The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-02-06
A From the Ohio Statesman
ASTOUNDINGD GDEPRAVITY.

Hearsiess Cruelty 20 n Girl Only Sew
en- Years OId-A Mother Rsnsts Her
ChiId,s Hauds-Compels her TO Eat
Rxeremeni-The Father Chokes Her
Untii she Is Dumb.
: We doubt that if in the entire annals
of brutalized humanity, anything so
terribly brutal and heartless was ever
recorded rs the case we give below.
Thomas Blackburn, living in Middle
town, or West Columbus, when he left
the army, married, it is said, q widow
with one child, a little girl of now about
wears. He and his wife have, for
long time past, pursued a system OF
beating and torturing for this poor hit
rle thing the like of, which was never
before known, They had systematic
arrangement, seemingly, by which the
4 tortures were never to be ceased The.
mother beating her during the day, and
the stepfather continuing IL at night. .
On one occasion, for some little act OF
disobedience, the mother whipped her
with O rolling-pin, sIId because the
child cried ont loud, this she-deyil
roasted the childs hands upon the red
hot stove until the flesh was charred
black to the bone. Tho father coming
home that same night whipped her most
lbrutally for moaning, and because she
cried, choked her dumb. n.a "a.
| AT another time, when from the con-
tinued punishments she was SO weak as
to be unable to rise from her, bed, she
did void her exerement rs she lay, and
this fieEd-this unnatural mother-com-
pelled her to get up and eat the filth!
Can the mind conceive anything
more horriblei Would any OF our
readers believe such mother had ex-
istence ottsideo of helli ''E'7s.
For some three or four weeks the
neighbors. have had their suspicious
that all was not right in the family OF
Blackburn, and that they were trying
to murder the child, though nothing
could be learned from her, for her mouth
was closed through fear. On Saturday,
suspicion of wrong became certainty,
and some of the humane ladies' OF the
neighborhood determined on an invest
tigation, during the absence Of the
father. The result was the arrest of the
parents and the developments above
given. < &C..
The appearance of. the poor little
thing is horrible. Not an inch Of its
body has escaped, and exhibits mass
of sores, scars and welts, and the slight
est movement causes the most exquisite
agony. When Marshal Murphy, who
arrested Blackburn, was moving the
child to the Sisters Hospital, where it
now is, he was obliged to get o woman
to carry it in her arms; its condition
was such that it could not endure even
the jolting of the carriage.
Drs. White, Boyle and Flowers, were
called in and rendered the little suf-
ferer every assistance in their power.
1t is the opinion of the last two named
physicians that the skull is fractured.
So indignant were the citizens OF
Middletown when the fearful truth was
made known, that Blackburn narrowly
escaped his well-merited death at their
hands. As it is, they left marks Of their
honest indignation upon his body that
he will carry to the grave.
Blackburn, it is said, was formerly
Lieutenant in the Third Ohio Battery.
What punishment should be metcd
out to such devils incarnate Hanging
is certainly too good for them, may
their pernicious souls rot, half grain
day."