A small Connecticut village was left without a schoolteacher in September 1909 after a young woman suffered what newspapers of the time described as a sudden and unexplained mental breakdown after just one day in the classroom.
Miss Adelaide Barrow had only recently taken charge of the little school at Banksville, near Greenwich. She opened classes on a Tuesday morning, apparently beginning what was expected to be an ordinary teaching position.
Only afterward did some of her pupils say that their new teacher had behaved strangely during the day. None of the children, however, thought to mention her unusual actions to their parents when they returned home.
By that evening, Barrow’s condition had dramatically worsened.
She had arranged to board at the home of Edelbert Osterbanks, where, at about 9 o’clock that night, she suddenly became extremely agitated and difficult to control. Dr. R. B. Griswold was summoned, and according to the newspaper account, two men were required to restrain her. Her condition became so severe that she was eventually secured to the bed for her own safety and the safety of those around her.
Barrow’s sister was contacted, and the following morning the teacher was taken by automobile to Greenwich Hospital. When her agitation continued, she was transferred later that day to a sanitarium in Stamford.
No cause for the sudden episode was known at the time.
Girl Teacher Mad After One Day Class
GREENWICH, Connecticut. — Much excitement has been caused at Banksville by the going insane of Miss Adelaide Barrow, the village schoolmistress, after one day’s work in the little school.
She opened her school on Tuesday morning. Children now say she did strange things that day, but none of the youngsters reported the fact at home.
She had engaged board in the home of Edelbert Osterbanks. There, at 9 o’clock that night she suddenly became violently mad.
Dr. R.B. Griswold attended her. It took two men to hold her, and it was finally necessary to tie her to the bed.
Her sister was sent for, and this morning the teacher was placed in an automobile and taken to the General Greenwich Hospital.
She was so violent it was necessary later in the day to take her to a sanitarium in Stamford. The cause of her sudden insanity is unknown. The school is without a teacher.
Source: The Washington Times. Washington D.C. September 10, 1909.
