Did Mary Lincoln need committal?

[Laurie Verge]

Some here probably already know this, but here's a synopsis of Bellevue Place and Mary Lincoln's stay there taken from the website of the Batavia Historical Society:

Mary Todd Lincoln and Bellevue Place

Bellevue Place was established in an abandoned private high school known as Batavia Institute by Dr. Richard J. Patterson, a renowned expert in the field of mental health. Patterson was one of the first to believe that peace, quiet, and gentleness were beneficial to the cure of those who were mentally ill.

He purchased the old school and made it into a sanitarium for disturbed ladies. Dr. Patterson's wife was the matron, and there were a dozen attendants and nurses on staff. Patterson furnished the old school rooms with carved beds, huge ornate chests, and other furniture and renamed it Bellevue Place.

In 1871, he added the two-story wings with the mansard roofs. He could then increase his patient load to 25-30 women at one time in the home.

Orchards and a vegetable garden provided a fresh supply of in season food for the institution. Around the grounds were flower beds, hammocks and lawn seats, which spoke of outdoor life and freedom.

In 1875, a Chicago court deemed that Mrs. Lincoln behaved irrationally. It was ordered that she be placed in a mental hospital. Her son Robert brought her to Batavia on the train to Dr. Patterson's sanitarium.

If the legends of Mary's stay are correct, she was not very confined. She is said to have visited in several of the homes around Bellevue, to have eaten her meals with Dr. and Mrs. Patterson, and to have visited friends in St. Charles.

The third floor of the sanitarium housed the most serious cases, and the first floor was the most desirable and thus most expensive. Mrs. Lincoln stayed on the second floor. Her estate was charged $10 a day for her room.

The need for Mrs. Lincoln's continued confinement was debated on the national scene and after three months, and against Dr. Patterson's advise, Mrs. Lincoln was released in the care of her sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Edwards in Springfield.

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If you have nothing else to do today, go to this link for a very long discussion on Mrs. Lincoln's health: http://www.bertzpoet.com/essays/pdfs/mar...Final.pdf.

The key point in this article, however, is near the end. It appears that the story of Mrs. Lincoln having an autopsy that revealed a brain tumor may have started with Lincoln biographer, W.E. Barton. "The story that an autopsy was done on Mrs. Lincoln showing cerebral deterioration seems to have originated with an early twentieth-century Lincoln biographer, W.E. Barton, who took Dr. Dresser's clinical opinion for anatomic fact. [see page 420 of Barton's book] Despite diligent searches of the Sangamon County records and Barton's own materials, we have been unable to find any evidence for an autopsy."

There are also some references in this lengthy article to indicate that Gore Vidal may have "helped" spread the autopsy story.

Have fun.