Sons and parents

[Susan Higginbotham]

From Jason Emerson's book The Madness of Mary Lincoln, it doesn't appear that RTL intended to place his mother in a state facility; rather, as Emerson writes, "the Illinois insanity statute assumed placement in the State Hospital for the Insane, although it allowed the family of 'non paupers' to place them in another facility." Hence the wording of the order. Emerson quotes Mary's attorney as stating that "They [the family] do not intend that she shall be sent to a State Asylum but to a private asylum."