Chapter 5: The Butler

How Not to Neutralize a Threat

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Release Date: July 23, 2024

When 21-year-old Aimee Henry told nurse Alice Bell that her guardian, Mary Martha Parker Taylor, might be her natural mother, she had no idea what she was in for or how that one moment would change her life forever. 

Mary Martha, you see, was fiercely protective of her family lineage, reputation, and, most importantly, the generational wealth passed down through the Parker name. So, when Aimee said she thought the two of them might be family — Mary Martha saw it as a personal, social and financial threat. 

And she jumped into action.

With the pretense of providing Aimee some time and space to recover, Mary Martha convinced Aimee to travel with her and Archibald to Providence, Rhode Island, where they'd spend some time at the luxurious Narragansett Hotel before traveling to their summer house in upstate New York.

Several weeks into their stay, however, Mary Martha and Archibald suggested the three of them take a short drive to a lovely old estate they'd heard about at the eastern edge of town. 

As they passed under the wrought iron arch and entered the beautifully landscaped grounds of Butler Hospital, it was unlikely Aimee realized the precariousness of her own future. Because, despite its innocuous name, Butler Hospital wasn't just a hospital; it was a lunatic asylum. And Mary Martha had brought Aimee there to be committed. 

And her attorney husband knew just how to do it.

Not that getting a female declared a lunatic was very difficult.

Hysteria was still a recognized mental diagnosis and grounds for commitment back then. The vague symptoms — nervousness, shortness of breath, anxiety, fainting, insomnia, irritability, agitation, and sexual forwardness — made it possible for thousands of women to be locked up in lunatic asylums for little more than voicing their opinions, going against societal norms, disagreeing with their husbands or simply not being men. 

One such woman was Mary Breckenridge from Massachusetts. Described in an 1895 Boston Globe story as "a woman of refinement, education, and property," Mary went to live with her son in New York after the death of her husband. She got involved in a local mission, to which the newspaper reported she'd given liberally of both her money and time. And it was there she'd met a 19-year-old theatrical stagehand named Arthur Helf in the winter of 1894. ¹

According to the Globe, the conversation went something like this:

 "Are you a Christian?" she asked him, holding out her hand. 

"Well, no, I'm not a Christian," he said, "but I like to be good when I can. When a man hasn't any folks and no work, and he is in hard luck, it's pretty hard for him to be good."

Mary immediately offered Arthur a job unpacking and arranging furniture and carpets at her son's home.

Then the whirlwind romance began.

Two days after Arthur began working for Mary, he moved into her home. Two weeks later, she proposed marriage and they were married the following week in New York.

The marriage license listed the groom as 21, and the 48-year-old bride as just 31.

When the newlyweds shared their happy news with Mary’s family, her son and siblings were "dreadfully shocked." A family meeting was called, and the verdict was unanimous — Mary had lost her ever-loving mind. 

The family had Mary declared "unquestionably insane" and promptly committed her to Brooklyn's Amityville Lunatic Asylum. It's unknown when — or if — she ever regained her freedom.

Mary Martha must have believed getting Aimee declared insane and committed was the best way to neutralize the threat her statement to Alice Bell represented. Even if she only stayed institutionalized for a short time, everything she had ever said about their relationship — and anything she might say in the future — would be discounted as the words of a certified lunatic. 

That Aimee herself might be negatively impacted by the experience likely never crossed Mary Martha's mind.

A matron in a heavily starched uniform walked Aimee into the bowels of the asylum, then ushered her into a large, paneled consulting room. Aimee would later recall the room was furnished with red leather chairs and polished mahogany furniture. It had all the trappings of a standard sitting room, but there were bars on all the windows, and at one end of the dark space, there was a long table behind which several stern-looking men were seated.

The barrage of questions began almost immediately.

What did you say? What do you know? What have you heard? What can you prove? And who are you to level such accusations against someone like Mrs. Archibald Taylor?

Then came the gaslighting.

You're exhausted. You've been ill. You're confused. You're seeking attention. And we know you've always been a liar.

As the attempts to intimidate and disorient Aimee continued, one thing must have become apparent — she was about to be committed.

Aimee likely knew something about what took place behind the locked doors of insane asylums — such discussions may have been part of her coursework at nursing school — so she knew what was at stake. 

As the examination continued, her demeanor likely began to change. She may have become submissive, agreeable, and apologetic. Maybe she slumped down in the straight-back chair. And when her examiners announced she needed to return the next day and begin her confinement, Aimee may have quietly acquiesced.

In truth, however, she'd already hatched a plan to ensure her safety and freedom. 

Copyright 2024, Lori Olson White

So, what do you think? Let’s get together in the comments and talk about this latest twist, and what you think might happen next!

"In all of us there is a hunger, marrow deep, to know our heritage - to know who we are and where we came from. Without this enriching knowledge, there is a hollow yearning. No matter what our attainments in life, there is still a vacuum, an emptiness, and the most disquieting loneliness." — Alex Haley, Roots

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Chapter Endnotes

¹ “Old, but she Married a Lad: Mental State of Mary Breckenridge to be Inquired Into”, Boston Globe, Boston, MA March 27, 1895, P. 3.

² “International Feature Service, Inc. Great Britain, “Astonishing Secrets behind the Morecroft Fight for Millions — and the Bar Sinister; Sworn Statement of the Dainty Divorcee that She is the Natural Daughter of Rich “400” Widow, Whose Vast Estates She Would Share after Harrowing Experiences in Schools, Hospitals and Sanitariums while kept in the Dark,” Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN, November 25, 1928.