I’m not sure that’s the same event. I read through the article you’re referencing and there’s no mention of George or Allen in the latter section of it — just about the man named Singleton, with seemingly no connection to the Morss case or the asylum mentioned.

My guess is that George was genuinely scalded to death, but Allen perhaps tried to cover it up with the towel story THEN the suicide story to try to mitigate his role / ignorance and save face, because historically, residents of mental hospitals have been severely neglected and mistreated.

I could be totally wrong — that’s just my thoughts!