Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1859-02-08
MORNING LEADER.
slaughter of the Innocents

People i'll the country have but slight ide'
how the folks in large cities live and die, bu
the following extract from chapter on Do
mestics, with slight insight into the way pau
per infants are reared in New York, taken from
the Tribune of the 5th, lifts the veil to mos
cruel and sickening scene, quite too common il
the great city sinks of corruption, crime, anG
misery. Mr.. J. W. Barker, No I52, East Thir
ty-fourth street, employed domestic named
Mary Fitch, who stole clothing to large
amount from the family, and deposited it with
Mrs. Mary Cullough, living on the same street
The Police ferreted out the hiding place of the
property, and arrested the two Marys, who had
laid plan to rob Mr. Barker of his plate. We
quote:
In the course of their examination of the
premises, Messrs. Barker and Stokely found
three little cradles in dark bedroom, and draw.
ing them out to the light, discovered that they
contained three infants. The little creatures
we're covered with filth, and seemed not to have
been washed for several days. The beds on
which the lay were rotten with foulness, and
the rags which covered them but little better :
Each of them lay quiet and mouonless as death.
They did not have strength enough to cry. If
you pinched them or rolled them over they gave
no motion nor sign of life. The Oldest was said
to be 2s months, the youngest 13. Every one
of then was absolutely living skeleton, and
the largest would not weigh more than a heal
thy, robust babe of three months Their little
limbs were not much over an inch in diameter
H. A. A : IL. Il
shadowy arms were little hands that looked like
birds claws, One of the wretched creatures
lay upon its side, with the thick part of its left
arm in its mouth, from which it appeared to
daw its principal nutriment During the days
and months in which it had lain in this posi-
ton it had sucked away at the limb until the
flesh had grown up to the size and shape and
appearance of large, raw nipple They had
evidently been drugged, as usual, to keep them
quiet, and their great, wide, staring eyes, which
were the only signs of life about them, were va
cant as idiots. 1t was painful, yes, horri-
bic sight to witness-these three suffering and
and helpless little old people. rs
"Who are these, in Heavens name?' in
quired the gentlemen. 'Please, Sir, they be the
children missus takes to nurse for the Aims
House, and I'm the girl she hires TO look after
'em, y replied slatternly looking girl. "What
does she get for taking care of them" they
asked. stA dollar piece for 'em, every week,
Sir" and then the girl explained that Mrs.
Cullough was one Of the outdoor nurses EN-
ployed by the Aims Governors, and showed the
gentlemen the nice rolls of diaper, Aanneling,
muslins, and punches of warm stockings which
the Alms-House people furnished for their COM
fort. The girl said that this supply was re-
newed every three months. Yet these children
were naked, and covered up with old, filthy
rags. ar;5 -1at g snt IAsiI g. Hae
/ Does any visitor come to see the childrenl'
"Oh, yes, sir, said the girl; "Mrs Frost comes
once a month, and Mr. Maloney, one of the
Guv'ners, he comes here often, too"
When our reporter called at the house in
company with Mr.. StoIIely. en- Thursday, he
found that the wonlan szh;sll M 7Hs.F Hss- L.
employed - taks care of the children, in the alb
sence of Mrs Cullough, had stirred around and
put the little mannikins into clean dresses. As
if expecting visit from the powers that be. thG
two children of Mrs. Cullough were LETT as dirty
and ragged as usual, to lead the visitor to think
swell, this woman is good nurse after all
"see, she neglects her own children to care fol
"ours."
But the cotton frocks could not hide the vast
ed skeletons that moved under them. In few
"ecAS 'neJ "At Al al PfOO1oility DC uuil hS
corded as having died of marasmus. How
many more of ''the children of the city," arr
slowly murdered by misusage and neglect in thi
same cruel way aE Hs
Yesterday the Aims House officers removed
the children, when it transpired that Mrs CuI
Tough had been drawing pay for four children
The fourth child, Mrs. CullOugh says, was takel
some weeks ago by friend in Third Avenue
| who had lost her own child aud wished for thi
one, which looked so much like it, to snpply it
place. III .--.- 1.
Mrs. Cullough and Mary Fitch were commit
ted for trial for grand larceny by Justice Quack
enbush.