Murder in the Asylum
The Hudson River State Hospital (HRSH) has always been an intriguing place with looming gothic towers and windows that arch like eyes on a jack-o-lantern. Patients aimlessly wandered long hallways or were locked away in rooms. There are tales of underground tunnels that led to every wing, including the morgue where many patients had their final stay. Even though the days of seeing doctors and patients walk across the grounds are long gone, this place still invokes something in us; sometimes it’s fear, sometimes it’s curiosity. Either way, we always seem to love a juicy story about the old hospital for the insane.
When it comes to finding actual patient records, you can forget about it. People ask us all the time if we have their loved one’s patient file from the HRSH, and the answer will always be no. Those records are held at the New York State Archives and are under the control of the New York State Office of Mental Health. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability (HIPAA) laws restrict access to those items as they are official medical records. However, we do have the hospital’s annual reports, which give us a general idea of how many people were admitted, what they suffered from, and whether they recovered or died. Once in a while, we come across a mention of a homicide in the hospital. Due to the fast acting journalists of the Poughkeepsie Journal, when we narrow down the corresponding dates in newspapers, we can uncover more details about the homicide.
The first mention of a murder between patients appeared in the Poughkeepsie Eagle News in July 1920, when James Delaney struck and killed 63-year-old John Devlin by hitting him over the head with a shovel. The two patients had been working by a stone crusher as part of their occupational therapy when Delaney claimed that he heard a voice tell him to kill Devlin. Delaney apparently wasted no time and committed the deed. When the Assistant District Attorney sat Delaney down to get some answers, Delaney seemed to keep the conversation limited to the birds who were chirping just outside the window. He claimed he could understand them. As a result of his murderous actions, Delaney was sent to Matteawan State Hospital for the Criminally Insane.
In May 1937, Alexis St. Pierre, a patient at the hospital for about five years, got into a fight with one of the attendants. The attendant was a large man named Vincent A. Currie who served as the supervisor of Ward 18. Other attendants witnessed as Currie fought with the patient to try to quiet him down. Things turned violent when Currie punched the patient, dropped him to the ground, and proceeded to kick the patient in the stomach over and over again, which eventually caused his death. The attendant was arrested and charged with manslaughter and the trial took place in September. The jury took over 24 hours to come to an agreement on the case and eventually found Currie guilty of a misdemeanor for his brutal treatment of the patient. He ended up serving about a year in the county jail.
On September 17, 1947, Anna Benton, a 56-year-old patient of Ward 52, was asleep on the porch in Pilgrim Hall, part of the HRSH campus. Frances Ellis, a 20-year-old patient who had just been transferred from the Bloomingdale State Hospital in White Plains, made her way towards Mrs. Benton’s bed and began viciously attacking her. Ellis overpowered the older woman and managed to gouge both of her eyes out in a violent attack. She then made her way to another patient named Mary Chiera and began to attack her as well, but attendants arrived in time to pull her away. Chiera suffered only a scratched eye. The next morning, Mrs. Benton died as a result of the attack, causing an investigation by the District Attorney. It was determined that Ellis needed to be in a more secure location, and as with Delaney (the guy who heard voices) and any other patient who killed another, she was sent off to Matteawan State Hospital for the Criminally Insane.
If you want to learn about similar crimes and other historic murders, make sure to sign up for our upcoming program, “MORE Historic Murders In Dutchess County,” October 26th at 6:30pm. Look for it in the upcoming Fall Rotunda.
Resources:
Hudson River State Hospital – Annual Reports – 1921, 1938, 1948 – LH 392.11 H
Poughkeepsie Eagle News – 10 Jul 1920, 01 Jun 1937, 18 Sep 1947
Sunday Courier – 26 Sep 1937
Images:
WT-PC090 – Postcard of the Hudson River State Hospital, circa 1912 – LH Collections
HRSH-Report1921 – Image from the Hudson River State Hospital Annual Report from 1921, showing the mention of the homicide of John Devlin.
PEN-Jul1920 – Newspaper article from 1920 mentioning that James Delaney heard voices.
