Trial by Jury, as to the Existence of Insanity, in Illinois, and the use of Chloral, Restraint, and Assault in an American Asylum

Extract

We have received a copy of a special report of the Board of State Commissioners of Public Charities of the State of Illinois, regarding the death of a Col. Hull, in the Asylum, at Elgin. In that State a trial by jury seems to be necessary to send a man to an asylum, however insane he may be; but the problem of doing this with safety, expedition, and without even the knowledge of the patient who is being tried, has been cleverly solved by the Americans.