Frederick N. Sage, who claimed to be a former judge from Hartford, said he was unlawfully held in a Chicago detention hospital and denied communication with friends. There are a lot of these types of reports in the newspaper archives. People were picked up and placed in asylums or in work houses, and then denied outside access. This particular man had to make contact with a visitor at the hospital to get the word out as to his whereabouts.
Detained in Hospital
Frederick N. Sage, who claims to be a prominent businessman and a former judge of Hartford, Connecticut, has sent word from the Chicago detention hospital, that he is held a prisoner there and has not been allowed to communicate with his friends in the East. A responsible man who visited the hospital was appealed to by Sage, who asked him to notify his friends in Hartford, where he was.
The prisoner stated that he was called to Phoenix, Arizona, about eight months ago, and was on his way home, getting as far as Chicago, where he was arrested, sent to the detention hospital and afterward to the state asylum at Elgin. He says he remained there until last week, when he escaped to the city. He at once telegraphed to his city for money to return, received it by wire and was about to take the train for Hartford, he says, when he was again arrested and sent to the detention hospital.
The hospital authorities refused to allow Sage to be communicated with tonight.
Source: The Birmingham Age-Herald. (Birmingham, Ala.), 26 May 1902.
