The Evansville journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1834-184?, 1844-03-07
THE CASE OF AMELIA NORMAN
DESCRIBED BY Mrs. CHILD.


MIS- Cn1LD, whose moral courage,and be-
nevolsnce. inthe case of Amelia Norman has
been quite remarkable, has made state
ment of the case,-in Which size makes the
following eloquent, and forcible remarks:
Mr. Sanford likewise found ihe first sedu-
Ger in the Bible, in the person of.our mother
Eve, and said the person had bee busy with
inc sex ever since. lie drew a lively picture
poor innocent men tempted betrayedand
prosecuted by wonien.- This was putting.
the saddle on the wrong horse with venge-
anee! And he himself afterwards implied
as much; for he reminded the jury thai there
aVere twelve thousand prostitutes ia aes
York, supported by money that came from
our citizens; and added, that all these pros
tltutes had the same wrongs to revenge on
somebody. He asked the jury whether if
would be worse to have the virtue OF
their daughters ruined, or their yeung and
generous sons brought home stabbed by the
hands of prostitutes? If this precedent
were established, he feared hat stangers
visiting New York would stumble over the
dead bodies of citizens, al the very TIRES
holds OF tileir own doors.
II had no doubt that if all deeply injured
women were to undertake to redress their
wrongs in this bad way, there would be a
huge pile ofdead citizens. [ even thought
it not impossible that some of the honorable
court themselves might be among the miss
ing.1 was aware that ribs all around the
room felt unsafe in view of this picture the
pleader lad drawn. 1t unquestionably was
an argument that came home TO meu's husi-
ness and bosoms. Yet fell no very active
pity for their terrors. Indignantly asked
what had been done to the twelve thousand
men, who made those poor creatures prost-
tutes? | remembered that strangers visit
ing our city continually stumble on some
thing worse than dead bodies, viz: degraded.
ruined souls, in the forms Of those twelve
thousand prostitutes; and asked, What do,
claw and order" do for them? Mr.. Sanford
declared that women could take care of
themselves as well as men. Perhaps so;
but his twelve thousand facts show that men
do not take care Of themselves; and he urg-
ed that generous YOUTH were continually
led astray by this band of prostitutes, though
| of course, the temptation must be merely
animal, unmingled with the seductive infu-
ence of the affections, which so often leads
woman to ruin, through the agency of her best
impulses
ale said that betryed women had redress
at the civil law. never hear that assertion
without burning indignation. What is the
redress for broken heart, blighted reputa-
ton, the desertion of friends, the loss of re-
spectacle employment, the scorn and Kissing
of the world? Why, the woman must ac-
knowledge herself the servant of somebody,
who may claim wages for her lost time!-
With indignation and scorn, appeal TO COM
mon justice, against legal fiction-this i'm
pudent assumption that am chattel per-
sonal. 1t is standing insult to woman
kind and had we not become the slaves we
are deemed in law, we should rise en- nasse,
in the majesty of moral power, and sweep
that contemplate insult from the statue
book
"Let me not be understood as hoping
much from penalties. They will be cheer
ing to me only as indications of public opn-
ion in the process of regeneration. By at
traction, and not by repulsion, must better
state of things be induced. In the mean
time, | protest against considering woman a
chattel, or plaything ;and ask men TO con-
slider we'll how fearfully this assumption is
avenged in their own domestic life, by hav-
ing mothers, wives, and daughters, who are
chattels and playthings. Here, and not else
where, lies The secret ofMr. Sanford's twelve
thousand dangers. He asks, ''What if they
were all armed, and abroad to redress then