The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1873-07-25
A Female Thug.
HORRIBLE TREATMENT OF A CHILD BY ITS
MOTHER.

HORRIBLE TREATMENT Of n SiAi-b ID 49, /
MOTHER.
An affair was reported by the police yes
ter1lay, which, as stated, is an exhibition
of the most fiendish cruelty on the part of
a parent toward a child, almost unparal-
leled in the annals of crime, In tins or any
other State. In consequence OF Intorma-
tion received from various persons residing
in the neighborhood, Mary Noel, a colored
woman, living on Sixteenth street, between
Christy avenue and Orange, was arrested
on Sunday night by Detective Hennessey-
About eight o'clock Sunday morning the
colored people who inhabit that quarter
were awakened by piteous cries proceeding
from a second story room in the rear OF the
row of rickety frame buildings which front
Sixteenth strcet-moans and cries, ''Oh,
God. have mercy Oh, God, please send
some one to cut me down Oh, God give
me some water | am dying "'E Two or
three coloreG men hurriedly gathered
around the back yard in the rear OF the
room, and after hurried consultation
went up the stairs and broke into the dark
ened room. Windows were thrown up,
and the light revealed pitiful obJect-a
child her arms pinioned closely over her
head by a rope which was suspended TO
hook to the ceiling, and so suspended that,
the child toes barely touching the floor,
she was thrown forward with her Whole
weight on her pinioned hands Beneath
the child was a raw-hide which had evil
IDENTITY been applied to the lacerated back
and sides. which showed also the more
wasting traces of slow starvation IN his
bonY attenuated outlines. Neighbors gath
cred around new clothes were placed
upon the chld's back, food was given her,
and she was given over to the care OF the
police. At o'clock the mother returned
home, having been doing some cooking in
6, ;lxr in ha
the city. When informed of what had
been done with the child she expressed the
greatest indifference, and said she was glad
somebody had taken it. She didn't want
iG any longer. A few minutes after she
was taken into custody.
1t is stated that for nearly week this
fiend in the garb of a woman has daily
fastened up the child. whose name is also
MaryNoel, in the manner already described,
and in this position left her from early
morning till late in the evening when this
so-called mother would return from work
Frequently, while the child remained III
that position, her mother, it is said inflict-
ed from twenty to fifty stripes upon the
bare back with a rawhide thong, which
was used with skill worthy of Legret
or Tom Loker. If the child cried or made
any noise, she was taken down and thrown
violently on the floor. Then the woman
would place her foot on TIE child's neck
and beat her until, as one of the height
expressed it, cher belly was a pOultice.' y
sometimes the operation was varied by
: placing the child on the floor on its face,
and its back was scarified. foot firmly
planted on the child's neck held her in this
position, and a pillow in which its face was
buried, smOthered its cries. Another op-
Grafton was to souse the child head and
body into a tub full of water and hold il
there several minutes, like you would q
Lit Sai1 ipl
orally followed by whipping, which seem.
ed to be the eXpedsent in helping the child
, into the next world. During the whole
week no food had been given it, until Sun
day, except what was passed through an
5 aperture in the window on the end of a
clothes-prop by some of the neigh bOrs.
At times she would not dare to take even
this, asserting that she was afraid her
mother would find it out and whip her for
it. When she did receive it, it had to be
} conveyed to her mouth, as she could not
free her hands to take it herself. The ap-
pea-anCe of the child, when taken to the
Third District Station, was pitiable in the
extreme. She is bright intelligent-loOk.
ing girl of eight years, though from the
cruelty that has been practiced upon heI
she does not appear to be more than i've.
) Her body is in the most emaciated state,
while the back is one mass of bruises and
5 fostering sores. The stomach is abnOr-
nldlly large, from IRS eleCtS OF lne Nlo-
lence and heavy blows and kicks which
5 she has daily received. There is scarcely
l any flesh about her, the bones almost pro
truding from the skin, which appears II
, hang on the body like some unnatura
| covering.
| The woman is a hard looking creature
: apparently capable of any act of cruelty
and whose countenance betobens more o
: the savage than of the civilized human
being, though her calm. collected manner
| and the tone of her conversation, indicate
, that she is capable of the more refined
: cruelty of long-continued torture thai
= would characterize the proceedings of the
= more untutOred. She has been frequently
heard to say that she knew God intended
| the child to live, but that she intended i
to die ; and if she could not kill it by an,
other means she would cut its head off
She is described as being over six feet il
height, and of heavy, though not flesh!
; build. Her neigh hbors assert that she wa
: not in the habit of drinking. She has on
other child, boy of three or four years
and lavished upon him all the Tenderness
of her fierce nature.-iSt. LeIciS Democrat
2 July 10.