In this volume I am only +allowed to report what relates to myself alone. Therefore I have but +little to say; for as it respects his treatment of me, individually, I +regard him as a practical penitent, and on this basis, I have really +forgiven him. And God only knows what a multitude of sins this man's +repentance has covered! And my Christianity forbids my exposing the sins +of a practical penitent, after having practically forgiven him. + +As proof of his penitence, I bring this fact, that it was under his +superintendence, and by his consent alone, that I was permitted to spend +the last nine months of my prison life in writing "The Great Drama." This +book was commenced as an act of self-defence from the charge of insanity, +and this man was the first person in America that ever before allowed me +any right of self-defence. And this act of practical manliness on his +part, awakened, as its response, my full and hearty forgiveness of all the +wrongs he had hitherto heaped upon me; and these wrongs had not been "like +angels visits, few and far between." But I had, in reality, much to +forgive. At least, so thought my personal friends at the Asylum, if their +words echoed their real feelings. Their feelings on this subject were not +unfrequently uttered in very strong language like the following: "If Mrs. +Packard can forgive Dr. McFarland all the wrongs and abuses he has heaped +upon her she must be more than human." And I now have before me a letter +from one who had been for several years an officer in that institution, +from which I will make an extract, as it corroborates this point. She +says, "How the mind wanders back to those dark hours. O, that hated +letter! once presented you by a ----, who delighted to torture those he +could not subdue. Our hearts did pity you, Mrs. Packard. Mrs. Tenny, (now +the wife of the then assistant physician, but my attendant at the time +referred to,) and myself often said, everything was done that could be, to +annihilate and dethrone your reason. Poor child! They had all fled--none +to watch one hour! All I have to say is, if there can be found man or +woman who could endure what you did in that three years, and not become a +raving maniac, they should be canonized." + +Yes, God, God alone, saved me from the awful vortex Mr. Packard and Dr. +McFarland had prepared for me--the vortex of oblivion--God has delivered +me from them who were stronger than I, and to his cause, the cause of +oppressed humanity, for which I there suffered so much in its defence, I +do now consecrate my spared intellect, and reason, and moral power. + +This "Great Drama," written there, is my great battery, which, in God's +providence, I hope sometime to get rich enough to publish; and it is to +the magnanimity of Dr. McFarland alone, under God, that my thanks are due, +for letting me write this book. He dictated none of it. He allowed me +perfect spiritual liberty, in penning this voluminous literary production +of seven hundred pages; and if ever there was a book written wholly +untrammelled by human dictation, this is the book. But as I said, his +magnanimity, even at the eleventh hour, has, so far as I am concerned, +secured my forgiveness. + +But he has been, and I fear still is, a great sinner against others, also; +for, as I have often said, it is my candid opinion, that there were fifty +in that house, as patients, who have no more right to be there than the +Doctor himself. Judging them from their own actions and words, there is no +more evidence of insanity in them, than in Dr. McFarland's words and +actions. He certainly has no scruples about keeping perfectly sane persons +as patients. At first, this was to me an enigma I could not possible +solve. But now I can on the supposition that he don't know a sane from an +insane person, because he has become a monomaniac on this subject, just as +Mr. Packard has on the woman question. The Doctor's insane dogmas are, +first: all people are insane on some points; second: insane persons have +no rights that others are bound to respect. + +He has never refused any one's application on the ground of their not +being insane, to my knowledge, but he has admitted many whom he admitted +were not near as insane as the friends who brought them were. He can see +insanity in any one where it will be for his interest to see it. And let +him put any one through the insane treatment he subjects his patients to, +and they are almost certain to manifest some resentment, before the +process is complete. And this natural resentment which his process evokes, +is what he calls their insanity, or rather evidence of it. I saw the +operation of his nefarious system before I had been there long, and I +determined to stand proof against it, by restraining all manifestations of +my resentful feelings, which his insults to me were designed to develop. +And this is his grand failure in my case. He has no capital to make out +his charge upon, so far as my own actions are concerned. No one ever saw +me exhibit the least angry, resentful feelings. I say that to God's grace +alone is this result due. I maintain, his treatment of his patients is +barbarous and criminal in many cases; therefore he shows insanity in his +conduct towards them. + +Again, he does not always tell the truth about his patients, nor to his +patients. And this is another evidence of his insanity. I do say, lying +is insanity; and if I can ever be proved to be a liar, by my own words or +actions, I do insist upon it I merit the charge put upon me of monomania, +or insanity. But, speaking the truth, and nothing but the truth, is not +lying, even if people do not believe my assertions. For the truth will +stand without testimony, and in spite of all contradiction. And when one +has once been proved to have lied, they have no claims on us to be +believed, when they do speak the truth. Were I called to prove my +assertion that the Doctor misrepresents, I could do so, by his own letters +to my husband, and my father, now in my possession, and by letters Mr. +Field had from him while I was in the Asylum. For example, why did he +write to Mr. Field that I "was a dangerous patient, not safe to live in +any private family," and then refuse to answer direct questions calling +for evidence in proof on this point, and give as his reason, that he did +not deem it his duty to answer impertinent questions about his patients? +Simply because the assertion was a lie, and had nothing to support or +defend it, in facts, as they existed. These letters abound in +misrepresentations and falsehoods respecting me, and it is no wonder my +friends regarded me as insane, on these representations from the +Superintendent of a State Asylum. + +I have every reason to think Dr. McFarland believes, in his heart, that I +am entirely sane; but policy and self-interest has prompted him to deny it +in words, hoping thus to destroy the influence of the sad truths I utter +respecting the character of that institution. A very intelligent employee +in that institution, and one who had, by her position, peculiar advantages +for knowing the real state of feeling towards me in that institution, once +said to me, "Mrs. Packard, I can assure you, that there is not a single +individual in this house who believes you are an insane person; and as for +Dr. McFarland he _knows_ you are not, whatever he may choose to say upon +the subject." + +One thing is certain, his actions contradict his words, in this matter. +Would an insane person be employed by him to carry his patients to ride, +and drive the team with a whole load of crazy women, with no one to help +take care of them and the team but herself? And yet Dr. McFarland employed +me to do this very thing fourteen times; and I always came back safely +with them, and never abused my liberty, by dropping a letter into the +post-office, or any thing of the kind, and never abused the confidence +reposed in me in any manner. + +Would he give a crazy woman money to go to the city, and make purchases +for herself? And yet he did so by me. Would a crazy woman be employed to +make purchases for the house, and use as a reason for employing her, that +her judgment was superior to any in the house? And yet this is true of me. +Would a crazy woman be employed to cut, fit and make his wife's and +daughter's best dresses, instead of a dressmaker, because she could do +them better, in their opinion, than any dressmaker they could employ? And +yet I was thus employed for several weeks, and for this reason. And would +his wife have had her tailoress consult my judgment, before cutting her +boy's clothes, and give as her reason, that she preferred my judgment and +planning before her own, if I was an insane person? And yet she did. + +Would the officials send their employees to me for help, in executing +orders which exceeded the capacity of their own judgment to perform, if +they considered my reason and judgment as impaired by insanity? And yet +this was often the case. Would the remark be often made by the employees +in that institution, that "Mrs. Packard was better fitted to be the matron +of the institution than any one under that roof," if I had been treated +and regarded as an insane person by the officials? And yet this remark was +common there. + +No. Dr. McFarland did not treat me as an insane person, until I had been +there four months, when he suddenly changed his programme entirely, by +treating me like an insane person, and ordering the employees to do so to, +which order he could never enforce, except in one single instance, and +this attendant soon after became a lunatic and a tenant of the poor house. +My attendants said they should not treat me as they did the other +patients, if the Doctor did order it. + +The reason for this change in the Doctor's treatment, was not because of +any change in my conduct or deportment in any respect, but because I +offended him, by a reproof I gave him for his abuse of his patients, +accompanied by the threat to expose him unless he repented. I gave this +reproof in writing, and retained a copy myself, by hiding it behind my +mirror, between it and the board-back. Several thousand copies of which +are now in circulation. After this event, I was closeted among the +maniacs, and did not step my foot upon the ground again, until I was +discharged, two years and eight months afterwards. When he transferred me +from the best ward to the worst ward, he ordered my attendants to treat me +just as they did their other patients, except to not let me go out of the +ward; although all the others could go to ride and walk, except myself. +Had I not known how to practice the laws of health, this close confinement +would doubtless have been fatal to my good health and strong nerves. But +as it was, both are still retained in full vigor. + +My correspondence was henceforth put under the strictest censorship, and +but few of my letters ever went farther than the Doctor's office, and most +of the letters sent to me never came nearer me than his office. When I +became satisfied of this, I stopped writing at all to any one, until I got +an "Under Ground Express" established, through which my mail passed out, +but not in. + +One incident I will here mention to show how strictly and vigilantly my +correspondence with the world was watched. There was a patient in my ward +to be discharged ere long, to go to her home near Manteno, and she offered +to take anything to my children, if I chose to send anything by her. +Confident I could not get a letter out through her, without being +detected, I made my daughter some under waists, and embroidered them, for +a present to her from her mother. On the inside of these bleached cotton +double waists, I pencilled a note to her, for her and my own solace and +comfort. I then gave these into the hands of this patient, and she took +them and put them into her bosom saying, "The Doctor shall never see +these." But just as she was leaving the house, the Doctor asked her, if +she had any letter from Mrs. Packard to her children with her? She said +she had not. + +He then asked be "Have you had anything from Mrs. Packard with you?" + +She said, "I have two embroidered waists, which Mrs. Packard wished me to +carry to her daughter, as a present from her mother; but nothing else." + +"Let me see those waists," said he. + +She took them from her bosom and handed them to him. He saw the penciling. +He read it, and ordered the waists to the laundry to be washed before +sending them, so that no heart communications from the mother to the +child, could go with them. I believe he sent them afterwards by Dr. Eddy. + +In regard to Dr. McFarland's individual guilt in relation to his treatment +of me, justice to myself requires me to add, that I cherish no feelings of +resentment towards him, and the worst wish my heart dictates towards him +is, that he may repent, and become the "Model Man" his nobly developed +capacities have fitted him to become; for he is, as I have said, the +greatest man I ever saw, and he would be the best if he wasn't so bad! + +And the despotic treatment his patients receive under his government, is +only the natural result of one of the fundamental laws of human nature, in +its present undeveloped state; which is, that the history of our race for +six thousand years demonstrates the fact, that absolute, unlimited power +always tends towards despotism--or an usurpation and abuse of other's +rights. Dr. McFarland has, in a _practical_ sense, a sovereignty delegated +to him, by the insane laws, almost as absolute as the marital power, which +the law delegates to the husband. All of the inalienable rights of his +patients are as completely subject to his single will, in the practical +operation of these laws, as are the rights of a married woman to the will +of her husband. And these despotic superintendents and husbands in the +exercise of this power, are no more guilty, in my opinion, than that power +is which licenses this deleterious element. No Republican government ought +to permit an absolute monarchy to be established under its jurisdiction. +And when it is found to exist, it ought to be destroyed, forthwith. And +where this licensed power is known to have culminated into a despotism, +which is crushing humanity, really and practically, that government is +guilty in this matter, so long as it tolerates this usurpation. + +Therefore, while the superintendents are guilty in abusing their power, I +say that government which sustains oppression by its laws, is the first +transgressor. Undoubtedly our insane asylums were originally designed and +established, as humane institutions, and for a very humane and benevolent +purpose; but, on their present basis, they really cover and shield many +wrongs, which ought to be exposed and redressed. It is the _evils_ which +cluster about these institutions, and these alone, which I am intent on +bringing into public view, for the purpose of having them destroyed. All +the good which inheres in these institutions and officers is just as +precious as if not mixed with the alloy; therefore, in destroying the +alloy, great care should be used not to tarnish or destroy the fine gold +with it. As my case demonstrates, they are now sometimes used for +inquisitional purposes, which certainly is a great perversion of their +original intent. + + +SIXTH REPORT. + +"Mrs. Packard's statements are incredible. And she uses such strong +language in giving them expression, as demonstrates her still to be an +insane woman." + +I acknowledge the fact, that truth _is_ stranger than fiction; and I also +assert, that it is my candid opinion, that strong language is the only +appropriate drapery some truths can be clothed in. For example, the only +appropriate drapery to clothe a lie in, is the strong language of _lie_ or +_liar_, not misrepresentation, a mistake, a slip of the tongue, a +deception, an unintentional error, and so forth. And for unreasonable, and +inhuman, and criminal acts, the appropriate drapery is, insane acts; and +an usurpation of human rights and an abuse of power over the defenceless, +is appropriately clothed by the term, Despotism. And one who defends his +creed or party by improper and abusive means, is a Bigot. One who is +impatient and unwilling to endure, and will not hear the utterance of +opinions in conflict with his own, without persecution of his opponent, is +Intolerant towards him; and this is an appropriate word to use in +describing such manifestations. + +And here I will add, I do not write books merely to tickle the fancy, and +lull the guilty conscience into a treacherous sleep, whose waking is +death. Nor do I write to secure notoriety or popularity. But I do write to +defend the cause of human rights; and these rights can never be +vindicated, without these usurpations be exposed to public view, so that +an appeal can be made to the public conscience, on the firm basis of +unchangeable truth--the truth of facts as they do actually exist. I know +there is a class, but I fondly hope they are the minority, who will resist +this solid basis even--who would not believe the truth should Christ +himself be its medium of utterance and defence. But shall I on this +account withhold the truth, lest such cavilers reject it, and trample it +under foot, and then turn and rend me with the stigma of insanity, because +I told them the simple truth? By no means. For truth is not insanity; and +though it may for a time be crushed to the earth, it shall rise again with +renovated strength and power. Neither is strong and appropriate language +insanity. But on the contrary, I maintain that strong language is the only +suitable and appropriate drapery for a reformer to clothe his thoughts in, +notwithstanding the very unsuitable and inappropriate stigma of Insanity +which has always been the reformer's lot to bear for so doing in all past +ages, as well as the present age. + +Even Christ himself bore this badge of a Reformer, simply because he +uttered truths which conflicted with the established religion of the +church of his day. And shall I repine because I am called insane for the +same reason? It was the spirit of bigotry which led the intolerant Jews to +stigmatize Christ as a madman, because he expressed opinions differing +from their own. And it is this same spirit of bigotry which has been thus +intolerant towards me. And it is my opinion that bigotry is the most +implacable, unreasonable, unmerciful feeling that can possess the human +soul. And it is my fervent prayer that the eyes of this government may be +opened to see, that the laws do not now protect or shield any married +woman from this same extreme manifestation of it, such as it has been my +sad lot to endure, as the result of this legalized persecution. + + + + +NOTE OF THANKS TO MY PATRONS. + + +I deem it appropriate in this connection, to express the gratitude I feel +for the kind, practical sympathy, and liberal patronage, which has been +extended to me by the public, through the sale of my books. Had it not +been for your generous patronage, my kind patrons, I, and the noble cause +I represent, would have been crushed to the earth, so far as my influence +was concerned. For with no law to shield me, and with no "greenbacks" to +defend myself with, what could I have done to escape another imprisonment, +either in some asylum or poorhouse? + +It has been, and still is, the verdict of public sentiment, which the +circulation of these books has developed, that has hitherto shielded me +from a second kidnapping. And this protection you have kindly secured to +me by buying my books. I would willingly have given my books a gratuitous +circulation to obtain this protection, if I could possibly have done so. +But where could the $3000.00 I have paid out for the expense of printing +and circulating these books have been obtained? No one could advance me +money safely, so long as I was Mr. Packard's lawful wife, and I could not +even get a divorce, without the means for prosecuting the suit. Indeed, it +was your patronage alone, which could effectually help me on to a +self-reliant platform--the platform of "greenback independence." + +I have never made any appeal to the charities of the public, neither can I +do so, from principle. For so long as I retain as good health as it is my +blessed privilege still to enjoy, I feel conscientiously bound to work for +my living, instead of living on the toil of other. My strong and vigorous +health is the only capital that I can call my own. All my other natural, +inalienable rights, are entirely in the hands of my persecutor, and +subject to his control. But while this capital holds good, I am not a +suitable object of charity. I am prosecuting business on business +principles, and I am subject to the same laws of success or failure as +other business persons are. I intend, and hope to make my business +lucrative and profitable, as well as philanthropic and benevolent. + +I maintain that I have no claims upon the charities of the public, while +at the same time I maintain that I have a claim upon the sympathies of our +government. It is our government, the man government of America, who have +placed me in my deplorable condition; for I am just where their own laws +place me, and render all other married women _liable_ to be placed in the +same position. It is the "Common Law" which our government took from +English laws which makes a nonentity of a married woman, whose existence +is wholly subject to another, and whose identity is only recognized +through another. In short, the wife is dead, while her husband lives, as +to any legal existence. And where the Common Law is not modified, or set +aside by the Statute Laws, this worst form of English despotism is copied +as a model law for our American people! + +Yes, I feel that I have a just claim upon the sympathies of our +government. Therefore, in selling my books, I have almost entirely +confined my application to the men, not the women, for the men alone +constitute the American government. And my patrons have responded to my +claims upon their sympathy, in a most generous, and praiseworthy manner. +Yea, so almost universally have I met with the sympathy of those gentlemen +that I have freely conversed with on this subject, that I cherish the firm +conviction, that our whole enlightened government would "en masse," +espouse the principles I defend, and grant all, and even more than I ask +for married woman, could they but see the subject in the light those now +do, whom I have conversed with on this subject. I am fully satisfied that +all that our manly government needs to induce them to change this "Common +Law" in relation to woman is, only to know what this law is, and how +cruelly it subjects the women in its practical application. For man is +made, and constituted by God himself, to be the protector of woman. And +when he is true to this his God given nature, he is her protector. And all +true men who have not perverted or depraved their God-like natures, will, +and do, as instinctively protect their own wives, as they do themselves. +And the wives of such men do not need any other law, than this law of +manliness, to protect them or their interests. + +But taking the human race as they now are, we find some exceptions to this +general rule. And it is for these exceptions that the law is needed, and +not for the great masses. Just as the laws against crimes are made for the +criminals, not for the masses of society, for they do not need them; they +are a law unto themselves, having their own consciences for their Judges +and Jurors. I see no candid, just reason why usurpation, and injustice, +and oppression, should not be legislated against, in this form, as well as +any other. Developed, refined, sensitive woman, is as capable of feeling +wrongs as any other human being. And why should she not be legally +protected from them as well as a man? My confidence in this God-like +principle of manliness is almost unbounded. Therefore I feel that a hint +is all that is needed, to arouse this latent principle of our government +into prompt and efficient action, that of extending legal protection to +subjected married woman. + +There is one word I will here say to my patrons, who have the first +installment of my "Great Drama" in their possession, that you have +doubtless found many things in that book which you cannot now understand, +and are therefore liable to misinterpret and misapprehend my real meaning. +I therefore beg of you not to judge me harshly at present, but please +suspend your judgment until this allegory is published entire, and then +you will be better prepared to pass judgment upon it. Supposing Bunyan's +allegory of his Christian pilgrim had isolated parts of it published, +separate from the whole, and we knew nothing about the rest, should we not +be liable to misinterpret his real meaning? + +Another thing, I ask you to bear in mind, this book was written when my +mind was at its culminating point of spiritual or mental torture, as it +were, and this may serve in your mind as an excuse, for what may seem to +you, as extravagant expressions; while to me, they were only the simple +truth as I experienced it. No one can judge of these feelings correctly, +until they have been in my exact place and position; and since this is an +impossibility, you have a noble opportunity for the exercise of that +charity towards me which you would like to have extended to yourselves in +exchange of situations. + +A person under extreme physical torture, gives utterance to strong +expressions, indicating extreme anguish. Have we, on this account, any +reason or right to call him insane? So a person in extreme spiritual or +mental agony, has a right to express his feelings in language +corresponding to his condition, and we have no right to call him insane +for doing so. + +Upon a calm and candid review of these scenes, from my present standpoint, +I do maintain that the indignant feelings which I still cherish towards +Mr. Packard, and did cherish towards Dr. McFarland, for their treatment of +me, were not only natural, sane feelings, but also were Christian +feelings. For Christ taught us, both by his teachings and example, that we +ought to be angry at sin, and even hate it, with as marked a feeling as we +loved good. "I, the Lord, hate evil." And so should we. But at the same +time we should not sin, by carrying this feeling so far, as to desire to +revenge the wrong-doer, or punish him ourselves, for then we go too far to +exercise the feeling of forgiveness towards him, even if he should repent. +We are not then following Christ's directions, "Be ye angry and sin not." +Now I am not conscious of ever cherishing one revengeful feeling towards +my persecutors; while, at the same time, I have prayed to God, most +fervently, that he would inflict a just punishment upon them for their +sins against me, if they could not be brought to repent without. For my +heart has ever yearned to forgive them, from the first to the last, on +this gospel condition. + +I think our government has been called to exercise the same kind of +indignation towards those conspirators who have done all they can do to +overthrow it; and yet, they stand ready to forgive them, and restore them +to their confidence, on the condition of practical repentance. And I say +further, that it would have been wrong and sinful for our government to +have witheld this expression of their resentment towards them, and let +them crush it out of existence, without trying to defend itself. I say it +did right in defending itself with a resistance corresponding to the +attack. So I, in trying to defend myself against this conspiracy against +my personal liberty, have only acted on the self-defensive principle. +Neither have I ever aggressed on the rights of others in my self-defence. +I have simply defended my own rights. + +In my opinion, it would be no more unreasonable to accuse the inmates of +"Libby Prison" with insanity, because they expressed their resentment of +the wrongs they were enduring in strong language, than it is to accuse me +of insanity for doing the same thing while in my prison. For prison life +is terrible under any circumstances. But to be confined amongst raving +maniacs, for years in succession, is horrible in the extreme. For myself, +I should not hesitate one moment which to choose, between a confinement in +an insane asylum, as I was, or being burned at the stake. Death, under the +most aggravated forms of torture, would now be instantly chosen by me, +rather than life in an insane asylum. And whoever is disposed to call this +"strong language," I say, let them try it for themselves as I did, and +_then_ let them say whether the expression is any stronger than the case +justifies. For until they have tried it, they can never imagine the +horrors of the maniac's ward in Jacksonville Insane Asylum. + +In this connection it may be gratifying to my patrons and readers both, to +tell them how I came to write _such_ a book, instead of an ordinary book +in the common style of language. It was because such a kind of book was +presented to my mind, and no other was. It was under these circumstances +that this kind of inspiration came upon me. + +The day after my interview with the Trustees, the Doctor came to my room +to see what was to be done. His first salutation was, "Well, Mrs. Packard, +the Trustees seemed to think that you hit your mark with your gun." + +"Did they?" said I. "And was it that, which caused such roars and roars of +laughter from the Trustees' room after I left?" + +"Yes. Your document amused them highly. Now, Mrs. Packard, I want you to +give me a copy of that document, for what is worth hearing once is worth +hearing twice." + +"Very well," said I, "I will. And I should like to give the Trustees a +copy, and send my father one, and some others of the Calvinistic clergy. +But it is so tedious for me to copy anything, how would it do to get a few +handbills or tracts printed, and send them where we please?" + +"You may," was his reply, "and I will pay the printer." + +"Shall I add anything to it; that is, what I said to the Trustees, and so +forth?" + +"Yes, tell the whole! Write what you please!" + +With this most unexpected license of unrestricted liberty, I commenced +re-writing and preparing a tract for the press. But before twenty-four +hours had elapsed since this liberty license was granted to my hitherto +prison-bound intellect, the vision of a big book began to dawn upon my +mind, accompanied with the most delightful feelings of satisfaction with +my undertaking. And the next time the Doctor called, I told him that it +seemed to me that I must write a book--a _big book_--and "that is the +worst of it," said I, "I don't want a large book, but I don't see how I +can cut it down, and do it justice. I want to lay two train of cars," said +I, "across this continent--the Christian and the Calvinistic. Then I want +to sort out all the good and evil found in our family institutions, our +Church and State institutions, and our laws, and all other departments of +trades and professions, &c., and then come on with my two train of cars, +and gather up this scattered freight, putting the evil into the +Calvinistic train, and the good into the Christian train, and then +engineer them both on to their respective terminus. These thoughts are all +new and original with me, having never thought of such a thing, until this +sort of mental vision came before my mind. What shall I do, Doctor?" + +"Write it out just as you see it." + +He then furnished me with paper and gave directions to the attendants to +let no one disturb me, and let me do just as I pleased. And I commenced +writing out this mental vision; and in six week's time I penciled the +substance of "The Great Drama," which, when written out for the press, +covers two thousand five hundred pages! Can I not truly say my train of +thought was engineered by the "Lightning Express?" This was the kind of +inspiration under which my book was thought out and written. I had no +books to aid me, but Webster's large Dictionary and the Bible. It came +wholly through my own reason and intellect, quickened into unusual +activity by some spiritual influence, as it seemed to me. The production +is a remarkable one, as well as the inditing of it a very singular +phenomenon. + +The estimation in which the book is held by that class in that Asylum who +are "spirit mediums," and whose only knowledge of its contents they wholly +derive from their clairvoyant powers of reading it, without the aid of +their natural vision, it may amuse a class of my readers to know. It was a +fact the attendants told me of, that my book and its contents, was made a +very common topic of remark in almost every ward in the house; while all +this time, I was closeted alone in my room writing it, and they never saw +me or my book. I would often be greatly amused by the remarks they made +about it, as they were reported to me by witnesses who heard them. Such as +these: "I have read Mrs. Packard's book through, and it is the most +amusing thing I ever read." "Calvinism is dead--dead as a herring." "Mrs. +Packard drives her own team, and she drives it beautifully, too." "The +Packard books are all over the world, Norway is full of them. They +perfectly devour the Packard books in Norway." "Mrs. Packard finds a great +deal of fault with the Laws and the Government, and she has reason to." +"She defends a higher and better law than our government has, and she'll +be in Congress one of these days, helping to make new laws!" + +If this prophetess had said that _woman's influence_ would be felt in +Congress, giving character to the laws, I might have said I believed she +had uttered a true prophecy. + +One very intelligent patient, who was a companion of mine, and had read +portions of my book, came to my room one morning with some verses which +she had penciled the night previous, by moonlight, on the fly-leaf of her +Bible, which she requested me to read, and judge if they were not +appropriate to the character of my book. She said she had been so +impressed with the thought that she must get up and write something, that +she could not compose herself to sleep until she had done so; when she +wrote these verses, but could not tell a word she had written the next +morning, except the first line. I here give her opinions of the book in +her own poetic language, as she presented them to me. + + +LINES SUGGESTED BY THE PERUSAL OF THE GREAT DRAMA. + +Affectionately presented to the "World's Friend"--Mrs. E. P. W. +Packard--by her friend, Mrs. Sophia N. B. Olsen. + + Go, little book, go seek the world; + With banner new, with flag unfurled; + Go, teach mankind aspirings high, + By _human_ immortality! + + Thou canst not blush; thine open page + Will all our higher powers engage; + Thy name on every soul shall be, + Defender of humanity! + + The poor, the sad, the sorrowing heart, + Shall joy to see thy book impart + Solace, to every tear-dimmed eye, + That's wept, till all its tears are dry. + + The palid sufferer on the bed + Of sickness, shall erect the head + And cry, "Life yet hath charms for me + When Packard's books shall scattered be." + + Each prison victim of despair + Shall, in thy book, see written there + Another gospel to thy race, + Of sweet "Requiescat in pace." + + The time-worn wigs, with error gray, + Their dusty locks with pale dismay, + Shall shake in vain in wild despair, + To see their prostrate castles, where? + + No mourner's tear shall weep their doom, + No bard shall linger o'er their tomb, + No poet sing, but howl a strain + Farewell, thou doom'd, live not again. + + Yes, oh, poor Ichabod must lay, + Deep buried in Aceldema! + His lost Consuelo shall rise + No more, to cheer his death-sealed eyes. + + Then speed thy book, oh, sister, speed, + The waiting world thy works must read; + Bless'd be the man who cries, "Go on," + "Hinder it not, it shall be gone." + + Go, little book, thy destiny + Excelsior shall ever be; + A fadeless wreath shall crown thy brow, + O writer of that book! e'en now. + + The wise shall laugh--the foolish cry-- + Both wise and foolish virgins, why? + Because the first will wiser grow, + The foolish ones some wisdom show. + + The midnight cry is coming soon, + The midnight lamp will shine at noon; + I fear for some, who snoring lie, + Then rise, ye dead, to judgment fly. + + The stars shall fade away--the sun + Himself grow dim with age when done + Shining upon our frigid earth; + But Packard's book shall yet have birth, + But never death, on this our earth. + + JACKSONVILLE LUNATIC ASYLUM, Jan. 27, 1863. + +So much for the opinions of those whom this age call crazy, but who are, +in my opinion, no more insane than all that numerous class of our day, who +are called "spirit mediums;" and to imprison them as insane, simply +because they possess these spiritual gifts or powers, is a barbarity, +which coming generations will look upon with the same class of emotions, +as we now look upon the barbarities attending Salem Witchcraft. It is not +only barbarous and cruel to deprive them of their personal liberty, but it +is also a crime against humanity, for which our government must be held +responsible at God's bar of justice. + +I will now give some of the opinions of a few who know something of the +character of my book, whom the world recognize as sane. Dr. McFarland used +to sometimes say, "Who knows but you were sent here to write an allegory +for the present age, as Bunyan was sent to Bedford Jail to write his +allegory?" Dr. Tenny, the assistant physician, once said to me as he was +pocketing a piece of my waste manuscript, "I think your book may yet +become so popular, and acquire so great notoriety, that it will be +considered an honor to have a bit of the paper on which it was written!" + +I replied, "Dr. Tenny, you must not flatter me." + +Said he, "I am not flattering, I am only uttering my honest opinions." + +Said another honorable gentleman who thought he understood the character +of the book, "Mrs. Packard, I believe your book will yet be read in our +Legislative Halls and in Congress, as a specimen of the highest form of +law ever sent to our world, and coming millions will read your history, +and bless you as one who was afflicted for humanity's sake." It must be +acknowledged that this intelligent gentleman had some solid basis on which +he could defend this extravagant opinion, namely: that God does sometimes +employ "the weak things of the world to confound the mighty." + +These expressions must all be received as mere human opinions, and nothing +more. The book must stand just where its own intrinsic merits place it. If +it is ever published, it, like all other mere human productions, will find +its own proper level, and no opinions can change its real intrinsic +character. The great question with me is, how can I soonest earn the +$2,500.00 necessary to print it with? Should I ever be so fortunate as to +gain that amount by the sale of this pamphlet, I should feel that my great +life-work was done, so that I might feel at full liberty to rest from my +labors. But until then, I cheerfully labor and toil to accomplish it. + + +NOTE OF THANKS TO THE PRESS. + +In this connection, I deem it right and proper that I should acknowledge +the aid I have received from the public Press--those newspapers whose +manliness has prompted them to espouse the cause of woman, by using their +columns to help me on in my arduous enterprise. My object can only be +achieved, by enlightening the public mind into the need and necessities of +the case. The people do not make laws until they see the need of them. +Now, when one case is presented showing the need of a law to meet it, and +this is found to be a representative case, that is, a case fairly +representing an important class, then, and only till then, is the public +mind prepared to act efficiently in reference to it. And as the Press is +the People's great engine of power in getting up an agitation on any +subject of public interest, it is always a great and desirable object to +secure its patronage in helping it forward. This help it has been my good +fortune to secure, both in Illinois and Massachusetts. + +And my most grateful acknowledgments are especially due the Journal of +Commerce of Chicago, also the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Times, the +Post, the New Covenant, and the North Western Christian Advocate. All +these Chicago Journals aided me more or less in getting up an agitation in +Illinois, besides a multitude of other papers throughout that State too +numerous to mention. + +Some of the papers in Massachusetts, to whom my acknowledgments are due, +are the Boston Journal, the Transcript, the Traveller, the Daily +Advertiser, the Courier, the Post, the Recorder, the Commonwealth, the +Investigator, the Nation, the Universalist, the Christian Register, the +Congregationalist, the Banner of Light, and the Liberator. All these +Boston Journals have aided me, more or less, in getting up an excitement +in Massachusetts, and bringing the subject before the Massachusett's +Legislature. Many other papers throughout the State have noticed my cause +with grateful interest. + +As the public came to apprehend the merits of my case, and look upon it as +a mirror, wherein the laws in relation to married women are reflected, +they will doubtless join with me in thanks to these Journals who have been +used as means of bringing this light before them. + + + + +TESTIMONIALS. + + +Although my cause, being based in eternal truth, does not depend upon +certificates and testimonials to sustain it, and stands therefore in no +need of them; yet, as they are sometimes called for, as a confirmation of +my statements, I have asked for just such testimonials as the following +gentlemen felt self-moved to give me. I needed no testimonials while +prosecuting my business in Illinois, for the facts of the case were so +well known there, by the papers reporting my trial so generally. I needed +no other passport to the confidence of the public. + +But when I came to Boston to commence my business in Massachusetts, being +an entire stranger there, I found the need of some credentials or +testimonials in confirmation of my strange and novel statements. And it +was right and proper, under such circumstances, that I should have them. I +therefore wrote to Judge Boardman and Hon. S. S. Jones, my personal +friends, in Illinois, and told them the difficulty I found in getting my +story believed, and asked them to send me anything in the form of a +certificate, that they in their judgment felt disposed to send me, that +might help me in surmounting this obstacle. Very promptly did these +gentlemen respond to my request, and sent me the following testimonials, +which were soon printed in several of the Boston papers, with such +editorials accompanying them, as gave them additional weight and influence +in securing to me the confidence of the public. + +Judge Boardman is an old and distinguished Judge in Illinois, receiving, +as he justly merits, the highest esteem and confidence of his +cotemporaries, as a distinguished scholar, an eminent Judge, and a +practical Christian. + +Mr. Jones is a middle aged man, of the same stamp as the Judge, receiving +proof of the esteem in which he is held by his cotemporaries, in being +sent to Congress by vote of Illinois' citizens, and by having been for +successive years a member of the Legislature of that State. He was in that +position when he sent me his certificate. + + +JUDGE BOARDMAN'S LETTER. + +_To all persons who would desire to give sympathy and encouragement to a +most worthy but persecuted woman!_ + +The undersigned, formerly from the State of Vermont, now an old resident +of the State of Illinois, would most respectfully and fraternally certify +and represent: That he has been formerly and for many years, associated +with the legal profession in Illinois, and is well known in the +north-eastern part of said State. That in the duties of his profession and +in the offices he has filled, he has frequently investigated, judicially, +and otherwise, cases of insanity. That he has given considerable attention +to medical jurisprudence, and studied some of the best authors on the +subject of insanity; has paid great attention to the principles and +philosophy of mind, and therefore would say, with all due modesty, that he +verily believes himself qualified to give an opinion entitled to +respectful consideration, on the question of the sanity or insanity of any +person with whom he may be acquainted. That he is acquainted with Mrs. E. +P. W. Packard, and verily believes her not only sane, but that she is a +person of very superior endowments of mind and understanding, naturally +possessing an exceedingly well balanced organization, which, no doubt, +prevented her from becoming insane, under the persecution, incarceration, +and treatment she has received. That Mrs. Packard has been the victim of +_religious bigotry_, purely so, without a single circumstance to alleviate +the darkness of the transaction! A case worthy of the palmiest days of the +inquisition!! + +The question may be asked, how this could happen, especially in Northern +Illinois? To which I answer that the common law prevails here, the same as +in other States, where this law has not been modified or set aside by the +statute laws, which gives the legal custody of the wife's person, into the +hands of the husband, and therefore, a wife can only be released from +oppression, or even from imprisonment by her husband, by the legal +complaint of herself, or some one in her behalf, before the proper +judicial authorities, and a hearing and decision in the case; as was +finally had in Mrs. Packard's case, she having been in the first place, +taken by force, by her husband, and sent to the Insane Hospital, without +any opportunity to make complaint, or without any hearing or +investigation. + +But how could the Superintendent of the Insane Hospital be a party to so +great a wrong? Very easily answered, without necessarily impeaching his +honesty, when we consider that her alleged insanity was on religious +subjects; her husband a minister of good standing in his denomination, and +the Superintendent sympathizing with him, in all probability, in religious +doctrine and belief, supposed, of course, that she was insane. She was +legally sent to him, by the authority of her husband, as insane; and Mrs. +Packard had taught doctrines similar to the Unitarians and Universalists +and many radical preachers; and which directly opposed the doctrine her +husband taught, and the doctrine of the Church to which he and Mrs. +Packard belonged; the argument was, that of course the woman must be +crazy!! And as she persisted in her liberal sentiments, the Superintendent +persisted in considering that she was insane! However, whether moral blame +should attach to the Superintendent and Trustees of the Insane Hospital, +or not, in this transaction, other than prejudice, and learned ignorance; +it may now be seen, from recent public inquiries and suggestions, that it +is quite certain, that the laws, perhaps in all the States in relation to +the insane, and their confinement and treatment, have been much abused, by +the artful and cunning, who have incarcerated their relatives for the +purpose of getting hold of their property; or for difference of opinion as +to our state and condition in the future state of existence, or religious +belief. + +The undersigned would further state: That the published account of Mrs. +Packard's trial on the question of her sanity, is no doubt perfectly +reliable and correct. That the Judge before whom she was tried, is a man +of learning, and ability, and high standing in the judicial circuit, in +which he presides. That Mrs. Packard is a person of strict integrity and +truthfulness, whose character is above reproach. That a history of her +case after the trial, was published in the daily papers in Chicago, and in +the newspapers generally, in the State; arousing at the time, a public +feeling of indignation against the author of her persecution, and sympathy +for her; that nothing has transpired since, to overthrow or set aside the +verdict of popular opinion; that it is highly probable that the +proceedings in this case, so far as the officers of the State Hospital for +the insane are concerned, will undergo a rigid investigation by the +Legislature of the State. + +The undersigned understands that Mrs. Packard does not ask pecuniary +charity, but that sympathy and paternal assistance which may aid her to +obtain and make her own living, she having been left by her husband, +without any means, or property whatever. + +All of which is most fraternally and confidently submitted to your kind +consideration. + +WILLIAM A. BOARDMAN. + +WAUKEGAN, ILL., DEC. 3, 1864. + + +HON. S. S. JONES' LETTER. + +"_To a kind and sympathizing public_:-- + +This is to certify that I am personally acquainted with Mrs. E. P. W. +Packard, late an inmate of the Insane Asylum of the State of Illinois. +That Mrs. Packard was a victim of a foul and cruel conspiracy I have not a +single doubt, and that she is and ever has been as sane as any other +person, I verily believe. But I do not feel called upon to assign reasons +for my opinion, in the premises, as her case was fully investigated before +an eminent Judge of our State, and after a full and careful examination, +she was pronounced sane, and restored to liberty. + +Still I repeat, but for the cruel conspiracy against her, she could not +have been incarcerated, as a lunatic, in an asylum. Whoever reads her full +and fair report of her case, will be convinced of the terrible conspiracy +that was practiced towards a truly thoughtful and accomplished lady. A +conspiracy worthy of a demoniac spirit of ages long since passed, and such +as we should be loth to believe could be practiced in this enlightened +age, did not the records of our court verify its truth. + +To a kind and sympathizing public I commend her. The deep and cruel +anguish she has had to suffer, at the hands of those who should have been +her protectors, will, I doubt not, endear her to you, and you will extend +to her your kindest sympathy and protection. + +Trusting through her much suffering the public will become more +enlightened, and that our noble and benevolent institutions--the asylums +for the insane--will never become perverted into institutions of cruelty +and oppression, and that Mrs. Packard may be the last subject of such a +conspiracy as is revealed in her books, that will ever transpire in this +our State of Illinois, or elsewhere. + +Very respectfully, S. S. JONES." + +ST. CHARLES, ILL., DEC. 2, 1864. + + +EDITORIAL REMARKS. + +"Assuming, as in view of all the facts it is our duty to do, the +correctness of the statements made by Mrs. Packard, two matters of vital +importance demand consideration: + +1. What have 'the rulers in the church' done about the persecution? They +have not publicly denied the statements; virtually (on the principle that +under such extraordinary circumstances silence gives consent,) they +concede their correctness. Is the wrong covered up? the guilty party +allowed to go unchallenged lest "the cause" suffer by exposure? If they +will explain the matter in a way to exculpate the accused, these columns +shall be prompt to do the injured full and impartial justice. We are +anxious to know what they have to say in the premises. If Mrs. Packard +_is_ insane because she rejects Calvinism, then _we_ are insane, liable to +arrest, and to be placed in an insane asylum! We have a _personal_ +interest in this matter. + +2. Read carefully Judge Boardman's statement as to the bearing of "common +law" on Mrs. Packard's case. If a bad man, hating his wife and wishing to +get rid of her, is base enough to fabricate a charge of insanity, and can +find two physicians "in regular standing" foolish or wicked enough to give +the legal certificate, the wife is helpless! The "common law" places her +wholly at the mercy of her brutal lord. Certainly the statute should +interfere. Humanity, not to say Christianity, demands, that special +enactments shall make impossible, such atrocities as are alleged in the +case of Mrs. Packard--atrocities which, according to Judge Boardman, _can_ +be enacted in the name of "common law." We trust the case now presented +will have at least the effect, to incite Legislative bodies to such +enactments as will protect women from the possibility of outrages, which, +we are led to fear, ecclesiastical bodies had rather cover up, than expose +and rebuke to the prejudice of sectarian ends--the 'sacred cause.'" + + +As I have said, there was a successful effort made in the Massachusett's +Legislature to change the laws in reference to the mode of commitment +into Insane Asylums that winter, 1865, and as Hon. S. E. Sewall was my +"friend and fellow laborer," as he styles himself, in that movement, I +made application to him this next winter, for such a recommend as I might +use to aid me in bringing this subject before the Illinois' Legislature +this winter, for the purpose of getting a change in their laws also. But +finding that the Illinois' Legislature do not meet this year, I have had +no occasion to use it, as I intended. Having it thus on hand, I will add +this to the foregoing. + + HON. S. E. SEWALL'S TESTIMONIAL. + + "I have been acquainted with Mrs. E. P. W. Packard for about a year, + I believe. She is a person of great religious feeling, high moral + principle, and warm philanthropy. She is a logical thinker, a + persuasive speaker, and such an agitator, that she sometimes succeeds + where a man would fail. I think she will be very useful in the cause + to which she has devoted herself, I mean procuring new laws to + protect married women. + + I give Mrs. Packard these lines of recommendation, because she has + asked for them. I do not think them at all necessary, for she can + recommend herself, far better than I can. + + S. E. SEWALL." + + BOSTON, NOV. 27, 1865. + +After these testimonials, and the editorial remarks accompanying them had +appeared in these Boston journals, Mr. Packard sent various articles to +these journals in reply, designing to counteract their legitimate +influence in defence of my course. Some of these articles were published, +and many were refused, by the editors. The "Universalist," and the "Daily +Advertiser," published a part of his voluminous defence, which was made up +almost entirely of certificates and credentials, but no denial of the +truth of the general statement. The chief point in his defence which he +seemed the most anxious to establish was, that my trial was not correctly +reported--and not a fair trial--a mere mob triumph, instead of a triumph +of justice. One of these papers, containing his impeachments of the court, +was sent to Kankakee City, Illinois, where the court was held, and +elicited many prompt and indignant replies. An article soon appeared in +the Kankakee paper, on this subject, stating his defamations against the +judge, lawyers, and jury, and then added, "Mr. Packard is both writing his +wife into notoriety, and himself into infamy," by his publishing such +statements, as he would not dare to publish in Illinois; and it was +astonishing to them, how such a paper as the Boston "Daily Advertiser," +should allow such scandals respecting the proceedings of Illinois' courts +to appear in its columns. I will here give entire only one of the many +articles sent to the Boston papers in reply. This article was headed, + + THE REPLY OF THE REPORTER OF MRS. PACKARD'S TRIAL, TO REV. THEOPHILUS + PACKARD'S CHARGE OF MISREPRESENTATION. + + "_To the Editors of the Boston Daily Advertiser_:-- + + In the supplement of the Boston Daily Advertiser of May 3d, appears a + collection of certificates, introduced by Rev. Theophilus Packard, + which requires a notice from me. These certificates are introduced + for one or two purposes. First, either to prove that the report of + the trial of Mrs. Elizabeth Packard, held before the Hon. C. R. + Starr, Judge of the Second Judicial Circuit of the State of Illinois, + on the question of her insanity, as published in the "Great Drama," + is false; or, secondly, to prove to the readers of the Advertiser + that Mr. Packard is not so bad a man as those who read the trial + would be likely to suppose him to be. + + In determining the truth of the statements of any number of persons + relative to any given subject, it is always profitable to inquire who + the persons that make the statements are, what is their relation to + the subject-matter, and what their means of information. + + I entered upon the defence of Mrs. Packard without any expectation of + fee or reward, except such as arises from a consciousness of having + discharged my duty toward a helpless and penniless woman, who was + either indeed insane, or was most foully dealt with by him who had + sworn to love, cherish and protect her. I was searching for the + truth. I did then no more and no less than I should do for any person + who claimed that their sacred rights were daily violated, and life + made a burden most intolerable to be borne, by repeated wrongs. + + The report was made from written notes of the testimony taken during + the trial. And this is the first time I ever heard the correctness of + the report called in question. It would be very unlikely that I + should make an incorrect report of an important case, which I knew + would be read by my friends and business acquaintances, and which (if + incorrect) would work a personal injury. Policy and selfish motives + would prevent me from making an incorrect report, if I was guided by + nothing higher. + + The first certificate presented is signed by Deacon A. H. Dole, and + Sibyl T. Dole, who are the sister and brother-in-law of Mr. Packard, + and, as the trial shows, his _co-conspirators_; J. B. Smith, another + of his deacons, who was a willing tool in the transaction; and Miss + Sarah Rumsey, another member of his Church, who went to live with Mr. + Packard when Mrs. Packard was first kidnapped. Let Jeff. Davis be put + on trial, and then take the certificates of Mrs. Surratt, Payne, + Azteroth, Arnold, Dr. Mudd and George N. Saunders, and I am led to + believe they would make out Jeff. to be a "Christian President," whom + the barbarous North were trying to murder. Their further certificate + "that the disorderly demonstrations by the furious populace, filling + the Court House while we were present at the said trial, were well + calculated to prevent a fair trial," is simply bosh, but is on a par + with the whole certificate. It is a reflection upon the purity of our + judicial system, and upon our Circuit Court, that they would not make + at home. And I can only account for its being made on the supposition + that it would not be read in Illinois. "The furious populace" + consisted of about two hundred ladies of our city who visited the + trial until it was completed, because they felt a sympathy for one of + their own sex, whose treatment had become notorious in our city. The + conspirators allege that Mrs. Packard is insane. They each swore to + this on the trial, but a jury of twelve men after hearing the whole + case, upon their oaths said in effect they did not believe these + witnesses, for by their verdict they found her SANE. + + The second certificate is from Samuel Packard. It is a sufficient + answer to this to say that he is the son of Mr. Packard, and entirely + under his father's control, and that it is apparent upon the document + that the boy never wrote a word of it. + + Then follows a certificate from Lizzie, who takes umbrage because I + called her in the report the "little daughter" of Mrs. Packard, and + is made to say pertly she was then _fourteen_. She then acted like a + good daughter, who loved her mother dearly, and her size and age + never entered into the consideration of the audience of ladies whose + hearts were touched and feelings stirred, till the fountain of their + tears was broken, by the kind and natural emotions which were then + exhibited by the mother and daughter. When Mrs. Packard was put in + the hospital Lizzie was about ten years old, and a thinking public + will determine what judgment she could then form about her mother's + "religious notions" and her "insanity," "to the great sorrow of all + our family." + + One word further upon the certificate of Thomas P. Bonfield, and I + will close. He says that the trial commenced very soon after the writ + of habeas corpus was served on Mr. Packard, and therefore he could + not obtain his evidence, and was prevented from obtaining the + attendance of Dr. McFarland, Superintendent of the Insane Hospital of + Illinois. Dr. McFarland was the only witness whose attendance Mr. + Packard's counsel expressed a desire for that was not present. They + had his certificate that Mrs. Packard was insane, which they used as + evidence, and which went to the jury. The defence had no opportunity + for cross-examination, while Mr. Packard thus got the benefit of + McFarland's evidence that she was insane, with no possibility of a + contradiction. What more could he have had if the witness had been + present? + + The certificate further states that "a large portion of the community + were more intent on giving Presbyterianism a blow than on + investigating, or leaving the law to investigate, the question of + Mrs. Packard's insanity." Well, what did the "feelings" of the + community have to do with the court and jury? You selected the jury. + You said they were good men. If not good, you could have rejected + them. The presiding judge is a member of the Congregational Church, + which is nearly allied to the Presbyterian. Five of the twelve + jurymen were regular attendants of the Presbyterian Church. No + complaint was then made that you could not have a fair trial. If + Packard believed he could not, the statute of Illinois provides for a + change of venue, which petition for a change of venue you had Mr. + Packard sign, but which you concluded not to present, because you + thought it would _not_ be granted. If you thought it would not be + granted, it was because you did not have a case that the venue could + be changed, because when the proper affidavit is made for a change of + venue, the Court has no power to refuse the application. The trial + was conducted as all trials are conducted in Boston or in Illinois, + and the verdict of the jury pronounced Mrs. Packard sane. + + The published report of the trial is made. It no doubt presents Mr. + Packard and his confederates in a very unfavorable light, but it is + just as they presented themselves. If they do not like the picture + they should not have presented the original. + + STEPHEN R. MOORE. + + KANKAKEE, ILL., MAY 16, 1865. + + + + +CONCLUSION. + + +In view of the above facts and principles on which this argument of +"Self-defence from the charge of Insanity" is based, I feel sure that the +array of sophisms which Mr. Packard may attempt to marshall against it, +will only be like arguing the sun out of the heavens at noon-day. He is +the only one who has ever dared to bring personal evidence of insanity +against me, so far as my knowledge extends. Others believe me to be +insane, but it is on the ground of his _testimony_, not from personal +proof, by my own words and actions, independent of the coloring _he_ has +put upon them. + +For example, I find he has reported as proof of my insanity, "that I have +punished the children for obeying him." Had this been the case, in the +sense in which he meant it to be understood, it would look like an insane, +or at least very improper, act. But it is not true that I ever punished a +child for obeying their father; but on the contrary, have exacted implicit +obedience to their father's wishes and commands, and have even enforced +this, my own command, by punishments, to _compel_ them to respect their +father's authority, by obeying his commands. + +But this I have also done. I have maintained the theory, by logic and +practice both, that a mother had a right to enforce her own reasonable +commands--that her authority to do so was delegated to her by God himself, +and not by her husband--and that this right to command being delegated to +her by God himself, as the God given right identified with her maternity, +the husband had no right to interfere or usurp this God bestowed right +from the wife. But on the contrary, it was the husband's duty, as the +wife's God appointed protector, to see that this right was defended to the +wife by his authority over the children, requiring of them obedience to +her commands, as one whose authority they must respect. Yes, I have +trained my children to respect my authority as a God delegated authority, +equal in power, _in my sphere_, to their father's God delegated authority. +And farther, I have taught them, that I had no right to go out of _my +sphere_ and interfere with their father's authority in his sphere; neither +had their father a right to trespass upon my sphere, and counter order my +commands. I maintain, that the one who commands is the only rightful one +to countermand. Therefore, the father has no right to countermand the +mother's orders, except _through her_; neither has the mother a right to +countermand the father's order, except through _him_. Here is the +principle of "equal rights," which our government is bound to respect. And +it is because they do not respect it, that my husband has usurped all my +maternal rights, thus proving himself traitor, not only to his own +manliness, but traitor to the principles of God's government. + +But as this is a volume of facts, rather than theories, I will add one +fact in vindication of my assertion, that I uniformly taught my children +to respect their father's authority. When I was incarcerated in my prison, +my oldest son, Theophilus, was in the post-office in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, +as clerk, and had not seen me for two years. His regard for me was +excessive. He had been uniformly filial, and very kind to me, and +therefore when he learned that his loving mother was a prisoner in a +lunatic asylum, he felt an unconquerable desire to see me, and judge for +himself, whether I was really insane, or whether I was the victim of his +father's despotism. His father, aware of this feeling, and fearing he +might ascertain the truth respecting me, by some means, sent him a letter, +commanding him not to write to his mother now in the asylum, and by no +means visit her there, adding, if he did so, he should disinherit him. + +Theophilus was now eighteen years of age, and, as yet, had never known +what it was to disobey either his father's or mother's express commands. +But now his love for his mother led him to question the justice of this +seemingly arbitrary command, and he, fearful of trusting to his own +judgment in this matter, sought advice from those who had once been Mr. +Packard's church members and deacons in Mt. Pleasant, and from all he got +the same opinion strongly defended, that he had a right to disobey _such_ +a command. He therefore ventured to visit his mother in her lonely prison +home in defiance of his father's edict. I was called from my ward to meet +my darling first-born son in the reception room, when I had been in my +prison about two months. After embracing me and kissing me with all the +fondness of a most loving child, and while shedding our mutual tears of +ecstasy at being allowed once more to meet on earth, he remarked, "Mother, +I don't know as I have done right in coming to see you as I have, for +father has forbid my coming, and you have always taught me never to +disobey my father." + +"Disobeyed your father!" said I. "Yes, I have always taught you it was a +sin to disobey him, and I do fear you have done wrong, if you have come to +see me in defiance of your father's command. You know we can never claim +God's blessing in doing wrong, and fear our interview will not be a +blessing to either of us, if it has been secured at the price of +disobedience to your father's command." + +Here his tears began to flow anew, while he exclaimed, "I was afraid it +would prove so! I was afraid you would not approve of my coming! But, +mother, I could not bear to feel that you had become insane, and I could +not believe it, and would not, until I had seen you myself; and now I see +it is just as I expected, you are not insane, but are the same kind mother +as ever. But I am sorry if I have done wrong by coming." + +I wept. He wept. I could not bear to blame my darling boy. And must I? was +the great question to be settled. "My son," said I, "let us ask God to +settle this question for us," and down we both kneeled by the sofa, and +with my arm around my darling boy, I asked God if I should blame him for +coming to see me in defiance of his father's order. While asking for +heavenly wisdom to guide us in the right way, the thought came to me, "go +and ask Dr. McFarland." + +I accordingly went to the Doctor's parlor, where I found him alone, +reading his paper. I said to him, "Doctor, I have a question of conscience +to settle, and I have sought your help in settling it, namely, has my son +done wrong to visit me, when his father has forbid his coming, and has +threatened to disinherit him if he did? He has the letter with him showing +this to be the case." + +After thinking a moment, the Doctor simply replied, "Your son had a +_right_ to visit his mother!" + +O, the joy I felt at this announcement! It seemed as if a mountain had +been lifted from me, so relieved was I of my burden. With a light heart I +sought my sobbing boy, and encircling my arms about his neck, exclaimed, +"Cheer up! my dear child, you had a _right_ to visit your mother! so says +the Doctor." + +Why was this struggle with our consciences? Was it not that we had trained +them to respect paternal authority? Can testimony, however abundant, +change this truth into a falsehood? + +That principle of self-defence, which depends wholly on certificates and +testimonials, instead of the principle of right, truth and justice, is not +able to survive the shock which the revelation of truth brings against it. +A lie, however strongly fortified by testimonials and certificates, can +never be transformed into a truth. Neither can the truth, however single, +and isolated, and alone, be its condition, can never be transformed into a +lie, nor crushed out of existence. No. The truth will stand alone, and +unsupported. Its own weight, simply, gives it firmness to resist all +shocks brought against it, to produce its overthrow. Like the house built +upon a rock, it needs no props, no certificates, to sustain it. Storms of +the bitterest persecution may beat piteously upon it, but they cannot +overthrow it, for its foundation is the rock of eternal truth. But lies, +are like the house built upon the sand. While it does stand, it needs +props or certificates on all sides, to sustain it. And it cannot resist +the storm even of a ventilating breeze upon it, for it must and will fall, +with all its accumulated props, before one searching investigation; and +the more props it has so much the more devastation is caused by its +overthrow. + +And here I wish to add, that it was not because Mr. Packard was a +minister, that bigotry had power thus to triumph over his manliness, but +because he was a man, liable to be led astray from the paths of rectitude +as other human beings are. The ministerial office does not insure men +against the commission of sins of the darkest hue, for the ministry is +composed of men, who are subject to like frailties and passions as other +men are; and ministers, like all other men, must stand just where their +own actions will place them, not where their position ought always to find +them. They ought to be men whose characters should be unimpeached. But +they are not all so. Neither are all other men what they should be in +their position. It is as much the duty of the minister to be true to +himself--true to the instincts of his God-like nature, as it is other men. +And any deviation from the path of rectitude which would not be tolerated +in any other man, ought not to be tolerated in a minister. In short, +ministers must stand on a common level with the rest of the human race in +judgment. That is, they, like others, must stand just where their own +conduct and actions place them. If their conduct entitles them to respect, +we should respect them. But if their conduct makes them unworthy of our +respect and confidence, it is a sin to bestow it upon them; for this very +respect which we give them under such circumstances, only countenances +their sins, and encourages them in iniquity, and thus puts their own souls +in jeopardy, as well as reflects guilt on those who thus helped them work +out their own destruction, when they ought to have helped them work out +their own repentance for evil doing. + + + + +AN APPEAL TO THE GOVERNMENT. + + +As my case now stands delineated by the foregoing narrative, all the +States on this continent can see just where the common law places all +married women. And no one can help saying, that any law that can be used +in support of such a persecution, is a disgrace to any +government--Christian or heathen. It is not only a disgrace, a blot on +such a government, but it is a crime, against God and humanity, to let +confiding, trusting woman, be so unprotected in law, from such outrageous +abuses. + +Mr. Packard has never impeached my _conduct_ in a single instance, that I +know of; neither has he ever charged me guilty of one insane _act_--except +that of teaching my children doctrines which I believed, and he did not! +This is all he ever alleges against me. He himself confirms the testimony +of all my friends, that I always did discharge my household duties in a +very orderly, systematic, kind, and faithful manner. In short, they +maintain that I, during all my married life, have been a very +self-sacrificing wife and mother, as well as an active and exemplary +co-worker with him in his ministerial duties. + +Now I have mentioned these facts, not for self-glorification, but for this +reason, that it may be seen that _good conduct_, even the best and most +praiseworthy, does not protect a married woman from the most flagrant +wrongs, and wrongs, too, for which she has no redress in the present laws. +If a man had suffered a tithe of the wrongs which I have suffered, the +laws stand ready to give him redress, and thus shield him from a +repetition of them. But not so with me. I must suffer not only this tithe, +with no chance of redress, but ten times this amount, and no redress then. +I even now stand exposed to a life-long imprisonment, so long as my +husband lives, while I not only have never committed any crime, but on the +contrary, have ever lived a life of self-sacrificing benevolence, ever +toiling for the best interests of humanity. + +Think again. After this life of faithful service for others, I am thrown +adrift, at fifty years of age, upon the cold world, with no place on earth +I can call home, and not a penny to supply my wants with, except what my +own exertion secures to me. Why is this? Because he who should have been +my protector, has been my robber, and has stolen all my life-long +earnings. And yet the law does not call this stealing, because the husband +is legally authorized to steal from the wife without leave or license +from her! Now, I say it is a poor rule that don't work both ways. Why +can't the wife steal all the husband has? I am sure she can't support +herself as well as he can, and the right of justice seems to be on our +side, in our view. + +But this is not what we want; we don't wish to rob our husbands, we only +want they should be stopped from robbing us. We just ask for the +reasonable right to use our own property as if it were our own, that is, +just as we please, just according to the dictates of our own judgment. And +when we insist upon this right, we don't want our husbands to have power +to imprison us for so doing, as my husband did me. It was in this manner +that I insisted upon my right to my property, with this fatal issue +resulting from it. + +While the discussions in our Bible-class were at the culminating point of +interest, Mr. Packard came to my room one day and made me the following +proposition: "Wife," said he, "how would you like to go to your brother's +in Batavia, and make a visit?" + +Said I, "I should like it very well, since my influenza has in some degree +prostrated my strength, so that I need a season of rest; and besides, I +should like an excuse for retiring from this Bible-class excitement, since +the burden of these discussions lies so heavily upon me, and if it is not +running from my post of duty, I should like to throw off this mental +burden also, and rest for a season at least." + +He replied, "You have not only a perfect right to go, but I think it is +your duty to go and get recruited." + +"Very well," said I, "then I will go, and go, too, with the greatest +pleasure. But how long do you think I had better make my visit?" + +"Three months." + +"Three months!" said I, "Can you get along without me three months? and +what will the children do for their summer clothes without me to make +them?" + +"I will see to that matter; you must stay three months, or not go at all." + +"Well, I am sure I can stand it to rest that length of time, if you can +stand it without my services. So I will go. But I must take my baby and +daughter with me, as they have not fully recovered from their influenzas, +and I should not dare to trust them away from me." + +"Yes, you may take them." + +"I will then prepare myself and them to go just as soon as you see fit to +send us. Another thing, husband," said I, "I shall want ten dollars of my +patrimony money to take with me for spending money." (This patrimony was +a present of $600.00 my father had recently sent me for my especial +benefit, and I had put it into Mr. Packard's hands for safe keeping, +taking his note on interest as my only security, except with this note he +gave me a written agreement, that I should have not only the interest, but +any part of the principal, by simply asking him for it whenever I wanted +it. When he absconded he took not only all this my money patrimony with +him, but also stole all my notes and private papers likewise.) + +"This you can't have," said he. + +"Why not? I shall need as much as this, to be absent three months with two +sick children. I may need to call a Doctor to them, and, besides, my +brother is poor, and I am rich comparatively, and I might need some extra +food, such as a beef-steak, or something of the kind, and I should not +like to ask him for it. And besides, I have your written promise that I +may have my own money whenever I want it, and I do want ten dollars of it +now; and I think it is no unreasonable amount to take with me." + +"I don't think it is best to let you have it. I shan't trust you with +money." + +"Shan't trust me with money! Why not? Have I ever abused this trust? Do +not I always give you an exact account of every cent I spend? And I will +this time do so; and besides, if you cannot trust it with me, I will put +it into brother's hands as soon as I get there, and not spend a cent but +by his permission." + +"No, I shall not consent to that." + +"One thing more I will suggest. You know Batavia people owe you twelve +dollars for preaching one Sabbath, and you can't get your pay. Now, +supposing brother 'dun' and get it, may I not use this money if I should +chance to need it in an emergency; and if I should not need any, I won't +use a cent of it? Or, I will write home to you and ask permission of _you_ +before spending a dollar of it." + +"No. You shall neither have any money, nor have the control of any, for I +can't trust you with any." + +"Well, husband, if I can't be trusted with ten dollars of my own money +under these circumstances, and with all these provisions attached to it, I +should not think I was capable of being trusted with two sick children +three months away from home wholly dependent on a poor brother's +charities. Indeed, I had rather stay at home and not go at all, rather +than go under such circumstances." + +"You shall not go at all;" replied he, in a most excited, angry, tone of +voice. "You shall go into an Insane Asylum!" + +"Why, husband!" said I; "I did not suspect _such_ an alternative. I had +rather go to him penniless, and clotheless even, than go into an Asylum!" + +"You have lost your last chance. You _shall_ go into an Asylum!" + +And so it proved. It was my last chance. In a few days I was kidnapped and +locked up in my Asylum prison for life, so far as _he_ was concerned. + +Now, I ask any developed man, who holds property which is rightfully his +own, and no one's else, how he would like to exchange places with me, and +be treated just as I was treated. Now, I say it is only fair that the law +makers should be subject to their own laws. That is, they should not make +laws for others, that they would not be willing to submit to themselves in +exchange of circumstances. Just put the case to yourselves, and ask how +would you like to be imprisoned without any sort of trial, or any chance +at self-defence, and then be robbed of all your life earnings, by a law +which women made for your good (?) as your God appointed protectors! O, my +government--the men of these United States--do bear with me long enough to +just make our case your own for one moment, and then let me kindly ask you +this question. + +Won't you please stop this robbery of our inalienable right to our own +property, by some law, dictated by some of your noble, manly hearts? Do +let us have a _right_ to our own home--a _right_ to our own earnings--a +_right_ to our own patrimony. A right, I mean, as _partners_ in the family +firm. We do not ask for a separate interest. We want an identification of +interests, and then be allowed a legal right to this common fund as the +_junior partners_ of this company interest. We most cheerfully allow you +the rights of a senior partner; but we do not want you to be senior, +junior, and all, leaving us no rights at all, in a common interest. + +Again, we true, natural women, want our own children too--we can't live +without them. We had rather die than have them torn from us as your laws +allow them to be. Only consider for one moment, what your laws are, in +relation to our own flesh and blood. The husband has all the children of +the married woman secured to himself, to do with them just as he pleases, +regardless of her protests, or wishes, or entreaties to the contrary; +while the children of the single women are all given to her as her right +by nature! Here the maternal nature of the single woman is respected and +protected, as it should be; while the nature of the married woman is +ignored and set at naught, and the holiest instinct of woman is trampled +in the dust of an utter despotism. In other words, the legitimate +offspring of the wife are not protected to her, but given to the husband, +while the illegitimate offspring of the unmarried women are protected to +her. So that the only way to be sure of having our maternity respected, +and our offspring legally protected to us, is to have our children in the +single instead of the married state! + +With shame I ask the question, does not our government here offer a +premium on infidelity? And yet this is a Christian government! Why can't +the inalienable rights of the lawful wife be _as much_ respected as those +of the open prostitute? I say, why? Is it because a woman has no +individuality, after she is joined to a man? Is her conscience, and her +reason, and her thoughts, all lost in him? So my case demonstrates the +_law_ to be, when practically tested. + +And does not this legalized despotism put our souls in jeopardy, as well +as our bodies, and our children? It verily does. It was to secure the +interests of my immortal soul, that I have suffered all I have in testing +these despotic laws. I would have succumbed long ago, and said I believed +what I did not believe, had it not been that I cared more for the safety +of my own soul, that I did the temporal welfare of my own dear offspring. + +I could not be true to God, and also true to the mandates of a will in +opposition to God. And whose will was to be my guide, my husband's will, +or God's will? I deliberately chose to obey God rather than man, and in +that choice I made shipwreck of all my earthly good things. + +And one good thing I sorely disliked to lose, was my fair, untarnished +reputation and influence. This has been submerged under the insane +elements of this cruel persecution. But my character is not lost, thank +God! nor is it tarnished by this persecution. For my character stands +above the reach of slander to harm. Nothing can harm this treasure but my +own actions, and these are all guided and controlled by Him, for whose +cause I have suffered so much. Yes, to God's grace alone, I can say it, +that from the first to the last of all my persecutions, I have had the +comforting consciousness of duty performed, and an humble confidence in +the approval of Heaven. Strong only in the justice of my cause, and in +faith in God, I have stood _alone_, and defied the powers of darkness to +cast me down to any destruction, which extended beyond this life. And +this desperate treason against manliness which has sought to overwhelm me, +may yet be the occasion of the speedier triumph of my spiritual freedom, +and that also of my sisters in like bondage with myself. + +The laws of our government most significantly requires us, "to work out +our own salvation with much fear and trembling," lest the iron will which +would hold us in subjection, should take from us all our earthly +enjoyments, if we dare to be true to the God principle within us. So +bitter has been my cup of spiritual suffering, while passing through this +crucible of married servitude, that it seems like a miracle almost, that I +have not been driven into insanity, or at least misanthropy by it. But a +happy elasticity of temperament conspired with an inward consciousness of +rectitude, and disinterestedness, has enabled me to despise these fiery +darts of the adversary, as few women could. + +And I cherish such a reverence for my nature, as God has made it, that I +cannot be transformed into a "man-hater." I thank God, I was made, and +still continue to be, a "man-lover." Indeed, my native respect for the +manhood almost approaches to the feeling of reverence, when I consider +that man is God's representative to me--that he is endowed with the very +same attributes and feelings towards woman that God has--a protector of +the weak, not a subjector of them. It is the exceptions, not the masses of +the man race, who have perverted or depraved their God-like natures into +the subjectors of the dependent. The characteristic mark of this depraved +class is a "woman-hater," instead or a "woman-lover," as God, by nature +made him. This depraved class of men find their counterpart in those +women, who have perverted their natures from "men-lovers," into +"men-haters." And man, with a man-hating wife, may need laws to protect +his rights, as much as a woman, with a woman-hater for her husband. Laws +should take cognizance of _improper actions_, regardless of sex or +position. + +All we ask of our government is, to let us stand just where our actions +would place us, without giving us either the right or power to harm any +one, not even our own husbands. At least, give us the power to defend +ourselves, legally, against our husband's abuses, since you have licensed +him with almost Almighty power to abuse us. And it will be taking from +these women-haters no right to take from them the right to abuse us. It +may, on the contrary, do them good, to be compelled to treat us with +justice, just as you claim that it will do the slave-holder good, to +compel him to treat his slave with justice. It is oppression and abuse +alone we ask you to protect us against, and this we are confident you will +do, as soon as you are convinced there is a need or necessity for so +doing. And I will repeat, it is for this purpose that I have, in this +pamphlet, delineated a subjected wife's true, legal position, by thus +presenting my own personal, individual, experience for your consideration. + +In summing up this argument, based on this dark chapter of a married +woman's bitter experience of the evils growing out of the law of married +servitude, I would close with a Petition to the Legislatures of all the +States of this Union, that they would so revolutionize their statute laws, +as to expunge them entirely from that most cruel and degrading kind of +despotism, which identifies high, noble woman as its victim. Let the +magnanimity of your holy, God-like natures, be reflected from your statute +books, in the women protective laws which emanate from them. And may God +grant that in each and all of these codes may soon be found such laws as +guarantee to married woman a _right_ to her own home, and a _right_ to be +the mistress of her own household, and a _right_ to the guardianship of +her own minor children. + +In other words, let her be the legally acknowledged mistress of her own +household, and a co-partner, at least, in the interests and destiny of her +own offspring. Let the interests of the maternity be _as much_ respected, +at least, as those of the paternity; and thus surround the hallowed place +of the wife's and mother's sphere of action, with a fortress so strong and +invincible, that the single will of a perverted man cannot overthrow it. +For home is woman's proper sphere or orbit, where, in my opinion, God +designed she should be the sovereign and supreme; and also designed that +man should see that this sphere of woman's sovereignty should be +unmolested and shielded from any invasions, either foreign or internal. In +other words, the husband is the God appointed agent to guard and protect +woman in this her God appointed orbit. Just as the moon is sovereign and +supreme in her minor orbit, being guarded and protected there by the +sovereign power of the sun, revolving in his mighty orbit. + +The appropriate sphere of woman being the home sphere, she should have a +legal right here, secured to her by statute laws, so that in case the man +who swore to protect his wife's rights here, perjures himself by an +usurpation of her inalienable rights, she can have redress, and thus +secure that protection in the _law_, which is denied her by her husband. + +In short, woman needs legal protection _as a married woman_. She has a +right to be a married woman, therefore she has a right to be protected _as +a married woman_. If she cannot have protection as a married woman, it is +not safe for her to marry; for my case demonstrates the fact, that the +good conduct of the wife is no guarantee of protection to her; neither is +the most promising developments of manhood, proof against depravity of +nature, approximating very near to the point of "total depravity," and +then woe to that wife and mother, who has no protection except that of a +totally depraved man! + +But, some may argue, that woman is already recognized in several of the +States as an individual property owner, and as one who can do business on +a capital of her own, independent of her husband. Yes, we do most +gratefully acknowledge this as the day star of hope to us, that the tide +is even now set in the right direction. But allow me to say, this does not +reach the main point we are aiming to establish, which is, that woman +should be a legal _partner_ in the family firm, not a mere appendage to +it. This principle of separating the interests of the married pair is not +wholesome nor salutary in its results. It tends towards an isolation of +interests; whereas it is an identification of interests, which the +marriage contract should form and cement. We want an equality of rights, +so far as copartners are concerned. These property rights should be so +identified as to command the mutual respect of partners, whose interests +are one and the same. In short, the wife should be the junior partner, and +law should recognize her as such, by protecting to her the rights of a +junior partner, and her husband should be the legally constituted senior +partner of the family firm. Then, and only till then, is she his companion +on an equality, in legal standing, with her husband, and sharing with him +the protection of that government, which she has done so much to sustain; +which government is based on the great fundamental principle of God's +government, namely, an equality of rights to all accountable moral agents. +Our government can never echo this heavenly principle, until it defends +"equal rights," independent of sex or color. + + + + +APPENDIX. + + +REV. SAMUEL WARE'S CERTIFICATE TO THE PUBLIC. + +"This is to certify that the certificates which have appeared in public in +relation to my daughter's sanity, were given upon the conviction that Mr. +Packard's representations respecting her condition were true, and were +given wholly upon the authority of Mr. Packard's own statements. I do +therefore certify that it is now my opinion that Mr. Packard has had no +cause for treating my daughter Elizabeth as an insane person. + +SAMUEL WARE. + + _Attest_, OLIVE WARE, + AUSTIN WARE. + +SOUTH DEERFIELD, AUG. 21, 1866." + +The reader should be informed that the above certificate was given after I +had been a member of my father's family for six months, thus affording him +ample opportunity to judge of my real condition, by his own personal +observation, since Mr. Packard, and his co-conspirator, Dr. McFarland, the +Superintendent of the Asylum, both insist upon it, that I am now in just +the same condition in reference to my sanity, that I was when I was +kidnapped and forced into my prison. Therefore, when my own dear father's +eyes were fully opened to see the deception that had been employed to +secure his influence in support of this cruel conspiracy, he felt +conscience bound to give the above certificate in vindication of the +truth. Another evidence of my Father's entire confidence in my sanity is +found in the fact that about this time he re-wrote his will, and so +changed it that, instead of now giving me my patrimony "in trust" as +before, he has bestowed it upon me, his only daughter, in precisely the +same manner, and upon equal terms every way with my two only brothers. + + + + +MRS. PACKARD'S ADDRESS TO THE ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE. + + +GENTLEMEN OF ILLINOIS GENERAL ASSEMBLY: + +Thankful for the privilege granted me, I will simply state that I desire +to explain my bill rather than defend it, since I am satisfied it needs no +defense to secure its passage by this gallant body of gentlemen. + +I desire to make this public statement of some of the facts of my personal +experience, relative to my incarceration in Jacksonville Insane Asylum, +that you, the law-makers of this State, may see from the standpoint of my +own individual wrongs, the legal liabilities to which all married women +and infants have been exposed for the last sixteen years, to false +imprisonments in Jacksonville Insane Asylum, under the act passed in 1851, +viz.: + +"Married women and infants who, in the judgment of the Medical +Superintendent," (meaning the Superintendent of Illinois State Hospital +for the Insane,) "are evidently insane or distracted, may be entered or +detained in the hospital, on the request of the husband of the woman or +the guardian of the infant, _without_ the evidence of insanity required in +other cases." + +This act was nominally repealed in 1865; but, practically, is still +existing, in retaining those who have been previously entered without +evidence of insanity, and in receiving others, regardless of the law of +'65, which demands a fair trial of all before commitment. In short, the +present law is not in all cases enforced, but this unjust law is still in +practical force in many instances. + +Therefore, your petitioners, men of the first legal character and standing +in Chicago, in asking for the repeal of this unjust law, not only ask for +the enforcement of the new law by a penalty, but also that a jury trial +may be forthwith extended to the unfortunate victims of this unjust law, +who are now confined in Jacksonville Insane Asylum. + +In detailing the practical working of this law in my case, I must rely +upon your good sense to pardon the egotistical character of the following +statement. + +I am a native of Massachusetts, the only daughter of an orthodox clergyman +of the Congregational denomination, and the wife of a Congregational +clergyman, who was preaching to a Presbyterian Church in Manteno, Kankakee +Co., Ill., when this legal persecution commenced. + +I have been educated a Calvinist, after the strictest sect, but as my +reasoning faculties have been developed by a thorough, scientific +education, I have been led, by the simple exercise of my own reason and +common sense, to endorse theological views, in conflict with my educated +belief and the creed of the church with which I am connected. In short, +from my present standpoint, I cannot but believe that the doctrine of +total depravity, (which is the great backbone of the Calvinistic system,) +conflicts with the dictates of reason, common sense, and the Bible. + +And, gentlemen, the only crime I have committed is to dare to be true to +these, my honest convictions, and to give utterance to these views in a +Bible class in Manteno, at the special request of the teacher of that +class, and with the full and free consent of my husband. + +But the popular endorsement of these new views by the class and the +community generally, led my husband and his Calvinistic Church to fear, +lest their Church creed would suffer serious detriment by this license of +private judgment and free inquiry, and as these liberal views emanated +from his own family, and he, (for reasons best known to himself,) +declining to meet me on the open arena of argument and free discussion, +chose, rather, to use this marital power which your laws license him to +use, and as this unjust law permits, and got me imprisoned at Jacksonville +Insane Asylum, without evidence of insanity, and without any trial, +hoping, as he told me, that by this means he could destroy my moral +influence, and thereby defend the cause of Christ; as he felt bound to do! + +It was under these circumstances I was legally kidnapped, as your laws +allow, and imprisoned three years at Jacksonville, simply for claiming a +right to my own thoughts. The first intimation I had of this legal +exposure, was by two men entering my room, on the 18th of June, 1860, and +kidnapping me. Two of his Church-members, attended by Sheriff Burgess of +Kankakee, took me up in their arms and carried me to the wagon, and thence +to the cars, in spite of my lady-like protests, and regardless of all my +entreaties for some sort of trial before imprisonment. + +My husband replied, "I am doing as the laws of Illinois allow me to +do--you have no protection in law but myself, and I am protecting you +now; it is for your good I am doing this; I want to save your soul; you +don't believe in total depravity; I want to make you right." + +"Husband," said I, "have not I a right to my opinion?" + +"Yes, you have a right to your opinions if you think right." + +"But does not the constitution defend the right of religious tolerance to +all American citizens?" + +"Yes, to all citizens it does defend this right, but you are not a +citizen; while a married woman, you are a legal nonentity, without even a +soul in law. In short, you are dead as to any legal existence, while a +married woman, and therefore have no legal protection as a married woman." + +Thus I learned my first lesson in that chapter of "common law," which +denies to married woman a legal right to their own individuality or +identity. + +Here I was taken from my little family of six children, while my babe was +only eighteen months old, while in the faithful discharge of all my duties +as wife and mother, having done all my own work for twenty-one years, +besides educating our own children, and nearly fitting our oldest son for +college; in perfect health and sound mind, and forced into an imprisonment +of an indefinite length, without the mere form of a trial, and without any +chance at self-defense. + +True, my husband did even more than this "unjust law" demands, for he did +get the certificates of two orthodox physicians that I was insane--like +Henry Ward Beecher, and Horace Greeley, and Spurgeon, and three-fourths of +the religious community; and, besides, he obtained the names of forty +others, mostly his own Church members, who thus co-conspired to sustain +their minister in this mode of defending the cause of Christ against the +contagious influence of dangerous heresies and fatal errors. + +The influence of the community outside of the Church was thrown into the +opposite scale entirely; but their influence was overpowered by the +majesty of the law, added to the dignity of the pulpit. I was conveyed by +Sheriff Burgess, Deacon Dole and Mr. Packard to your State Hospital, in +defiance of the indignant community who had assembled at the depot in +large crowds to defend me. Dr. Simmington, the Methodist minister at +Manteno, remarked to me, "Mrs. Packard, you will not be there long," and +plainly intimated that, in his opinion, no man was fit for his position +who would retain such an inmate as myself. + +Dr. McFarland, of course, was obliged to receive me on this superabundant +testimony that I was an insane person, although he apologized to me +afterwards for receiving me at all, and for four months he treated me +himself, and caused me to be treated, with all the respect of a hotel +boarder. He even trusted me with the entire charge of a carriage load of +insane patients, and the care of my own team, fourteen times; sometimes I +would be absent nearly a half day on some pleasant excursion to the +fair-grounds or cemetery, and he never expressed the least solicitude for +our safe return. Indeed, he trusted me almost in every situation he would +trust the matron. + +But, at the expiration of this time, with no change whatever in my +deportment, I forfeited all his good-will and favors, by presenting him a +written reproof for his abuse of his patients, which was afterwards +printed, wherein I told him I should expose him when I got out, unless he +treated his patients with more justice. + +He then removed me from the best ward to the worst, where were confined +the most dangerous class of patients, and instructed his attendants to +treat me just as they did the maniacs, and be sure to keep me a close +prisoner, and on no account to allow me to leave the ward, and compel me +to sleep in a dormitory with from three to six crazy patients, where my +life was exposed, both night as well as day, with no room of my own to +flee to for safety from their insane flights and dangerous attacks. + +I have been dragged around this ward by the hair of my head by the +maniacs; I have received blows from them that almost killed me. My seat at +the table was by the side of Mrs. Triplet, the most dangerous and violent +patient in the whole ward, who almost invariably threatened to kill me +every time I went to the table. I have had to dodge the knives and forks +and tumblers and chairs which have been hurled in promiscuous profusion +about my head, to avoid some fatal blow. I have begged and besought Dr. +McFarland to remove me to some place of safety, where my life would not be +so exposed, only to see him turn, speechless, away from me! I have endured +the scent and filth of a ward, from which my delicate, sensitive nature +revolts in loathsome disgust, until I had had time to clean the whole ward +with my own hands, before it could be a decent place for human beings to +inhabit. + +From this eighth ward I was not removed until I was discharged, two years +and eight months from the day I was consigned to it. I did not set my foot +upon the ground in the mean time, although, for the last part of my +imprisonment there, Dr. McFarland exchanged some of the noisiest and most +boisterous patients for a more quiet class. + +I have been threatened with the screen-room, and this threat has been +accompanied with the flourish of a butcher knife over my head, for simply +passing a piece of johnny-cake through a crack under my door to a hungry +patient, who was locked in her room to suffer starvation as her discipline +for her insanity. + +I have heard a fond and tender mother begging and pleading, for one whole +night and part of a day, for one drink of cold water, but all in vain! +simply because she had annoyed her attendant, by crying to see her darling +babe and dear little ones at home. I finally persuaded the matron, Mrs. +Waldo, to interpose, and give her a drink of water. + +There was but one of all the employees at that Asylum whom the Dr. could +influence to treat me, personally, like an insane person. This was Mrs. De +La Hay. Besides threatening me with the screen-room, as I have stated, she +threatened to jacket me for speaking at the table. + +One day, after she had been treating her patients with great injustice and +cruelty, I addressed Mrs. McKonkey, who sat next to me at the table, and +in an undertone remarked, "I am thankful there is a recording angel +present, noting what is going on in these wards;" when Mrs. De La Hay, +overhearing my remark, exclaimed in a very angry tone, "Mrs. Packard, stop +your voice! if, you speak another word at the table I shall put a straight +jacket on you!" + +Mrs. Lovel, one of the patients, replied, "Mrs. De La Hay, did you ever +have a straight jacket on yourself?" + +"No, my position protects me! but I would as soon put one on Mrs. Packard +as any other patient, 'recording angel' or no 'recording angel,' and Dr. +McFarland will protect me in doing so, too!" + +The indignant feeling of the house soon became so demonstrative, in view +of the treatment I was receiving, that the Dr. seemed compelled to +discharge Mrs. De La Hay to defend his own character from the charge of +abusing me, and Mrs. De La Hay soon after became insane, and a tenant of +Jacksonville poor-house. + +He cut me off from all written communication with the outside world, +except under the strictest censorship, and made it a dischargeable offence +of his employees to permit me to have any means of communication with the +outside world. He has refused Mrs. Judge Thomas and other friends, whom he +knew desired to comfort me with human sympathy and some choice viands, +admission into my presence, and has put them off with the inquiry, "why do +you wish to single out Mrs. Packard from the other patients, to +administer to her comfort?" and when asked by his guests, who often +mistook me for the matron, "why he kept so intelligent a lady in an Insane +Asylum?" he would reply, "you must not take any notice of what a patient +says!" And the reply he would make to my indignant friends at the +hospital, who ventured sometimes to inquire "why are you treating Mrs. +Packard in this manner?" has invariably been, "it is all for her good!" + +Time will not allow me to detail my sufferings and persecutions at that +hospital; I will only add, may the Lord forgive Dr. McFarland for the +injustice I have suffered at his hands! And God grant that the legislature +of 1867 may have the moral courage to effectually remove the liabilities +to a repetition of wrongs like my own! + +Various attempts were made by my Manteno friends to rescue me, but all in +vain. My legal non-existence rendered it difficult to extend legal aid to +a nonentity, except it come through the identity of my only legal +protector, and so long as it was possible to cut me off from any direct +application for deliverance, he could ward off the habeas corpus +investigation they wished to institute, and as long as the Doctor claimed +I was insane, so long this unjust law consigned me to legal imprisonment. +My relatives and other friends applied to lawyers, judges and the Governor +in my behalf, but all in vain, as these officers were only authorized to +administer existing laws; they could neither repeal them nor act contrary +to them. On the 18th of June, 1863, I was finally removed from my asylum +prison, by order of the Trustees, as the result of a personal interview +which Dr. McFarland kindly consented to grant me, and put again into the +custody of my husband, who consigned me to a prison in my own house, +claiming, as his excuse, that I was just as insane as when I was entered +just three years previously, for I had neither recanted nor yielded my +right to my identity: therefore, in the judgment of your superintendent, I +am hopelessly insane, and am doomed, by his certificates, to a life-long +imprisonment in the Insane Asylum at Northampton, Mass., and my husband +was just on the point of starting with me for a consignment in that living +tomb, when he was arrested by a writ of habeas corpus, issued by judge +Starr, of Kankakee City, and used by my Manteno friends in defence of my +personal liberty. I was now where I could make direct application, by +passing a letter clandestinely through a crack in my window. + +The trial lasted five days, and resulted in a complete vindication of my +sanity, although his witnesses swore that it was evidence of insanity for +a person to wish to leave a Presbyterian church and join a Methodist! A +full account of this trial is found in this "Three Years Imprisonment for +Religious Belief." It was reported by one of my lawyers, and is an +impartial record of the whole case. + +During the trial, Mr. Packard "fled his country" in the night, to avoid +the danger of a mob retribution. He took with him all our personal +property, even my own wardrobe and children, and rented our home, so that +I found myself, at the close of court, homeless, penniless and childless. + +And this, gentlemen, is legal usurpation, also, on the slavish principle +of common law--the legal nonentity of the wife, the man and wife being +one, and the one, the man! Gentlemen, we married women need emancipation; +and will you not be the pioneer State in our Union, in woman's +emancipation? and thus use my martyrdom for the identity of a married +woman, to herald this most glorious of all reforms--married woman's legal +emancipation, from that of a slave in law, to that of a partner and +companion of her husband, in law, as she now is in society? + +And, lest there be a misunderstanding on this subject, permit me here to +explain what kind of slavery I refer to. This slavish position which the +principles of common law assigns the married woman, is a relic of +barbarism, which the progress of civilization will, doubtless, ere long, +annihilate. In the dark ages, married woman was a slave to her husband, +both socially and legally, but, as civilization has progressed, she has +outgrown her social position--that of a slave--and is now regarded in +society as the companion and partner of her husband. But the law has not +progressed with civilization, so that married woman is still a slave, +legally, while she is his companion, socially. + +Man, we know, is woman's natural protector, and, in most instances, is all +the protection a married woman needs. Still, as the laws are made for the +exceptional cases, where man is not a law unto himself, what can be the +harm in emancipating woman from this slavish position, so that she can +receive governmental protection of her right to "life, liberty and the +pursuit of happiness," as well as the marital protection? So, in case +where the marital fails, she can have legal protection, while married as +well as when single. Then when your darling daughter is called to exchange +the paternal protection for the marital, she will not be obliged to +alienate her right to governmental protection by this exchange of her +natural protectors, but she, the tenderest and the best, can then claim of +her government, while a married woman, the same protection of her rights +as a woman, which your sons now claim as men. + +The need of this radical change in married woman's legal position, is more +fully elucidated in this book, which contains a detailed account of my +persecutions in Illinois, when your State hospital was used, in my case, +as inquisition. My object in bringing these facts to your notice is to +secure legislative action, where these facts show the need of action. + +In conclusion, gentlemen of this Assembly, may I be allowed to read a few +extracts from Dr. McFarland's published letters on this subject, showing, +from his own words, his ground of self-defense. + +The Doctor says: "All Mrs. Packard's wrongs, persecutions and sufferings, +of every description, are utterly the creation of a diseased imagination." + +Now, I ask, is this so? Can facts be transmuted into fiction by the simple +assertion of one man? And is it a mere creation of a diseased imagination +that has torn me from my helpless babe and deprived my darling children of +a fond mother's tender care? Is it the mere creation of a diseased +imagination to find that good conduct, not even the best, is any guarantee +of protection to a wife and mother under Illinois laws? + +Neither Dr. McFarland nor Mr. Packard himself, has ever denied one of the +facts in the statement I have made; but as their only justification, they +claim that I am insane--and the only proof of insanity they have ever +brought in support of this opinion is, "her views of things," as the +Doctor expresses himself, or, my private, individual opinions. + +Now I wish to ask the gentlemen of this Assembly, if, for my using my +right of opinion, or my right of private judgment, the public sentiment of +this age is going to justify Illinois in keeping me a prisoner three +years, under the subterfuge of insanity, based wholly upon my "views of +things?" + +Just consider, for one moment, the principle. Here my personal liberty, +for life, hangs suspended wholly on the opinion of this one man, whom +policy or interest might tempt to say I was insane when I was not; for +this law expressly states that the class I represent may be imprisoned +without evidence of insanity, and without trial! + +Just make the case your own, gentlemen: would it be easy for you to +realize that it was a mere creation of your imagination to have two men +take you by force from your business and family, without evidence of +insanity and without trial, and your kidnappers claim as their only +justification, that you are insane on some point in your religious belief, +simply because Dr. McFarland says you are, and then lock you up for life, +on his single testimony, without proof? + +Now we, married women and infants, have had our personal liberty, for +sixteen years, suspended on this one man's opinion; and possibly he may be +found to be a fallible man, and capable of corruption, if we may be +allowed to judge of this great man from the standpoint of his own words +and actions. + +Now, if the Doctor was required to prove his patients insane, from their +own conduct, there would be a shadow of justice attached to his individual +judgment; but while this law allows him to call them insane, and treat +them as insane, without evidence of insanity, where is the justice of such +a decision? + +You do not hang a person without proof from the accused's own actions that +he is guilty of the charge which forfeits his life. So the personal +liberty of married women should not be sacrificed without proof that they +are insane, from their own conduct. + +When Dr. McFarland has brought forward one proof from my own conduct, by +one insane act of my own, in support of his position, I will then say he +has cause for calling me an insane person; but until that time arrives, I +claim he is begging the question entirely, in calling me an insane person, +without one evidence to sustain his charge. + +Gentlemen, it is not merely for my own self-defence from this unpleasant +charge, that I lay this argument before you, but it is that you may see, +from my standpoint, how exceedingly frail is the thread on which our +reputation for sanity is suspended, and how very liable married women and +infants are to be thus falsely imprisoned in Jacksonville Insane Asylum. + +If my testimony might be allowed to add weight to this suspicion or +presumption, I would state that, to my certain knowledge, there were +married women there when I left, more than three years since, who were not +insane then at all, and they are still retained there, as hopelessly +insane patients, on the simple strength of the above ground of evidence; +and it is my womanly sympathy for this class of prisoners that has moved +me to come, alone, from Massachusetts, in the depth of winter, to see if I +could not possibly induce this legislature to compassionate their case: +for it is under your laws, gentlemen, I have suffered, and they are still +suffering, and it is to this legislature of 1867 that we apply for a legal +remedy; and we confidently trust you will vindicate the honor of your +State in the action you take upon this subject. We trust you will not +only have the manliness and moral courage to repeal this unjust law, +forthwith, but also extend, promptly, a just trial to its wronged and +injured victims. + +Again, Dr. McFarland writes: "Mr. Packard is suffering from a cause which +only gather his church and the public about him, in the bonds of a +generous sympathy." + +I reply to this assertion by stating a few simple facts. Mr. Packard's +church and people in Manteno, Illinois, withdrew from him their confidence +and support, while I was incarcerated, instead of gathering about him, +because public sentiment would not tolerate him, as a minister, with this +stigma upon him; and it was the fear of lynch law which drove him from +this State during the court, to seek shelter and employment in +Massachusetts, his native State. There he succeeded in securing a place as +stated supply, by ignoring the decision of your court, and by +misrepresenting the west to be in such a semi-barbarous state that it was +impossible to get a just decision at any legal tribunal in this +uncivilized region, where, he tells them, "a large portion of community +were more intent on giving Presbyterianism a blow, than in investigating +the question of Mrs. Packard's insanity!" + +He occupied his new field in Sunderland, Mass., fifteen months, when I +returned to my father's house in Sunderland, on a visit, and the result +was, my personal presence, together with the facts in the case, upset him, +so that neither Sunderland nor any other society in New England can be +induced to employ him in defiance of enlightened public sentiment. Indeed, +the public sentiment of New England has so blighted and withered his +ministerial influence, that the remark of a lawyer in Worcester, Mass., +made a few months since, reflects his true social position there, at +present. Said he, "there is not a man in New England, neither do I think +there is one man in the United States, who would dare to stand the open +defender of Mr. Packard in the course he has taken, and in view of the +facts as they are now known to exist." + +Now I would like to ask Dr. McFarland, where are to be found these "bonds +of generous sympathy" to which he refers? in the region of the west, or in +the east? + +Here, where the Doctor's assertion is found to be plainly contradicted by +facts, can his simple assertions be relied upon as infallible testimony +and infallible authority? + +Again, another extract, and I am done. + +Dr. McFarland writes, "I have no question but that Mrs. Packard's +committal here was as justifiable as in the majority of those now here." + +Now if this statement of your superintendent is true, viz.: that I am a +fair specimen of the majority of his patients, then the Doctor himself +must admit that the majority of inmates there are capable of assuming a +self-reliant position, and, instead of being supported there as State +paupers, as I was during my imprisonment of three years, ought they not to +be liberated, and supporting themselves and their families as I am now +doing? + +Mr. Packard has become an object of charity since he cast me penniless +upon the world, while I have, without charity, not only supported myself, +but have already become voluntarily responsible for his support, and the +support and education of my children, from the avails of my own hard +labor, since my discharge from my prison; while at the same time, he will +not allow me to live in the house with my dear children, lest my heresies +contaminate them! + +Now, Gentlemen, is it not better that I be thus employed, selling my books +for their support, rather than be held as your State's prisoner and +State's pauper simply because my "views of things" do not happen to +coincide with your Superintendent's views of things? + +It is true, and, gentlemen, your Superintendent's own statement verifies +it, that I am not the only one who has been so unjustly imprisoned there, +and in the name and behalf of those now there, I beg of this body that you +extend to such a fair trial or a discharge. Really, the claims of humanity +and the honor of your State both demand that my case stimulate the +Illinois legislature of 1867 to provide legal safeguards against false +commitments like my own. + +Permit me here to add, that although I have come from Massachusetts to +Illinois at my own expense, without money and without price, for the +express purpose of bringing these claims of oppressed humanity to your +notice, I do not demand nor ask for any remuneration for my false +imprisonment in your State institution, nor for any personal redress of +those legal wrongs which have deprived me of my reputation, my home, my +property, my children, my liberty; but I do ask that the legal liabilities +to such like outrages may be effectually removed by this legislature, and +that the justice of a trial by jury may be forthwith extended to those now +in that asylum, who have been consigned to an indefinite term of +imprisonment, without any trial. + +Gentlemen of this assembly, in view of the facts now before you, please +allow me the additional privilege of adding a few suggestions. You see it +has become a demonstrated fact that I, a minister's wife, of Illinois, +have been three years imprisoned in your State, by your laws, simply +because I could not tell a lie--that is, I could not be false to my own +honest convictions; and since I simply claim the right to be an individual +instead of a parasite, or an echo of others' views, I am branded by your +laws as hopelessly insane! + +Is it not time for you to legislate on this subject, by enacting laws +which shall make it a crime to treat an Illinois citizen as an insane +person simply for the utterance of opinions, no matter how absurd those +opinions may be to others? Opinions cannot harm the truth, nor the +individual, especially if they are absurd or insane opinions. + +But for irregularities of conduct, such as my persecutors have been guilty +of, the law ought to be made to investigate. Imprisonment for religious +belief! What is it but treason against the vital principle of this +American Government, viz.: religions toleration? + +Would that I could have claimed protection under the banner of my +country's flag, while a citizen of Illinois. But no; this unjust statute +law has consigned me to the reign of despotism. And so are all my married +sisters in Illinois liable to this consignment, so long as this barbarous +law is in force. + +And O! the horrors of such a consignment! Only think of putting your own +delicate, sensitive daughter through the scenes I have been put through. +Do you think she would have come out unharmed? God only knows. But this I +do know: that it is one principle of ethics, that a person is very apt to +become what they are taken to be. You may take the sanest person in the +world, and tell them they are insane, and treat them as your +Superintendent treats them there--it is the most trying ordeal a person +can pass through and not really become insane. + +And most reverently does Mrs. Packard attribute it to God's grace alone, +for carrying her safely through this most awful ordeal, unharmed, and--I +am almost tempted to add--God himself could not have done this thing +without the strictest conformity on my part, to His own laws of nature, in +connection with a well-balanced organization. As it is, to God's grace +alone. I say it, I am a monument for the age--a standing miracle, almost, +of the power of faith to shield one from insanity, by having come out +unharmed, through a series of trials, such as would crush into a level +with the beasts, I may say, any one, who did not freely use this antidote. + +Here let me make one practical suggestion. Is that kind of treatment which +causes insanity the best adapted to cure insanity? + +O, my brothers! my gallant brothers! will you not protect us from such +liabilities? Will you not have the manliness to grant to us, married +women, the legal right to stand just where our own actions will place us, +regardless of our views of things, or our private opinions? that is, may +we not have the privilege of being legally protected, as you are, in our +rights of opinion and conscience, so long as our good conduct deserves +such protection? + +We have an individuality of our own, which is sacred to ourselves; will +you not protect our personal liberty, while in the lawful, lady-like +exercise of it? for personal liberty is a boon of inestimable value to +ourselves as well as you, and by guarding our liberty against false +commitment there, you may have fortified the personal liberty of some of +Illinois' best and sanest class of citizens, whose interests are now +vitally imperiled by this unjust law. + +Yes, gentlemen, I, their representative, now stand legally exposed to be +kidnapped again, and hid for life in some lunatic Asylum; and since no +laws defend me, this may yet be done. Should public sentiment--the only +law of self-defence I have--endorse the statements of this terrible +conspiracy against the personal liberty and stainless character of an +innocent woman, I may yet again be entombed, to die a martyr for the +Christian principle of the identity of a married woman. Three long years +of false imprisonment does not satisfy this lust for power to oppress the +helpless. No; nothing but a life-long entombment can satisfy the selfhood +of my only legal protector. + +O! I do want laws to protect me, and, as an American citizen, I not only +ask, but I demand that my personal liberty shall depend upon the decision +of a jury--not upon the verdict of public sentiment, or forged +certificates, either. + +My gallant brothers, be true to my cause, if false to me. Be true to +woman! defend her as your weak, confiding sister, and Heaven shall reward +you; for God is on her side, "and he always wins who sides with God." + +Fear not; fear nothing so much as the sin of simply not doing your duty. +Maintain your death grapple in defence of the heaven-born principles of +liberty and justice to all human kind, especially to woman. Emancipate +her! for above this cross hangs suspended a crown, of which even our +martyred Lincoln's crown of negro emancipation is but a mere type and +shadow in brilliancy. And God grant that this immortal crown of unfading +honor may be the rightful heritage--the well-earned reward of Illinois' +gallant sons, as embodied in their legislators. + +And all we have to ask for Dr. McFarland is, that you not only allow, but +require this great man to stand just where his own actions will place him, +regardless of his position, or the opinion of his enemies or his friends. + +Gentlemen, permit me also to say, that when you have once liberated the +sane inmates of that hospital and effectually fortified the rights of the +sane citizens of Illinois against false commitments there, you will have +taken the first progressive step in the right direction, in relation to +this great humanitarian reform. And here I will say, that from what I do +know of the practical workings of the internal machinery of that +institution, as seen from behind the curtain, from the standpoint of a +patient, and from what I know of the personal and private character of +Illinois Statesmen, I predict it will not be the last. + +And, notwithstanding the temporary disfigurement of Illinois' proud +escutcheon by this foul stain of religious persecution, which, I regret to +say, it now has upon it, may God grant that the present statesmen of +Illinois may yet so fully vindicate its honor, as that the van of this +great humanitarian reform may yet be heralded to the world in the action +of Illinois representatives, as embodied in this legislature of 1867. + +I hold myself in readiness, gentlemen, to answer any questions, or perform +any service in behalf of this cause you may desire of me; and, as an +incentive to your acting efficiently in this matter, I will state that +several legislatures in New England are watching eagerly the result of my +application to you, this winter, and they have engaged me to report to +them the result. + +I desire, therefore, an opportunity to vindicate your character before +these legislatures, on the basis of your own actions, for, after you know +of the existence of this barbarous law, and its direct application to me, +one of its wronged and injured victims, as you now do, I shall no longer +be able to plead your ignorance of the existence of such a law, as your +vindication from the charge of barbarism, and you must know that the +intelligence of the whole civilized world cannot but call a State +barbarous in its legislation, so long as this black and cruel law has an +existence, even in continuing to hold its victims in its despotic grasp. + +I know, gentlemen, that since 1865, I can plead that you have nominally +repealed it, but so long as this law of '65 is without a penalty to +enforce it, it is only a half law, or in other words, it is merely +legislative advice--it is not a statute law, and so long as you do retain +its injured victims in their false imprisonment, you have not repealed it. + +Now, gentlemen, much as I would like to gratify the wishes of a member of +your House, in erasing the record of this law from my book, on the ground +of its having been already repealed, I cannot conscientiously do it so +long as that institution continues to receive inmates without any trial by +jury, or retains those who have never had any such trial. + +No, gentlemen; this law and its application to me, cannot be obliterated, +for it has already become a page of Illinois' history, which must stand to +all coming time, as a living witness against the legislation of Illinois +in the nineteenth century. There is one way, and only one, by which you +can redeem your State from this foul blot of religious persecution which +now desecrates your nationality in the estimation of the whole civilized +world, and that is by such practical repentance as this bill demands. This +done, I can then, and only till then, vindicate the character of Illinois +statesmen, on the ground of their own honorable acts. + +In an appendix to this book, you will then find not only Mrs. Packard's +appeal to Illinois' legislature of 1867, but also the noble manly response +of its legislators, as echoed by their own honorable acts. But, should +you, for any reason, choose to turn a deaf ear to this appeal in defense +of your injured citizens, I shall not rest until I have made this same +appeal to the people of this State, and asked from them the justice I am +denied from their representatives. And should I be denied there, I shall +go to work single-handed and alone, in liberating this oppressed class, by +the habeas corpus act, before I shall feel that my skirts are washed from +the guilt of hiding these public sins against humanity, which I know to +have existence in the State of Illinois. + +And can you blame me for this manifestation of my heart sympathy for my +imprisoned sisters? Can a sensitive woman feel a less degree of sympathy +for her own sex, when she knows, as I do from my own bitter experience, +the injustice they are daily and hourly now receiving in that dismal +prison? + +And O! if you or your darling daughter were in their places, would you +feel like reproaching me as a fanatic, for thus volunteering in your +defence? No; you would not. But I should reproach myself, and so must a +just God reproach me, should I dare to do less; for there is a vow +recorded in the archives of high Heaven, that Mrs. Packard will do all in +her power to do, for the deliverance of these victims of injustice, if +God will but grant her deliverance. I am delivered! my vow stands +recorded there! Shall this vow be a witness against me, or shall it not? + +Gentlemen of this Assembly, I shall try to redeem that pledge, and so far +as you are concerned, my work is now done. Yours remains to be done. God +grant you may dare to do right! that you may have the moral courage to +dare to settle this great question, just upon its own intrinsic merits, +independent of the sanity or the insanity of its defender. + +Very respectfully submitted to the General Assembly of Illinois, now in +Session, by-- + +MRS. E. P. W. PACKARD. + +SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, February 12th, 1867. + +The result of this appeal was the passage of the "Personal Liberty Bill," +entitled "An Act for the Protection of Personal Liberty." + + + + +ACTION OF ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE ON THIS SUBJECT. + + +AN ACT in relation to Insane persons and the Illinois State Hospital for +the Insane. + +SECTION 1. _Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, +represented in the General Assembly_: That the circuit judges of this +State are hereby vested with power to act under and execute the provisions +of the act passed on the 12th of February, 1853, entitled "An act to amend +an act entitled 'an act to establish the Illinois State Hospital for the +Insane,'" in force March 1st, 1847, in so far as those provisions confer +power upon judges of county courts; and no trial shall be had of the +question of sanity or insanity before any judge or court, without the +presence or in the absence of the person alleged to be insane. And jurors +shall be freeholders and heads of families. + +SEC. 2. Whenever application is made to a circuit or county judge, under +the provisions of this act and the act to which this is an amendment, for +proceedings to inquire into and ascertain the insanity or sanity of any +person alleged to be insane, the judge shall order the clerk of the court +of which he is judge to issue a writ, requiring the person alleged to be +insane to be brought before him, at the time and place appointed for the +hearing of the matter, which writ may be directed to the sheriff or any +constable of the county, or the person having the custody or charge of the +person alleged to be insane, and shall be executed and returned, and the +person alleged to be insane brought before the said judge before any jury +is sworn to inquire into the truth of the matters alleged in the petition +on which said writ was issued. + +SEC. 3. Persons with reference to whom proceedings may be instituted for +the purpose of deciding the question of sanity or insanity, shall have the +right to process for witnesses, and to have witnesses examined before the +jury; they shall also have the right to employ counsel or any friend to +appear in their behalf, so that a fair trial may be had in the premises; +and no resident of the State shall hereafter be admitted into the hospital +for the insane, except upon the order of a court or judge, or of the +production of a warrant issued according to the provisions of the act to +which this is an amendment. + +SEC. 4. The accounts of said institution shall be so kept and reported to +the general assembly, as to show the kind, quantity and cost of any +articles purchased for use; and upon quarterly settlements with the +auditor, a list of the accounts paid shall be filed, and also the original +vouchers, as now required. + +SEC. 5. All former laws conflicting with the provisions of this act are +hereby repealed, and this act shall take effect on its passage. + +Approved February 16, 1865. + + +Two years practice under this law developed its inability to remove the +evils it was designed to remedy. This law, having no penalty to enforce +it, was found to be violated in many instances, as it was ascertained to +be a fact that Dr. McFarland was constantly receiving patients under the +old law of 1851, which this law had nominally repealed. Therefore, a +petition was sent to the legislature of 1867, signed by I. N. Arnold, J. +Young Scammon, and thirty-six other men of the first legal standing in +Chicago, asking for the practical repeal of the old law of 1851, by the +enforcement of the new law of 1865. + + +The old law of 1851 is as follows, viz.: "Married women and infants who, +in the judgment of the medical superintendent, (meaning the Superintendent +of the Illinois State Hospital for the Insane,) are evidently insane or +distracted, may be entered or detained in the hospital on the request of +the husband of the woman, or the guardian of the infant, _without_ the +evidence of insanity required in other cases." + + +The legislature was led to see that by the practical enforcement of this +unjust law, the personal liberty of married women and infants was still +imperiled, and also that the law of 1865 did not relieve the wronged and +injured victims of this unjust law, now imprisoned at Jacksonville Insane +Asylum. Therefore, the legislature of 1867 passed the following "Act for +the protection of Personal Liberty." + + +AN ACT for the Protection of Personal Liberty. + +SECTION 1. _Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, +represented in the General Assembly_: That no superintendent, medical +director, agent or other person, having the management, supervision or +control of the Insane Hospital at Jacksonville, or of any hospital or +asylum for insane and distracted persons in this State, shall receive, +detain or keep in custody at such asylum or hospital any person who has +not been declared insane or distracted by a verdict of a jury and the +order of a court, as provided by an act of the general assembly of this +State, approved February 16, 1865. + +SEC. 2. Any person having charge of, or the management or control of any +hospital for the insane, or of any asylum for the insane in this State, +who shall receive, keep or detain any person in such asylum or hospital, +against the wishes of such person, without the record or proper +certificate of the trial required by the said act of 1865, shall be deemed +guilty of a high misdemeanor, and liable to indictment, and on conviction +be fined not more than one thousand dollars, nor less than five hundred +dollars, or imprisoned not exceeding one year, nor less than three months, +or both, in the discretion of the court before which such conviction is +had: _provided_, that one half of such fine shall be paid to the +informant, and the balance shall go to the benefit of the hospital or +asylum in which said person was detained. + +SEC. 3. Any person now confined in any insane hospital or asylum, and all +persons now confined in the hospital for the insane at Jacksonville, who +have not been tried and found insane or distracted by the verdict of a +jury, as provided in and contemplated by said act of the general assembly +of 1865, shall be permitted to have such trial. All such persons shall be +informed by the trustees of said hospital or asylum, in their discretion, +of the provisions of this act and of the said act of 1865, and on their +request, such persons shall be entitled to such trial within a reasonable +time thereafter: _provided_, that such trial may be had in the county +where such person is confined or detained, unless such person, his or her +friends, shall, within thirty days after any such person may demand a +trial under the provisions of said act of 1865, provide for the +transportation of such person to, and demand trial in the county where +such insane person resided previous to said detention, in which case such +trial shall take place in said last mentioned county. + +SEC. 4. All persons confined as aforesaid, if not found insane or +distracted by a trial and the verdict of a jury as above, and in the said +act of 1865 provided, within two months after the passage of this act, +shall be set at liberty and discharged. + +SEC. 5. It shall be the duty of the State's attorneys for the several +counties to prosecute any suit arising under the provisions of this act. + +SEC. 6. This act shall be deemed a public act, and take effect and be in +force from and after its passage. + +Approved March 5th, 1867. + + +The public will see that, under the humane provisions of this act, all the +inmates of every insane asylum in the State of Illinois, whether public or +private, who have been incarcerated without the verdict of a jury that +they are insane, are now entitled to a jury trial, and unless this trial +is granted them within sixty days from the 5th of March, 1867, they are +discharged, and can never be incarcerated again without the verdict of a +jury that they are insane. No person can be detained there after sixty +days, who has not been declared insane by a jury. + +It is thus that the barbarities of the law of 1851 are wiped out by this +act of legislative justice. Now, all married women and infants who have +been imprisoned "without evidence of insanity," as this unjust law allows, +and who are still living victims of this cruel law, will now be liberated +from their false imprisonment, unless they have become insane by the +inhumanity of their confinement. And if it is found by the testimony that +they were sane when they were imprisoned, and that they have become insane +by being kept there, is it humane to perpetuate the cause of their +insanity, under the pretext that their cure demands it? Or, in other +words, is that kind of treatment which caused their insanity the best +adapted to cure their insanity? + +This great question, who shall be retained as fit subjects for the insane +asylum, is now to depend, in all cases, upon the decision of a jury; and +each case must be legally investigated, as the law of 1865 directs. + + +ANOTHER ACT OF LEGISLATIVE JUSTICE--APPOINTMENT OF AN INVESTIGATING +COMMITTEE. + +_Resolved, the Senate concurring_, That a joint committee of three from +this House and two from the Senate be appointed to visit the hospital for +the insane, after the adjournment, of the legislature, at such times as +they may deem necessary, with power to send for persons and papers, and to +examine witnesses on oath; that said committee be instructed thoroughly to +examine and inquire into the financial and sanitary management of said +institution; to ascertain whether any of the inmates are improperly +detained in the hospital, or unjustly placed there, and whether the +inmates are humanely and kindly treated, and to confer with the trustees +of said hospital in regard to the speedy correction of any abuses found to +exist, and to report to the Governor, from time to time, at their +discretion. + +_And be it further resolved_, That said committee be instructed to examine +the financial and general management of the other State institutions. + +Adopted by the House of Representatives, + + F. CORWIN, _Speaker_. + +Concurred in by the Senate, + + WM. BROSS, _Speaker_. + +The following gentlemen compose the committee: Hon. E. Baldwin, Farm +Ridge, LaSalle county; Hon. T. B. Wakeman, Howard, McHenry county; Hon. +John B. Ricks, Taylorville, Christian county, on the part of the House of +Representatives. Hon. Allen C. Fuller, Belvidere, Boone county; Hon. A. J. +Hunter, Paris, Edgar county, on the part of the Senate. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_. + +Punctuation has been corrected without note. + +The following misprints have been corrected: + "dont" corrected to "don't" (page 6 [twice]) + "misued" corrected to "misused" (page 16) + "ful" corrected to "full" (page 31) + "other'" corrected to "other's" (page 34) + "o" corrected to "to" (page 48) + "Massachusets" corrected to "Massachusetts" (page 52) + "one s" corrected to "one's" (page 66) + "pedition" corrected to "perdition" (page 70) + "arduour" corrected to "arduous" (page 116) + "ander" corrected to "under" (page 130) + "dont" corrected to "don't" (page 131) + "Kankahee" corrected to "Kankakee" (page 145) + "Satte" corrected to "State" (page 155) + +Other than the corrections listed above, inconsistencies in spelling and +hyphenation have been retained from the original. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Marital Power Exemplified in Mrs. +Packard's Trial, and Self-Defence from the Charge of Insanity, by Elizabeth Parsons Ware Packard + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARITAL POWER EXEMPLIFIED *** + +***** This file should be named 36591.txt or 36591.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/5/9/36591/ + +Produced by Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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