Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1875-10-07
A Cleveland Horror.


There isa distressing story which comes
Ill the way from Cleveland. Condensine
The narrative, we commence it where the
officers reach the barn where the victim
'ay:
1t was most horrible sight. About
eight feet from the entrance, in a stall
which had been occupied by COW, anG
by the side Of manger, lay the form Of a
1uman being whose life was ending. Th<
sight, the groans and the stencil almos
1rove the officers from the place. Th>
body was fearful to behold. 1t lay upon
its l. # side with the hands near the fact
md the arms drawn closely to the breast
The legs above the knees were near to thu
body, with the feet were drawn back Il.
he thighs. The entire body was naked
Not thread touched any part it, though
few pieces of old clothing were in thc
,tall. The head was covered with tn.
Usual quantity of hair which nature gives
persons fourteen or fifteen years OF age.
But every part of the corpse (tor life cascd
% exist in few minutes after the officers
,ntercd) showed unmistakablc signs OF
starvation, by inches. The eyes were
'unken deep into their sockets; the face
vas nothing but skin and bones, with the
teeth protruding beyond the lips; it was
colorless. The neck had withered away
to almost nothing while the trunk pre-
,ented, plainly, the form of every bone OF
which it was composed. The ribs and
the joints in the backbone could be seen
plainly as far as the body was visible to the
auman eye. The abdomen was much
iattcned, showing the almost total alb
'ence of everything from the intestines.
The arms and hands were nothing but
bone with the skin drawn closely over
hem. The legs and the feet we're the
same. To look at these was most sicken.
ing. The muscles Of tkc legs and arms had
shrunk to nothing. In short, a harder sight
has not been seen in Cleveland for many
4 day.
As soon as the officers opened the door
the mother appeared upon the scene and
begged of them not to expose her and her
husband the father of the boy. A CONVEX
sation was had with them concerning the
starved child, and the reason why they
had treated him so. They said that his
name was Patrick; that he was born In
ireland about fourteen years ago, and
that he lived there always til about two
years ago, when he was brought to this
country. They further said that he was
foolish from the day Of his birth, and that
on account Of this they did not desire to
have him with the rest of their children.
When asked why they put him in the
barn, they replied that they had no room
in the house for him. But this could
hardly be received as true, because the
dwelling is new one, completed about
two months ago, and contains ten rooms
a part of which they have never used
They said, also, that when they left the
old house about the first of August, and
moved into the new one, the boy, who
had previously been kept in the upper
part Of the former building, was put in
the barn, where he was fed once or twice
each day bread and tea, and occasionally
few crackers. After giving this iufor
nation, they were lodged in the station
house, apparently considerably agitated
but after short time the wife became
more calm and laughed at the idea of be-
ing under lock and key.