I recently found an intake document for Moses Millsap, who was our first patient on Sept 23, 1879. I can’t figure out what the highlighted word is:

The rest I can read: “….of M.M. Millsap you will find with one Robt. Burke.”

That’s very interesting, because Robert Burke was another patient who came on that very same day. I wrote about these two individuals in my Pueblo Lore article: The First Eleven Asylum Patients (August 2022).

Robert Burke was quite the character and stayed at the hospital until he died in 1912. Well, he did escape at least once, but came back willingly after living in the mountains for a couple weeks.

My theory about the above document was that Robert Burke was in some way responsible for Moses Millsap, perhaps taking care of his possessions or something. Burke was a smart man, and I’d like to think he was looking out for a fellow inmate.

But that first word there is a mystery to me….

Update May 25, 2023:

Okay, so I just heard from wonderful Judy McGinnis at the Pueblo County Historical Society and she found out the word is … “Mittimus”! It’s a “warrent of commitment”, usually to prison, but in this case, an asylum.

Moses was our first patient: #1. Robert Burke was technically #3, but only because he let two guys go ahead of him in line (I’m kidding–that’s total speculation on my part at this time)…. Well, at least that’s my updated theory on this. I’ll probably end up writing a book about these guys eventually, and this may be one of the clues to understanding them better.