What was it like in July of 1905? HOT! That describes the weather. It was enough to drive a person batty, so to speak. And it was no different for the McNultys. When James Patrick McNulty returned home from a trip, he found his wife “deranged.” And things only went down hill from there. Tiffany Blue chronicles the events that lead up to Emma’s break down on July 8, 1905. McNulty wrote about the event that included screaming fits of rage from Emma and she applied a buggy whip freely to all who approached her.
McNulty wrote:
I went to Las Vegas to inquire about the grant case and on my return on the twelfth, I found my wife to be unbalanced or as I might say deranged. I agreed with her in everything for that week. The following week I was obliged to take her to the Sanitarium in Santa Fe which cost me about eighty dollars paid in advance. They kept her for two weeks and on July fourth I was compelled to take her to the asylum at Las Vegas where I had to pay in advance the amount of ninety dollars. No one was allowed to see her after she entered the institution. I fear she will never recover.
Emma’s son died in the early 1900s and this possibly led to her unhinged state.
December, 2007 in real time (or July, Summer, of 1905)
