Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1871-07-20
Child Torture in Illinois A Boy
Whipped to Death by his Father.
CHICAGO, Ill, July s

SlilCA0O3 LII, UuIy y.
The testimony taken before the Coron-
er's Jury on Saturday last, at Onarga,
Illinois, in the case of the boy whipped
and otherwise tortured to death by his
father, Martin Mera, reveals the crime OF
the latter to have been one of the most
fiendish and revolving in the history OF
the State. Mary Mera, the mother of the
child, testified as follows: My husband
Martin Mera, whipped my son Martin,
aged ten years, two weeks ago Tuesday
night; my babe was born on that day
and I did not see the whipping; it was
done in another room heard the blows
and heard the child beg for mercy; the
child then went to bed. About ten
o'clock next morning the child came to
my bed room, followed by his father who
was whipping him He whipped him
very hard with IA black snake horse-whip.
The child lodged around the room to
avoid the blows, and begged for mercy.
The child was completely naked, his
father having compelled him to strip him
self.
His face was swollen from the whipping
be had received the night before. His
father whipped him very hard for ten or
fifteen minutes. At last he stopped and
ordered the child to put on his shirt. He
made an effort to do SO and failed. Hi
father repeated the order when the boy
said. 4 can't see i'll can't see it You
can't see it ? responded the father. No.
father, [ can't see you'll can't see you,
and fell, dying.
The fend then rubbed the boy with
spirits and forced some down his throat
The child raised his hands, moved his
lips, and was dead. Mera then took the
body and put it under the bed where the
sick mother was lying, and it remained
there until evening, when he buried it IS
previously reported.
Sarah Mera, the daughter of the muir
derer, aged foucteen yearF, testified that
the father often whipped her brother very
severely with the horsewhip; on Tuesday,
two weeks ago, he brought my brother
said he had not worked and whipped
and knocked him down twice. Father
continued to whip him until he could not
stand up; he would whip the life out of
him. Two or three times he would say
this; and he would plead thus: Father,
don't whip me any more-Ob, don't whip
me any morew He was a good boy and
I loved him brother went to bed about
ten o'clock be said be did not know why
father whipped him so be never told
stories only when father made him :;
father would say thAt if he did not own
up that he had done so and so, he would
whip him, and to avoid it brother would
own to things he never did. On Wednes-
day l got up aud got breakfast read~
Father rose when breakfast was r. oa1,
and brother got up, bat felt 80 r. ,a,v, ~ :
he went back to bed. Fathp' noao h;ra
when he came back f.atber whipped him
and sent him to t,Ae field. He went for
him and brought him in and made him
take off his clothes and then whipped him.
and then picked him up and laid him on
the stove; was hot enough to heat an
iron; | was baking biscuit father put
him on the stove twice, brother pleading
all the while, "father, don't burn me !
don't burn me !" He screamed very loud.
and the skin stuck to the stove; his skin
came off from his back and his feet. and
it stuck to the stove; it smelled so that |
opened the door, and father i'm
mediately shut it while brother was
pleading, father said he would burr him
until he worked; have seen father strike
mother with his fists several times. He
knocked brother down several times with
the bait end of borsewhip. never saw
my brother after he went into mothers
room.
After the mother found her brute of a
husband was under arrest,
SHE TOLD THE WHOLE DREADFUL STORY
of the murder. The body of the bow was
found, and the terrible reality and atrocity
of the murder fully demonstrated.
The excitement was intense, and in
spite of the endeavors of the authorities,
Mera was taken from the Jail at Watseka,
and
HUNG ON A HUCKLEBERRY TREE,
just west of Sugar Greek, mile and a
half northwest of Watseka, by mob of
800 men, with men, women and children
following, amounting in the aggregate to
1000 persons. The foreman of the mob
was fellow called Doctor Daniels. il is
believed, of Gilman. They gave him
twenty minutes to say his prayers in, and
then this doctor put rope round his
neck, had men pull it through the; crotch
OF leaning tree and he held fast to the
end. drove the wagon he was in out from
under him, and
CHOKED HIM TO DEATH.
The doctor said they would hang him.
because he was only guilty of manslaugh-
ter and could not be hung by the law,
but deserved it and they would give it
70 him. The doctor shot two balls
through him after he was dead.