Caldwell County MO Archives History .....SOME ODD CASES AT THE CALDWELL COUNTY POOR FARM 
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Karen Walker khw4@yahoo.com September 4, 2008, 1:26 pm

SOME ODD CASES AT THE CALDWELL COUNTY POOR FARM
	Narrator S.C. Roger, 87, Kingston

     The following narrative came from Mr. Rogers who lived for 60 years at 
Kingston near the poor farm.  
     The most noted case ever down there was Crazy Billy Bond, who came to the 
poor house 1876, died there and is buried on the place.  An attack of 
meningitis changed him from a bright child to a demented one.  He had to be 
kept in a cage especially built for him at some distance from the main 
building.  He had no language and made his wants known by signs.  He was not 
dangerous in his idiocy.  Almost every one who lived around there spoke of 
Billy Bond.  He lived till about 1890.
     Before the 80s, another waif was brought there.  He was found at Log 
Creek and never did learn to talk.  Those were two of the worst cases to deal 
with.  Another pretty bad one was Friday.  He died 1901.  He had been there 
since 1875.  He was found wondering, a blank imbecile, never able to give any 
trace of his identity and because he was found on Friday, some one with a keen 
sense of Robinson Crusoe called him Friday.  He also was buried in the little 
plot for the homeless and friendless inmates.
     Old Mike Keif was deluded and thought that he was a partner with the 
superintendent in managing the poor farm.  He was happy if he had his "bacco."
     An old man hopelessly blind, Mr. Price, had been there since in the 70s 
at his death in the 90s.  He was in his senses, but helpless.  A Hubbard woman 
who was there in the 70s had formerly been in the St. Joseph hospital for the 
insane, but she was sent home from there to the poor farm as harmlessly 
incapable.
     The other two women whom Mr. Rogers recalled as long inmates were just 
broken down by age and hard work with no friends to take care of them.  One 
was called Martha Duncan and the other Virginia Taylor.
     There were at least two cases where babies abandoned on the public roads 
were taken there when no homes could be found for them.  In one case, a babe 
was taken into a private home, only to be brought back to the poor farm when 
it was discovered that she was an idiot.
     These cases show that the tendency 45 or 50 years ago was to take 
mentally weak cases to the poor farm, if they were not dangerous.
     Interview  1933. 


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