Walter S. Bingaman

1876 - 1925  (48 years)

• Name	Walter S. Bingaman
  Birth	11 Nov 1876
  Gender	Male
  LEGL	23 Jul 1909	Dixmont Insane Asylum
  	Dr. W. S. Bingaman Says He Was Kidnapped Pittsburgh Physician, Formerly of Chester County, Stirs Up A Sensation By Writing Letter From Asylum. Says a Pittsburgh special of July 22d: Dr. Walter S. Bingaman, a wealthy young physician, after having been summarily locked up in Dixmont Insane Asylum after his family had objected to his courtship of Miss Katherine Frank, a nurse, when they had their hearts set on his marrying a wealthy East End girl, Has mysteriously disappeared from the asylum. The nurse is missing today. Dr. Bingaman, while in the asylum, made several vain efforts to have Dr. C. C> Wiley examine him, in order to accomplish his release. Dr. Bingaman's committment to and release from the asylum probably will be investigated by State authorities. In the latter to Miss Frank, Dr. Bingaman said: "I am in the Dixmont Asylum. Three men came to my house, and after telling me that they had a sick friend, brought me to this place. I am not crazy. My father and mother want me to marry that East End girl. "Dearest, they may keep me here for the rest of my life, but I will never throw you over. I want you to communicate with Dr. C. C> Wiley, the insanity expert, and have him come down here and examine me." WELL KNOWN HERE The Bingaman family of Pittsburgh is well known in this county, having lived in Uwchlan township years ago. The members are connected with the Wolerton family, formerly of this borough.
  LEGL	23 Jul 1909	Pittsburgh, Allegheny Co., PA
  	ODD FELLOWS SEEK DOCTOR'S RELEASE Prominent Pittsburgh Physician Detained in an Asylum and Friends Believe Him Sane Special to the Inquirer. Pittsburgh, PA. July 22. Dr. Walter S. Bingaman, boyhood friend of Harry K. Thaw and one of the leading young society of physicians of Pittsburgh, has been placed in Dixmont Insane Asylum and the case promises to develop into a sensation. The nervous breakdown appears to have been aggravated by his infatuation for Katherine Frank, a pretty German nurse who attended some of his patients. Bingaman writes the nurse from Dixmont that he is held there because he would not marry a rich East End girl instead of herself. Friends of the young physician, however, are inclined to question his incarceration, and today members of the Order of Odd Fellows called on Dr. C. F. Bingaman, an uncle, and on J. F. Bingaman, demanding that the case be re-opened. Dr. Walter Bingaman is a member of this order, and his lodge mates assert that they will go into court and ask that he be brought into court on a writ and his sanity inquired into. His close friend, Dr. Harry M. Goehring, with whom he had been associated on many cases and who was treating him at the time he was adjudged insane, has come out with a statement that he does not think Bingaman was insane. "Purely some nervous trouble," said Goehring. Dr. Bingaman was adjudged insane by Dr.s W. F. Edmundson and J. H. McClelland, recognized medical authorities throughout the country. Miss Frank, the nurse, who received a long letter from Bingaman written from the asylum, said tonight in tears: "I know Dr. Bingaman as a physician. I handled some cases for him, and when his nerves gave way, I helped attend him. but I have never had any thought of marrying him."
  LEGL	3 Feb 1910	Pittsburgh, Allegheny Co., PA
  	FROM ASYLUM DIRECT TO ALTAR Young Dr. Bingman Will Marry the Pittsburgh Who Rescued Him From Dixmont Secret Society Takes a Hand Says a Pittsburgh special of February 2: Dr. Walter S. Bingaman, a young physician of this city, and a nephew of Dr. D. F. Bingaman, a millionaire and one of the best-known physicians of Western Pennsylvania, was released from Dixmont Insane Asylum yesterday. The family is well known in Chester county. He has been incarcerated since June 22 last because, according to his story, he refused to break his engagement with a pretty, but poor, nurse, and marry a wealthy young woman of the East End, who had been selected fro him. Dr. Bingaman declared today he would marry his nurse sweetheart, Miss Catherine Frank, some time during the present week. After their marriage they propose to shake the dust of Pittsburgh and establish themselves in some southern city. At 5 o'clock on the morning of June 22 an automobile stopped at the home of Dr. Bingaman, 2005 Forbes street, and the young physician was called from his bed at the request of "Senator Hutchinson." THe "Senator" informed the physician that his sister was very ill, and requested Dr. Bingaman to accompany him. The "Senator" was accompanied by two other men. Immediately after Dr. Bingman had entered the machine, the high-speed gear was thrown on, and in a short time he was landed in Dixmont. He stated today that he had been allowed to see no person, except those who wished to break his engagement, and had been informed times without number if he would agree to give up Miss Frank he would be released immediately. Dr. Bingaman requested that a lunacy commission be appointed to pass upon his mental condition, and he says he was informed that a commission already had examined him, and he had been declared to be suffering from a nervous disorder. Through the judicious use of money, Dr. Bingaman, July 7 last, managed to smuggle out a letter to his sweetheart, informing her of his plight. She went to see a member of the Bingaman family, who, she says, informed her that the young physician was tired of her. Angry at this information, Miss Frank snatched the diamond engagement ring from her finger, threw it at her sweetheart's relative, and left the house in a huff. Later she relented and appealed to a secret society of which Dr. Bingaman is a member, requesting the assistance of the Order to have him released. After months of work, they managed on opening the doors of Dixmont, but only after threatening the widest publicity of the whole case if the doctor was not released. The Dixmont authorities refuse to discuss the case. Dr. C. F. Bingaman declares his nephew was not well and needed a rest, but it was not until today he would acknowledge that he had been in Dixmont.
  Death	23 May 1925
  Burial	Allegheny Cemetery, Pittsburgh, Allegheny Co., PA
  	FindAGrave Memorial 122192214
  Person ID	I3637	EC Roots
  Last Modified	22 Jun 2025

  
  

  Father	Joseph Phillips Bingaman,   b. 27 Oct 1839   d. 25 Jan 1920 (Age 80 years)
  Mother	Frances Seward Slagle,   b. 5 Jul 1851   d. Aft 1883 (Age 32 years)
  Marriage	18 Sep 1873	Fairfield, IA
  Family ID	F1260	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart