Gurthie May Patch
A guest comes down to the desk, dressed in her super soft and comfy pink plaid bathrobe and wants my opinion surrounding Gurthie May Patch’s death (she was the 24 year old psych patient that ‘jumped’ from the window of Rm 37B December 26, 1945). Said guest and her sister-in-law, both widows, are sharing Gurthie’s room tonight and have been laying in bed, mulling over the story they were told vs what is written on Gurthie’s death certificate provided by my fellow desk clerk after an earlier inquiry.
I share my theory and thought process in coming to my conclusion. The guest concurs with me. The guest, a retired ER nurse, said there is no way Gurthie suffered a ‘fracture of base of skull’ as was written and underlined as official cause of death, from jumping out the window, as many have said. The death certificate even lists external cause as: suicide. We discuss the manner in which Gurthie could have even reached the window. When this building was under renovation, a former hospital employee told the owner that Gurthie, a psychiatric patient~supposedly schizophrenic~would have/should have been sedated and/or restrained to the point of not being able to leave her bed on her own accord.
The guest said the cause of death injury results from being struck hard from behind or hitting something hard while in a backwards position. The chances that Gurthie sat on the window ledge and pushed herself out backwards~intentionally~are quite slim. The guest also said that Gurthie’s two fractured femurs would have resulted from a backwards fall, not a forward fall. Jumping, thus forward bound, would not have caused the injury that sent Gurthie to her ultimate demise.
We continue to discuss the inconsistencies surrounding Gurthie’s death, noteably, the timeline listed on the death certificate. Gurthie died at 2:49AM the morning of December 28, 1945, succumbing to her injuries 36 hours after her ‘suicide’. If my math is correct, this puts the suicide attempt at 2:49PM +- on December 26. Did someone see Gurthie ‘jump’? Was she found immediately after leaving that window ledge or was she there, on the stone cold December ground, up against the hillside of Mingus Mountain for some time before being discovered.
How often were rounds made to the psychiatric patients in this old hospital where there were only 4 rooms designated for this purpose? Was there a nurse or other hospital employee assigned to these patients, thus giving them constant eyes on care? This was a 52 bed hospital~quite small by today’s standards and considered state-of-the art in every fashion, including the best medical care. These patients were in individual rooms as opposed to an open ward, so plenty of doors to be closed, plenty of opportunity for secrecy.
One other troubling question surrounding Gurthie being a psychiatric patient: Was she truly in need of psychiatric care or any medical care, for that matter? Could she have been brought up here, to a remote hospital in an old mining town that was on the verge of shutting down, to hide her perhaps. Hide her condition, perhaps. It was not unusual for young, unmarried women (remember, Gurthie was 24), who may have been in a condition that was an embarrasement to the family~certainly a family of some social status or means~to be wisked away to a relative’s home in a far off community or state, thus hiding the embarrasement (so, so wrong..). Could this have been the case with young Miss Gurthie?
Many guests have told me that they feel as though a pressure has been placed on their shoulders while laying in the bed; some even feeling full body weight upon them, as though they are pinned down. Many have awakened from very vivid dreams where they felt violated. I too, after feeling Gurthie’s presence in that room, in that corridor, have come to the conclusion that she was violated and someone wanted to shut her up.
My guest and I are adamant: Gurthie was pushed.