The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1879-02-27
A Terrible Story.

A Terrible Story.
A'Chicago Tribune letter of February
II, dated Mendoza, ILL.,, says:
A case of cruelty and inhumanity il
being brought to light few miles
hoped, is without parallel in this gen.
GRAFTON, if not in this century. It is
that of q young woman named Mar.
garet Reek. daughter of Peter Reck, a
wealthy German farmer of Troy Grove,
who was shut up in q room over six
teen years ago and kept there to this
day in solitary confinement without
ever having left it.
A few years after Peter Reck's ar
rival in this country, and previous to
his locating on farm in Troy Grove,
his wife died, leaving him seven chill
dren-fve daughters and two sons. he
married again, and had two daughters
by his second wife. The daughters OF
the first wife were obnoxious to her,
and for the sake of peace they were
driven from their homes and made to
seek employment and shelter. Mar
garet, the girl finally locked up, was
too young to shift for herself, and in
order to get away from the step
mothers harsh treatment was taken to
Peru and placed in school kept by
the Sisters of Charity. While there
she is said to have given proofs of &C
quiring the branches taught with facil-
ity, and to have evinced quite taste for
drawing, in which she excelled. She re-
| turned home. She was the belle of the
| neighborhood; full of life and fun;
courteous and kind to all, and possessed
of so beautiful q voice that the young
and old would often go to hear Mar
garet sing. The estimation in which
she was held by the people was not cal
| culated to raise her in the estimation
of the stepmother, who looked upon
her with jealousy as possessing advan-
tages and attractions which she herself
lacked.
The stepmother insisted that she
should be degraded and her spirit
broken, and she was finally forced into
a room, where she has been kept under
lock and key to this day. Through all
these weary years of solitary confine-
ment not living soul was permitted to
see her save two or three inmates of
the house. Not even her own sisters,
nor her cousins, q Roman Catholic
priest, could obtain that privilege, not
withstanding her oft-repeated demands.
In answer to inquiries by the neighbors
they were first told that Margaret was
unwell; later on that she was insane,
and that, as she would wear no clothes,
they were not allowed to see her. That
she became insane is now beyond all
question of dispute, but that she was
so when first confined is not generally
credited. 1t is thought that, being q
a high-spirited girl, she revolted against
such harsh and unjust treatment, and
that her father, in his obstinate tenacity
of parental authority, determined that
she should be the first to yield. Neither
wavered in the determination not to be
the first to acknowledge the wrong; so
Margaret's confinement continued, but
with nothing to relieve the monotony
but the bare whitewashed walls of q
small room, her food passed in through
q square aperture in the wall, placed on
shelf, the shutter replaced, and not q
word spoken.
When the dreadful calamity of in
sanity came the father sought to atone
for his wrong by building a church.
the father followed soon afterward, but
it is said that his death was the result
of foul play. By the will the heirs
were to get forty acres of land each.
Mary, the youngest daughter, was ap-
pointed custodian over Margaret, with
the use of the house and eighty acres
of land while she (Margaret) should
live. There were three trustees and an
executor appointed. The trustees Wis
tied the room in which Margaret was
confined, and found the unfortunate
creature, whom they had known six
teen years before as the belle of the
place, crouched in a corner on the floor
perfectly naked. save an old army
blanket that she had drawn over her.
The room was destitute of furniture,
pictures or ornaments of any kind, and
only bare walls and little grated win
dow, broke the monotony of the dismal
place. Food was showed in through q
hole, and slight heat came from bit
of stovepipe which entered from the
kitchen stove. Strange to say, the
trustees, after shedding tears, disagreed
as to the Improvements necessary to
ameliorate the unfortunate creatures
condition, one of them maintaining
that she should remain in the condition
her father had kept her. The more hui
name men, fearing that she would
freeze to death, consulted DIR. Corbus,
who, in his capacity of Commissioner of
Lunacy and Public Charities, visited her,
in company with DIR. Crook, and ordered
her clothing, a bed and q hard coal
stove. and the room to be kept at a
temperature of seventy degrees. Even
after q stove was put in she would
crouch on the floor, roll up in the cor
ner and sink off into q comatOse state,
with her skeleton limbs drawn under
her The correspondent says: "Stoop-
ing down I took that pale, emaciated
hand in mine. 1t was cold, not ex-
ceeding a temperature of forty-five de-
grees The pulse was about sixty-fve.
The body was quite warm, the temper
ature being between SO and 102 degrees.
The contour of the head is shapely, the
forehead high, broad and suggestive of
intelligence rather than dementia or
frenzied insanity. The eyes, that were
once large, blue and expressive. are
now sunken in their sockets and have
lost their lustre forever. The lids are
relaxed; the functions of the optic
nerve seem to have been destroyed.
The skin is still soft, white and delicate
looking, though the morbid condition
of the nerves will be apparent from the
fact that pin can be stuck into it
quite deep without any evidence of
pain. The lower limbs are much con-
tracted and devoid of muscular power.
The feet are much deformed and
bent back as if by muscular contrac-
ton acquired through long accus-
toned crawling. When told by the
inmates that she has been like
that for years; that she crawls three
times day as regularly as clock
work, to the shelf for her food; that she
consumes at each meal q goodly guam
tity of sopped bread. milk and coffee,
and sometimes meat; that she is strong
and would tear OH any clothing put on