CHAPTER 541

An Act for the relief of Mrs. J. Bowman Webster and others
572]
Approved April 2, 1952

Whereas, on the 18th day of November, 1951, J. Bowman Webster, of
Calloway, Virginia, was a patient in the Western State Hospital, at
Staunton; and
Whereas, J. Bowman Webster was quartered in a ward containing
persons of dangerous capacities; and

Whereas, on the night of the 18th day of November, 1951, the ward
in which J. Bowman Webster was quartered was left unattended by those
persons whose duty it was to provide for the safety of patients confined
therein; and

Whereas, on that night J. Bowman Webster met his death at the hands
of an assailant who was a fellow inmate; and

Whereas, Mrs. J. Bowman Webster, wife of the deceased, and others,
by the negligence on the part of those persons in charge of the ward, sus-
tained a grievous loss in the death of J. Bowman Webster, for which there
is no method for compensating them for their loss, as the Western State
Hospital the Department of Mental Health and Hygiene is an agency of
the State; Now Therefore, .

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. There is hereby appropriated from the general fund of the State
Treasury the sum of five thousand dollars as compensation for the loss
which Mrs. J. Bowman Webster and others have sustained, caused by the
negligence of servants of the State, to be paid on warrant of the Comp-
troller drawn on the State Treasurer as provided by law into the Circuit
Court for the County of Franklin for distribution as hereinafter provided:

First, the court shall direct the payment of all proper court costs
incident to such distribution. The court shall then direct in what propor-
tion the remainder shall be distributed to the surviving wife, Mrs. J. Bow-
man Webster, and children and grandchildren of the deceased. Among
the distributees the court shall have absolute discretion as to who shall
receive the whole or any part of such remainder. In determining the
shares of the distributees, however, the court shall give due consideration
to all reasonable and proper medical, hospital and funeral expenses inci-
dent to the death of J. Bowman Webster which shall have been paid or
advanced by any such distributee.