ORPHAN, INMATE, CASUALTY: THE LOST STORY OF LAWRENCE O. TAYLOR - Part II

By Nancy Gilbride Casey

In part one of "Orphan, Inmate, Casualty," Lawrence O. Taylor had been institutionalized at the Oklahoma Institution for the Feeble Minded in Enid. In 1919 a newspaper expose in The Oklahoma City Times alleged neglect there on Dr. W.L. Kendall 's watch. Part II picks up the story. 

The Oklahoma City Times expose was not the only time the public would hear from Dr. Kendall or Mrs. Washburn regarding the influenza outbreak or conditions at the Oklahoma Institute for the Feeble Minded during 1918.

Dr. W. L. Kendall, pictured in The Oklahoma City Times. (Image: Gateway to Oklahoma History)

The day after the first—and most damning—of the news articles ran, Oklahoma house committee members came to Enid to tour the institute. Kendall gave the committee his resignation letter while they toured the facility; the governor accepted it the following day.¹⁵
As a government appointee, Dr. Kendall's troubles and departure were widely reported in newspapers across the state. Reactions ranged from outrage to additional allegations.

Garfield Republican representative Harry O. Glasser of Enid, decried the Kendall story on the floor of the House, calling it "sensational and scandalous," and sought to discredit both Mrs. Washburn and a second employee of the institute, Mrs. Wallace, as witnesses.¹⁶

The Oklahoma City Times countered: "Enid is his home of Mr. Glasser and his vitriolic attack on The Times and the two former women attendants was accepted more as being prompted by the fact the institution involved is in his home town, and will soon be before the house asking for its appropriation, rather than a desire to express his real sentiments on the expose and the resignation of W.L. Kendall."¹⁷

"Son Starved in Enid Institute," claimed a Mrs. Mann in The Times on 13 Feb 1919. Her son Edward lived at the institute from May to November 1917. Prompted by the expose, Mrs. Mann described the condition of her son to The Times, below.¹⁸

On 19 Feb 1919, Kendall sued The Oklahoma Publishing Company for libel, estimating damages of $100,000, and charging the paper printed the article, "with lust for the filthy lucre only."¹⁹

The trial began on 19 May 1919 and lasted about a week. While Kendall's lawyer sought to simply describe the facility and Kendall's role there, the cross-examination pressed Kendall on staffing levels and training, the adequacy of the facilities for the patient population, the availability of medicine, and how he split his time at the institute with his private practice in Enid—one example of alleged neglect noted in the newspaper expose.²⁰

Kendall estimated that of the roughly 400 inmates, about 200 were afflicted with influenza at one time or another during October, November and December 1918, October being the worst month, when Lawrence died. Fifty to sixty of the most critical cases were moved in and out of the hospital from the wards as beds opened up, but ultimately nine died there, while five more died in the wards.²¹
 

Fire map of the Feeble Minded Institute, showing location of Boys Dormitory, lower right, and hospital, top right. (Image: Gateway to Oklahoma History)

Dr. Kendall is questioned regarding Lawrence, recalling his full name.²²

Portion of Oklahoma Supreme Court trial transcript. (Image courtesy of Oklahoma Department of Libraries.)

From Kendall's testimony it appears that the wards and hospital were then staffed by a handful of older teens and women; one nurse in the hospital per shift, and one staff in each of the four wards, in addition to a cook, a housekeeper, a night watch and a relief girl.²³

"I got every nurse and every attendant I could possibly get in the epidemic," Kendall said.²⁴

Dr. Kendall protested that the facilities at the institute could not be improved upon due to space considerations, no matter the circumstances of the epidemic. He insisted his private practice did not interfere with his work at the institute, at the same time he stated he was kept from it by bad roads during a Christmastime snowstorm in 1918. He claimed to have expressed a wish to resign to his superior over a year before he did, so that he could save more money, presumably for his retirement. Yet according to his testimony, he also postponed his resignation twice for political considerations surrounding elections, at the request of R.L. Wilson, superintendent of public instruction at the time.²⁵

In spite of all the evidence, the Garfield District Court jury found for Dr. Kendall, and awarded him $12,500 in damages—far short of what he had hoped.²⁶

Title page, Case-Made file from the Oklahoma Supreme Court. (Image: Oklahoma Department of Libraries.)

The Oklahoma Publishing Company appealed the verdict to the Oklahoma Supreme Court in Dec. 1919. At that trial, Mrs. Edna Washburn—as in the past newspaper article—recalled Lawrence's plight.²⁷

  

 

Portion of Mrs. Washburn's testimony. (Image: Oklahoma Department of Libraries)

Finally, the Oklahoma Supreme Court spoke in November 1923. Citing errors in jury instructions, they overturned the earlier verdict favoring Dr. Kendall, and allowed for a retrial, though none materialized.²⁸

Still we ask:

What if Dr. Kendall had more quickly seen to Lawrence's needs?

What if he had put more faith into the words of the night watch he had hired, Mrs. Washburn?

What if the institute had not been so short staffed during the influenza crisis?

Would anything have changed?


_________________________________________


Why tell Lawrence's story? His life was short and was lived seemingly without consequence. He suffered tragedy upon tragedy—the loss of his parents, displacement to relatives, institutionalization, and finally, a swift and unexpected death. We feel sadness and pity for him.

Why should we care?

We can identify with Lawrence's story. He had a place in his family. He likely delighted his mother and father as a baby, and one can imagine his older siblings fussing over their new brother, playing with him, teaching him, and caring for him.

We can relate to his pain, when as a toddler, he lost both parents in such quick succession. One can identify with his confusion and sadness.

One can also feel for Lawrence's sister Nellie and brother-in-law Stephen, who with their heavy responsibilities as new parents, guardians and estate administrators, may not have been able to give him all the time or special care that he needed.

Yet, Lawrence's brief life may have also brought some light to the darkness of the Oklahoma Institution for the Feeble Minded: 

It is possible that Mrs. Washburn’s experience of his death troubled her enough to recollect the negligence to reporter Hilton;

It is possible that Dr. Kendall felt pressure to resign after the news broke about the deaths of Lawrence and others;

It is possible that the notoriety created by the crisis caused the Oklahoma government to reexamine the oversight and leadership of the facility.

And quite possibly, Lawrence brought a different sort of light to those he encountered in Enid: a gentle smile, a loving touch, a funny grin, a helping hand, a friendly hug.

If only one of these things is true, then Lawrence Orlando Taylor's life truly brimmed with meaning.


Until next time... 

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LINKS

• Click here to read part one of the expose on the Feeble Minded Institute, The Oklahoma City Times, 11 Feb 1919.
• Click here to read part two of the expose on the Feeble Minded Institute, The Oklahoma City Times, 12 Feb 1919.
• Click here to read part three of the expose on the Feeble Minded Institute, The Oklahoma City Times, 13 Feb 1919.
• Click here to view an undated fire map of the grounds layout Oklahoma Institution for Feeble Minded Institute, Enid.

NOTES

¹⁵ "Kendall Resigns as Head of Institute," The Oklahoma City Times, 12 Feb 1919, p. 4, col. 1; image copy, Gateway to Oklahoma History (http://bit.ly/2O5FgpG : accessed 13 Nov 2019).
¹⁶ "Institute Expose Hit by Glasser," The Oklahoma City Times, 12 Feb 1919, p. 1, col. 2; image copy, Gateway to Oklahoma History (http://bit.ly/2O5FgpG : accessed 13 Nov 2019).
¹⁷ "Institute Expose Hit by Glasser," p. 2.
¹⁸ "Son Starved in Enid Institute Mother Says," The Oklahoma City Times, 13 Feb 1919, p. 3, col. 1; image copy, Gateway to Oklahoma History (http://bit.ly/350Cw3C : accessed 13 Nov 2019).
¹⁹"Oklahoman Sued for Libel by Dr. W.L. Kendall of Enid," The Daily Ardmoreite, 20 Feb 1919, p. 2, col. 7; image copy, Gateway to Oklahoma History (http://bit.ly/32Mado9 : accessed 13 Nov 2019).
²⁰ "Oklahoman Sued for Libel by Dr. W.L. Kendall," p. 2
²¹ Case-Made, "Oklahoma Publishing Company, a Corporation vs. W.L. Kendall," Filed 5 Dec 1919, p. 50, Oklahoma Department of Libraries, Oklahoma City.
²² Case-Made, p. 64.
²³ Case-Made, p. 61.
²⁴ Case-Made, p. 75.
²⁵ Case-Made, p. 72.
²⁶ "Kendall Verdict Given $12,500," The Enid Events, 29 May 1919, p. 9, col. 3; image copy, Gateway to Oklahoma History (http://bit.ly/354f8Cx : accessed 13 Nov 2019).
²⁷ In the Supreme Court of Oklahoma, The Oklahoma Publishing Company, a Corporation, Plaintiff in Error vs. W.L. Kendall, Defendant in Error, No 11,109, Part I, (Oklahoma City: Francis & Holden, 1923), p. 104-105, Oklahoma Department of Libraries, Oklahoma City.
²⁸ Oklahoma State Courts Network (http://bit.ly/2DEKxQa : accessed 3 Dec 2019), "OKLAHOMA PUBL. CO. v. KENDALL."