Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1867-02-19
N0RTHERN CIVILIZATION.
Chapters First and Second. aaa

We commence this week a regular series
of events, showing in its true light, the rapid
progress of Northern civilization. From week
to week, we expect to entertain our readers
with similar evidences OF the high point in,
human. progress reached by our brethren of
the pious North:
CHAPTER l.
Heartzess Cruelty to a Girzonly tSevqn Years
Odd 1Iother Roasts Her C,hIds
Hq4ds- C0mpcls He1. to Eat E:rcrepeent-
Tie Father GtoAes Her Until She as
Dumb ......,.
We doubt that if in the entire annals of
brptalized humanity, anything SO terribly
brutal and hcartless was ever recorded as the
case we give below. Thomas Blackburn,
living in NIiddletown, or West Columbus,
when he left the army, married, it is said, a
widow with one child, little girl of now
about seven years. He and his wife have,
for a long time past, pursued system Of
beating and torturing for this poor little thing
the like of which was never before known.
They had a systematic arrangement, SEEM
ingly, by which the tortures were never to be
ceased. The mother beating her during the
day, and the stepfather continuing it at night
On one occasion, for some little act of dis
obedience, the mother whipped her with a
rolling pin, and because the child cried out
loud, this shcdevil roasted the child's hands
upon the red hot stove until the flesh WAS
charred black to the bone. The father com
ing home that same night whipped her most
brutally for moaning, and because she cried,
choked her dumb
AZ onofbar tiu,o IUbo,, Tro,,o tl,o oor
punishments she was SO weak as to be unable
to rise from her bed, she did void her cxcre.'
ment as she lay, and this fend-this unnat-
ural mother-compeiied her to get up and
cat the filth
Can the mind conceive anything more hor-
rible? Would any of our readers believe
such a mother had existence outside of hell -?
For some three or four weeks the neigh.
bors have had their suspicious that all was
not right in the family Of Black burn, and that
they were trying to murder the child, though
nothing could be learned from her, for her
mouth was closed through fear. On Satur>
day, suspicion of wrong became certainty, and
and some of the humane ladies Of the neigh
borhood determined on an investigation, du-
ring the absence of the father. The result
was the arrest of the parents and the develop
ments above given.
AAS appCdIuuCG VI Luc poor lLLle IhllS IS
horrible. Not an inch of its body has es-
capped, and exhibits a mass of sores, scars ard
welts, and the slightest movement causes the
most exquisite agony When Marshal MUIR
ply, who arrested blackburn, was moving
the child to the Sisters Hospital, where it
now is, he was obliged to get woman to car
ry 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 call
ed in and rendered the little Sufferer every
assistance in their power. It is the opinion
of the last two named physicians that the
skull is fractured.
So indignant were the citizens of Middle
town when the fearful truth was made known
that Blackburn narrowly escaped his we'll
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 Lieu
tenant in the Third Ohio Battery.
What punishment should be meted out to
such devils incarnatc? Hanging is certainly
too good for them, ''may their pcrnicious
souls rot, half grain day. Ohio States
man.