CHAP. 196.—An ACT to establish on the farm of the Virginia State epi-
leptic colony, the Virginia colony for the feeble minded and to pro-
vide for the commitment of feeble minded versons to such colony.

Approved March 13, 1912.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
there shall be, and is hereby, created and established the Vir-
ginia colony for the feeble-minded, which shall be located on the
farm of the Virginia epileptic colony, in the county of Amherst,
near the city of Lynchburg.

2. The said Virginia colony for the feeble-minded shall be
managed.by the special board of directors of the said epileptic
colony, under the direction and control of the general board of
State hospitals, and the said directors are hereby authorized and
directed to proceed as soon as practicable to erect on a site to
be selected by them on the said farm of the epileptic colony,
and separate from the present buildings of said epileptic col-
ony, a suitable building or buildings, with proper out houses and
appurtenances for the care, custody, control and training of at
least fifty feeble-minded white persons, and to purchase proper
furniture and equipment for such building or buildings when com-
pleted, and to carry out the purposes of this act, there shall be
appropriated out of any funds in the State treasury, not other-
wise appropriated, the sum of five thousand dollars, ($5,000.)
for the fiscal year ending February twenty-eighth, nineteen hun-
dred and thirteen, and the sum of ten thousand dollars ($10,000)
for the fiscal year ending February twenty-eighth, nineteen hun-
dred and fourteen; the said’ amounts to be expended in construc-
tion and equipment of building.

3. VWiwa the said colony shali be ready for the reception and
care of patienis, and as rapidly as accommodations can be pro-
vided, the said board of directors shall proceed to receive and
care for feeble-minded persons to the number of fifty. Those
indigent white persons who would be of greatest service to the
colony, who would in the judgment of the superintendent of the
colony be most likely to receive benefit from colony care and
training, and who are women of child-bearing age, from twelve
to forty-five vears of age, shall as far as practicable, be first re-
ceived. Congenial idiots are not to be admitted.

4. Upon the written complaint or information of any respec-
table citizen that any person in his county or corporation is
suspected of being feeble-minded and in need of institutional
care and custody, the said judge or justice shall issue his war-
rant ordering the alleged feeble-minded person to be brought be-
fore him, and he shall summon two licensed and reputable phy-
Sicians, one of whom shall, when practicable, be the physician
of the suspected person and neither of whom shall in any man-
ner be related to such person or have an interest in his or her
estate. The judge, or the justice, and the two physicians shall
constitute a commission to enquire whether such person be fee-
ble minded and a suitable subject for an institution for the care
and treatment of feeble minded persons, and for that purpose
the judge or justice may summon witnesses. The physician
shall in the presence of the judge or justice (when practicable)
by personal examination of such person and by inquiry satisfv
themselves and the judge or justice as to the mental and phy-
sical condition of the person under examination. The deposi-
tion of all witnesses, physicians, and so forth, shall be taken under

oath and in writing and signed by the judge or justice, presid-
ing. The term ‘feeble minded” herein used includes all grades
of imbeciles, but not idiots.

». If the commission is satisfied that the person under ex-
amination is feeble minded or an imbecile their report shall
consist of answers to such interrogatives as may be formulat-
ed by the superintendent of the colony for the feeble minded,
with such additional information and statements bearing on
the case as the commission may be able to obtain, and together
with the following:

Commonwealth of Virginia,
County or city of —___—-__, to-wit:

Whereas, —__—_—, who is suspected of being feeble-minded,
was this day brought before us —————_—__,, judge, or a justice
of said county and ——————— and ——————_,, two physicians
(said ———————- being the physician of said suspected person),
constituting a commission to inquire Whether the said
be feeble minded and a suitable subject for an institution for
the care, training and treatment of feeble minded persons;
and whereas, we the said physicians, have, in the presence (as
far as practicable) of the said judge, or justice, by personal
examination of said ———————_,, suspected of being feeble mind-
ed, and by inquiry and examination of witnesses satisfied our-
selves as to the mental condition of the said ———————, we
the said judge, or justice, and physicians constituting the com-
mission aforesaid, do decide that the said —_—————— is feeble
minded, and ought to be confined in an institution for the feeble
minded.

Given under our hands this
nineteen hundred and

day of ———__—__—_—_—__,

Judge or justice of peace.
Medical doctor.
Medical doctor.

commission.
Commonwealth of Virginia.
County or city of ———————-_ to-wit:
To a superintendent of the poor of the ————_——- of

and to -——————— the superintendent of the Virginia Colony for
the feeble minded, greetings:

Whereas, J ———————— a justice or a judge, of said county of
—_——_——, and —————_, and ———_, two physicians, the
said —__———— being the physicians to the said ———_——_—_,
constituting a commission of inquiry, etc., into the mental con-
dition of said ———————,, have this dav adjudged the said
—__—_————— to be feeble minded and a suitable subject for an
institution for the care and treatment of feeble minded persons,
and a citizen of this state, and without means of support; and no
person appearing before me to give bond with sufficient security
to be approved by me, pavable to the commonwealth, with con-
dition to restrain and take proper care of the said feeble minded
person, without cost to the said commonwealth, until the cause
of confinement shall cease for the said feeble minded person,
is delivered to the superintendent of the colony for the feeble
minded, [| —————————- do, in the name of the said common-
wealth, command you the said superintendent of the poor to
make provisions for the suitable and proper care and custody
of the said feeble minded person; provided that a jail is not
used for such purpose; and vou, the said superintendent of the
colony for the feeble minded, are hereby required to receive into
the said colony, and into your care and charge, if there be a
vacancy In the said colony, the said ————— to be treated and
cared for as a feeble-minded person; and I do herewith trans-
mit to you, the said superintendent of the colony for the feeble-
minded, the interrogatives and answers thereto, taken by said
commission, touching the mental condition of said ———————-,
and also the adjudication of the mental condition of the said
—_—__—___—_——,, a copy of each of which has this day been de-
livered by me to the clerk of the court, of the said county or
city. Given under my hand this day of ——————__, 191.
Judge, or justice of the peace.

The record of the proceedings touching the feeble-minded-
ness of any person, together with the warrant of commitment
and answers to the interrogatives, shall be made in the du-
plicate, one copy of which shall be delivered or sent by the
judge or justice, to the superintendent of the colony for the
feeble-minded, and the other copy filed in the office of the clerk
of the circuit or corporation court.

6. All the provisions of chapter seventy-five of the Code of
Virginia, Pollard, and the acts amendatory thereof and supple-
mentary thereto in relation to the admission of patients to the
hospitals for the insane of this state, not in conflict with the
provisions of this act, and all the provisions of said Code and
acts, amendatory thereof, in relation to the government and
operation of the hospitals for the insane and duties of the com-
missioner and the boards of directors of State hospitals, so far
as practicable, apply in construction, organization, maintenance,
control and operation of the colony hereby created and estab-
lished, and all the powers and duties now conferred or devolved
by law upon circuit and corporation judges and the justices of
the neace and other officers and examining physicians of this
State, in relation to the examination, judicial inquiries, orders
judgment and applicable to commitment of white persons com-
mitted to hospitals for the insane in this state shall, as far as
practicable apply to the persons committed or to be examined
for commitment to the colony hereby established, except that
no feeble minded person shall be committed to any jail.

All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of
this act are hereby repealed.