Medicine: Train Ride

The strangest train in the U.S. rattled out of Sacramento one steamy afternoon last week on a dolorous journey across the country. As it headed south through California, the nine old cars (mostly Pullmans) grew to 14, and the passengers swelled to 220. For each passenger, there was a special packet of tranquilizer drugs; the train also carried a converter to supply current for electric shock treatment. It was the twice-yearly scheduled trip of California's mental-patient deportation train, run to rid the state of those unlucky enough to be committed during their first year of residence before they can qualify for...

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