Doctor Ice Pick – Claire Prentice (1)

As a boy, he had grown up listening to stories of his grandfather on his mother’s side. William Keen was a brilliant Civil War surgeon who had operated on US president Grover Cleveland, and who counted the families of presidents McKinley, Wilson, and Roosevelt among his patients. He was also the first person in the country to successfully remove a brain tumor from a living patient.

Freeman aspired to be just like his grandfather. He had always regarded his father, a respectable but undistinguished ear, nose, and throat specialist, as a personal and professional disappointment.47 The young Freeman was not an outstanding student, but what he lacked in ability he made up for in drive and ambition. After graduating from Yale in 1916, Freeman studied neurology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and then traveled to Europe to study under some of the world leaders in the field.

Back in America, he had his famous grandfather pull a few strings to get him the position as director of laboratories at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, DC, an impressive achievement for a then twenty-eight-year-old. “Here I was, not yet 29 and three steps from the Presidency of the United States. My boss was the Superintendent, his the Secretary of the Interior, and the latter’s the President,” he would later boast.48 Roaming through the hospital’s maze of wards and corridors, Freeman did not feel sympathy for the patients he saw.

Rather, he described them as inspiring “a weird mixture of fear, disgust and shame. The slouching figures, the vacant stare or averted eyes, the shabby clothing and footwear, the general untidiness—it all aroused rejection rather than sympathy or interest.”49 One of the first people Freeman met in Washington, DC, was Marjorie Lorne Franklin, who was three years his senior. She was an economist and had a quick wit and a quiet, modest manner.

He later recalled: “She was not pretty, but I liked her mind and spirit. She was a suitable wife for an untamed man.”50 She in turn was struck by Freeman’s confidence and self- belief. They married three months later, and within weeks, Marjorie was pregnant. In July 1925, Marjorie gave birth to their daughter, Lorne, followed in 1927 by twin boys, Walter III and Franklin.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher. Published by Amazon Original Stories, Seattle www.apub.com Amazon, the Amazon logo, and Amazon Original Stories are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates. eISBN: 9781662500701 Cover design by David Drummond OceanofPDF.com For all those who have experienced the pain of mental illness OceanofPDF.com I 1 n the summer of 1952, Huntington State Hospital shimmered in a miasma of heat.

The sweeping grounds lay still and silent. Most of the fourteen hundred men, women, and children who lived in this West Virginia asylum had not been outside in years; they hadn’t felt the sun on their skin or heard the birds singing in the trees. Those committed to the facility formerly known as the Home for Incurables were not expected to leave; most would remain locked inside the hospital for the rest of their lives.1 But on July 18, 1952, a visitor drove up outside Huntington, bringing with him the promise of change.

Stepping out of his blue sports car, Walter Freeman cut a distinctive figure with his broad-brimmed hat, walking stick, gray goatee, and round, steel-rimmed glasses, the lenses scratched from rubbing against the eyepiece of a microscope. Freeman was something of a celebrity in the world of psychiatric medicine. Professor and chair of the neurology department at George Washington University, he also ran a busy private practice and was former president of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and of the Medical Society of the District of Columbia.

Despite his demanding workload, Freeman had been happy to drive the 430 miles from his home in an affluent suburb of Washington, DC, to the industrial city of Huntington, nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Looking up at the hospital, Freeman was filled with a sense of purpose. He was set to embark on his most thrilling challenge yet.

A small crowd stood expectantly on the steps of the institution. Hiram Davis, the hospital’s young, newly appointed superintendent, walked over to greet the distinguished guest. Grasping Freeman’s hand firmly in his, Davis thanked him for coming. Then he turned to introduce him to the waiting group of local dignitaries, reporters, and photographers along with doctors and psychiatrists who had traveled from across the state to meet the man who promised to transform West Virginia’s asylums.

Freeman was pleased by the turnout.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

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