Napa State Hospital v. County of Solano

This is an action to recover the cost of caring for one John Welsh, who was adjudged to be insane. The cause was tried by the court without a jury, and it was found that defendant was not indebted to plaintiff in the sum claimed, or any other sum. Judgment passed in favor of defendant for costs, from which and from the order denying its motion for a new trial, plaintiff appeals.

It appears that in the year 1885, Welsh was charged by information, duly filed in the county of Solano, with the crimes of burglary and grand larceny; that on February 12, 1885, Welsh “came to the bar of the superior court for arraignment upon said charges,” but was not in fact arraigned; “that thereupon on the twelfth day of February, 1885, a doubt having arisen as to the sanity of said Welsh, when said . defendant so came to the bar of the court for arraignment,” the court “ordered the question of the sanity of said Welsh to be submitted to a jury, and all further proceedings upon said information were suspended pending the determination of his sanity by a jury”; Welsh was found to be insane and the court ordered him to be committed to the Napa State Asylum (now called Napa State Hospital), where he was…