I’ve touched on cases of insane fathers in a previous article, and today we are going to take a look at insane daughters in the past. While many reports of insane daughters are not as brutal as those of the insane fathers, they are just as interesting and frightening.
In many cases, the topic is about money, and keeping daughters locked up in insane asylums as the head doctors claim their monthly stipends and inheritance for their “care.”
1. Insane Daughter Cuts Mother’s Throat
Reported in 1897:
“Mrs. Peter Hauptman, 60 years old and feeble, wife of a wholesale cigar merchant, was murdered yesterday afternoon by her insane daughter, Louise, who cut her parent’s throat from ear to ear with a butcher knife.
“William Hauptman, a son of the murdered woman, discovered the body lying in the parlor, and beside it the bloody weapon. At first it was supposed that the mother had committed suicide, but later it was discovered that Louise, the 32-year-old daughter, who had been insane for a number of years, committed the crime. She was found in a closet upstairs chuckling over the terrible deed.
“The demented woman, who was never before violent, had been confined in St. Vincent’s asylum for five years, but ever since 1891 she had been at home, the family preferring to have her cared for there. It is supposed that the crazy woman’s condition was made worse by the intense heat.” [Source]
2. Caring for Insane Daughter Makes Mother Insane
A mother is driven insane after caring for insane daughter, 1908. The incident was labeled as “imposed insanity.”
“One of the most remarkable cases of what is medically known as ‘imposed insanity’ is interesting specialists in mental diseases in the persons of Mrs. Mary Dub and her daughter, Pauline, who were removed to the psychopathic ward of Bellevue Hospital yesterday. The mother is 52, the daughter 24 years old. Both women came from Germany about 18 months ago. How they managed to get past the immigration authorities with their apparent cases of religious mania is a question that will probably be referred to Washington.
“While insanity runs in the Dub family, there is no evidence in the history of the case, so Dr. Gregory, of Bellevue Hospital, told an Evening World reporter today, to show that until the daughter developed delusions the mother’s mind was not perfectly normal and well balanced.
“It was the mother’s constant attendance on her daughter, who imagines that she is the appointed agent of the Angel Gabriel on earth, says Dr. Gregory, which so wrought upon the mother that, when the two women were removed, after neighbors had notified the police, both their minds were so perfectly attuned in in their hallucinations that they suffered similar delusions at similar times.
“‘Now that we have separated them,’ said Dr. Gregory, ‘we hope to work a cure in the case of the mother. The daughter, however, I believe to be beyond help. In all my experience in hospitals and in the study of mental diseases, I do not believe I have ever seen so strong a case of imposed insanity – of the infection of a mental disease in somewhat the same manner as a physical complaint might be communicated.” [Source]
3. Attacks Mother With Pitcher
This next incident is from 1907, Indiana:
“Hattie Bell Teeter, recently adjudged insane, and being cared for at her mother’s home pending her removal to the asylum, last night attacked and almost killed her aged mother with a big pitcher. The old woman’s cries brought help, and the insane daughter was overpowered.” [Source]
4. Who was Insane?
This next newspaper article from 1897 questions whether it was the daughter or the son who was insane enough to kill the mother.
“On August 3rd, Mrs. Peter Hauptmann, wife of a merchant, was attacked by someone who cut her throat with a bread knife, killing her instantly. At the inquest it was decided that Louise, the insane daughter committed the act. The strongest witness against Louise was her brother, Will, whose sanity at that time was unquestioned. The next day an ex-policeman named Roberts and Will went away on a trip, returning a few days later and it was then stated that Will was insane. Physicians examined him and he was committed to an insane asylum. Now WIll’s sweetheart, Annie Kline, and his step-sister, Mrs. Windsheimer, say that on the day of the murder they heard a commotion and rushed into the room, where they found Will standing at the door trembling and that he had blood on his shirt. They say Louise was sitting calmly at a table eating. In exactly the same position she was found when Mrs. Windsheimer left her a few minutes before.
“The stories of the two women have aroused much attention and a thorough investigation is being made.” [Source]
5. Her Father Made Her Insane
There is no question as to why the daughter was labeled insane. It was because of what her father was doing to her. He was finally caught in 1902.
“Louis Hahn, a well-known member of the G.A.R., was arrested today, shortly after the grand jury had reported, on sensational charges. The grand jury had returned three separate indictments against him.
“His alleged victim is his daughter, Mary Hahn, an inmate of the Masillon asylum.
“Hahn visited her at the institution the 8th of last March. As is customary when a parent visits a son or daughter, they are allowed a certain amount of privacy, and it is claimed by the asylum authorities and attendants that while the two were in an alcove or room off the main hall an assault was committed.
“It was upon the demand of Dr. Eyman, superintendent of the hospital, that the matter was brought before the grand jury, and evidence was produced sufficient to warrant the indictments. The daughter is 30 years of age, and has been insane many years. She was in other State hospitals before the asylum at Massillon was built. She has been in the Massillon institution for some time, and has been visited by her father on other occasions.” [Source]
