Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1879-05-22
Vol. XIV. Whole No. 1866, No. q.
The Tragedy at Sloan's.

''Do l understand, Mrs. Sioan," said
the magistrate, that you make charge
ofattempted infanticlde agains. your hua-
bandf"
"well. not exactly that" replied Mrs.
Sloan. "You see, l."
"One minute-permit me to explain, :" ex-
claimed Mr.. Sloan. "Your honor, the sit
ustIon is this: We have one baby a vesr
and half old, and then we also have
twins just two months old. Little cherubs.
both OF them. Their mothers turn-up
nose perhaps, but my eyes and my ami
BILE expression
"His hair, too. your honor" said Mrs.
| Sloan, Ibis hair-red!n
Before We were married, may IL please
the court" said Mr.. Sloan, "she WAS fond
OF altuding to 1t as auburn. But no matter.
She went yesterday 10 q woman suffrage
s2'Ssa sS2Hysasion; .. ]. stayed s a. heme With the
have only two arms. When two Of the lit
| tie folks cried | would set down a silent
one and carry those thst screamed. Then
| the one | put down would begin, and I'd
have TO pick him up and lay down another,
and then 1t would scresn | tried TO car
ry the odd one pig-s-back, but 1t wsslno
use, he would slip down and bump his
nose on the floor Imagine the situation.
10 was hard. was nearly wild. Only two
nursing bottles. too, and the third baby
yelling like Crow Indian, while the twins
were feeding"
"Couldn't he suck his thumbY" asked the
magistrate.
Mrs. Sloan wont let him. She closed
the gate Of joy. so TO speak. against her
own ohspringl Absolutely prohibited the
child from sucking its own thumb! Nero,
In his worst days. never went that far, /
imagine"
The historians forgot to mention i, II he
did" said the justice.
Precisely. Well, got along as we'll as
| could, when In comes a boy with a note
from Mrs. Sloan saying that Mrs Gibbs.
the vice-president Of the convention, wan
ted her baby out OF the way while she was
comforting with the select committee on
ways and means, so In comes the sergeant
alarms with Mrs. Gibbs's baby for me to
take care OF. That made fosr. Your honor,
II Mrs. Gibbs's baby grows up and becomes
missionary he can preach to heathen in
Africa without leaving home He has
voice like a fog horn. So he turned In and
cried. aud the other babe. cried for sym
pathy."
1t was hard" said the magistrate.
Hard! Well, Im An accommodating
man, so | put one twin in one cradle
and rocsed 1t with my right foot, and
put the other In another cradle aud rocked
1t with my left foot; then ! sat Gibbs
baby on one knee and Johnny on the other.
aud by peculiar action OF my legs kept
all four in motion at once. You under
stand: Well. sir, just as calmness began
to prevail, in comes the sergeant-at-arms
again with the secretary's baby said Mrs.
Sloan had sent {; while the secretary wrot.
up her minutes, and wouldn't look after
1t for awhile;'
WA. 1t asleep"
We'll, no. Now | don't want TO ex-
aygeTate, your honor. | am under oath.
aud shall try 10 state the fact mildly
But am sadly mistaken ii you couldn't
blow church organ with the sccretarv's
baoy's left lung 1t whooped and halooed
In such manner rs to alarm me. Then
Gibbs baby joined in, aud they gave
duet. Pretty soon our three tuned up for
a chorus, and-well, suppose whole or
phau asylum should suddenly have
sor:i. Iuta oI tne racket.
Couldn't you quiet them by singing to
them:"
NO, sir YOU couldn't have heard bass
drum In that room"
what did you do:'
II gave the family Bible to one twin and
put We5>ter's Unabridged Dictionary on
the lap Of the other. merely 10 play with
! thought Id go down stairs AND get some
milk Tor the whole crowd. I did. When
came up, a. had only two nursing bot
ties. | emptied a bottle Of hair renoyator,
which Mrs. Sloan Uses"
II don't. exclaimed Mrs. Sloan
And a castOroil bottle. pu, the milk
in these and in an old paregorlc bottle,
punched holes through the corks aud hand
ed them arouad. When | came 10 the
twins, they had the Bible and the dictiou-
ary lying right on their bosoms, and they
were blue IN the face; too heavy. vour
honor, 80 had to pick them up and souse
them couple OF times in the bath tub to
bring them to; and when got back into
the room with them | found Gibhs's baby
In spasms FROM the taste of the hair re-
storer, aud the secretary's baby had swal-
lowed the cork, and the other child look
ed A. If the castor-oi bottle somehow had
not agreed with ii. A minute later in came
Mrs Sloan and the secretary and Mrs.
Gibbs, and they hustled me out. don't
know what happened after that, but l De
lieve it was Old Gibbs put Mrs. Sloan up TO
chargi = me with murder"
" The case Is diSmi issed, said the justice,
and the Sluaus withdrew. Mrs. Sloan has
hired a nurse.