Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1855-06-12
Horrible Outrage.

The Chicago Free Press announces q horrible
outrage upon young girl at Michigan City-by
one Childs-formerly of Kalamazoo, (MichiganD
who kept In Michigan city house ofbad repute
Thursday night Scotch girl, of good habits aud
reputation, arrived at Michigan city, on one Of the
trains and inquired for an engineer on the New Al
bany and Salem Railroad, to whom II was afterwards
ascertained that she is engaged to be married The
runners Of Child's house across her, and told
her that the man she asked for was out on the
road, but would be in that night, and that he
boarded at Child's house, where she would meet
him If she went there. The story was utterly
false, the man has never boarded there, but the
unsuspecting girl went with the scoundrels. She
laid Off her outside garments and ate some supper,
in paying for which she showed that sha had some
money, and also that she wore gold rings on her
fingers and in her ears
Some time after supper, Mrs. Childs offered her
a glass Of wine, socially, saying that 1t was Of
ride.
Mrs Childs, and another woman living ut tho
house, calling herself Mrs. Kimball have the repu
tation which women inhabiting such house might
naturally be supposed to bear.
The girl imprudenty drank the wine, although
she observed that Mrs. Chids drank none of it her.
self In less than ten minutes she thinks she fell
asleep very much against her inclination. When
she awoke she found herself in a barn upon some
hay, her person violated her purse and rings gone,
and her earrings actually torn out of her ears.
She tried to get up but not able to rise to her
feet. Soon after, Mrs. Childs and Mrs. Kimball
came to the barn with candle and looked at her,
but said nothing, and left her again in the dark.
As soon as she recovered so to be able to walk,
she CROPPED her way out of the barn, and went to
house in the neighborhood, where she told her sad
story, and was properly cared for.
Warrants were Immediately issued for the arrest
of the three men, but it ascertained that only
Childs was in the place; the others had gone off
on some of the night trains. Close watch was kept
upon the house in hopes the two might return, and
also to prevent the escape of Childs As they had
not returned by Saturday night, and as the people
feared Chids would manage to escape the next
day, it was resolved to take him, and search the
house. A large crowd went to the house, and
Childs hearing them coming, retreated to the gar
ret, where he was pursued. As one of the party
was mounting through the scuttle, Childs struck
him from above with knife, splitting one of his
thumbs, and causing him to drop down to the floor
below. Others mounted, but Childs, taking ad-
vantage of the confusion, kicked off the siding
the gable end, and jumped twenty feet into the
back yard, unseen by the crowd, and escaped. In
his fall he dropped revolver, each of the six bar
rels loaded and capped, and large dirk knife and,
in his haste, left them where they fell.
The crowd was so Infatuated at his escape, that
In spite of the remonstrance Of the more temperate
they commenced destroying the furniture, aud in
short time carried everything in the house out
into the street. where they piled it into heaps, and
burnt 1t to ashes. The windows were all knocked
out, many of the doors were battered down, and
every article of crockery shivered to atoms. All
day Sunday the town and suburbs were secured
in search of Childs without success
II appears that the owner Of the house. a very
estimable old Quaker, living about six miles from
the city, is glad enough to have the house cleared
of its tenants, even at the pecuniary loss TO HIM
self in doors and windows, and the community has
other feeling than that of satisfaction that the
miserable villains are routed.
The two women, Mrs. Childs and Mrs Kimball,
are still in the place and are not molested. We
do not give the names of the unfortunate girl and
the engineer and hope they will not find their way
into the public prints
The party who ransacked the house was not an
ordinary mob, but a company Of respectable citi-
zens many, If not the most Of them, young men
Of quiet and good habits. They were led TO make
the attack on the house by the commission Of an
outrage on the premises unequaled In the annals
Of cowardly and damnsble ylany.