Daily Republican., 1881-07-26
THE M'GRATH CASE.
THE HEARINGS BEFORE MAYOR
ALLM0ND LAST NIGHT.
MaeBlrOy and Libsey Set At Liber.
ty-Tho HOffmanS and Farrell
RecO9nised a. Laura Nc.
Grath's AssaiIants-The
Girls Story Differs
From That OF 9th.
er Ind divld.
IA Is.

sey were given a hearing before tn,
~ Mayor last evening on the charge O.
" striking Laura MCGrath, of Philadel
phia, with stone on the 5th of July
= and afterwards violating her person
q The hearing was conducted as private.
. ly as possible in the office OF Chief OF
= Police Maxwell. The prosecutrix was
heavily veiled and was neatly clad in a
suit of black grenadine. She was &C.
companied by her father, a man of about
+. fifty years, with iron-gray hair. She
= presented detected appearance as she
T. sat in haf-reClining position upon a
: chair, and would occasionally silently
t weep.
} Laura was sworn and was requested
: to lift her veil. Pointing towards the
defendants the Mayor asked her if they
were her asSaiants. She gavo the men
one glance and then, to the surprise of
all, the prisoners included, she said
they were not. "What," said the mag
istrate, "you gave me the names Of
MacElroy and Libsey, did you not?" In
reply she said she did, that that was the
names by which her assailants went.
She was positive that the prisoners had
not abused her; in fact she had never
seen them before. Consequently they
We're Immediately discharged.
George, John and Joseph Hoffman
and Joseph Farrell were then brought
in and were arraigned on the charge of
violently assaulting Laura on the 4th
of July by carrying her torcibly in the
woods and keeping her there four days
against her will. The 4uartette was
recognized by the girl as her assail-
ants. She wept bitterly for some min
uGes and then related her story with a
quivering voice. In substance 1t was
as follows: "While / was down by the
wire bridge these men carried me about
u quarter of a mile into TIE woods,
where they kert me four days; each
forciblv (and feloniously) assaulted me,
while the other three retreated into the
woods; they threw me down, but didn't
choke me nor use threats; dlunt halloo,
because there was no use.
Under cross-examiilatlon by Charles
B. Lore, Esq, counsel for the defense,
Laura said. 81 went on the afternoon |
of July 4th, to the Rrandywine. Near
Bishop Lees residence met Jack Ken
ney, and with him went to the brew
cry, where drank three glasses OF beer.
kcnney, whom | never saw before,
treated. Afterwards kenney and |
went down to the wire bridge, which
we crossed. | there met " "Prue "
(George) Hoffman. "Prue' and ran
down the race together in order that |
might get away from kenney, whose
motives doubted We then met John
and Joseph Hoffman and Joseph Far
rell. All four men then caught me by
the arms and carried me across the
creek. They Immediately took me
about unar.er Of q mile into the woods,
and then and there was assaulted. The
men kept me in the woods all night ami
on the morning of July 9TH, Farrell
went to his work but returned to the
woods at night. On the morning of the
9th Joseph Hoffman left but returned
at night. On the morning OF the 1th
John Hoffman went TO work but he,
like his companions, returned to the
woods in the evening. All the men
left me on the morning of the Sth, and
| went to the home OF Joseph Brown,
colored, in the brickyard.
Witness stated that she remained at
Browns home for two days. During
that time she was visited by Joseph
Hoffman. He offered her money to 20
home, but she said she was afraid to 60
She went to a boarding house, rear SixJh =
and Lombard streets, and stayed there
all night Joseph Hoffman having prom ,
ised TO pay her board. She further ad-
mitted that Mrs. Brown offered her Z
to wear home, that she had
asked the fuur men to stay with her in ,
order to project her from u crowd OF
men and boys, that she went with 'prue'
Hoffman because she WAS gilhy from !
drinking beer, that she had said She
was 10 years old when she was in reali-
ty only H. and that, other than yelling, !;
she had used ali means to prevent her
tormentors tSsaut.ng her.
One discrepancy appeared in her
story. AT one time she seated that she
met George Hoffman at the wire bridge +
subsequent to her leaving the brewery. 5
At another time she said that George
was drinking with her and kenney at 9
the brewery. that they had gone down u
to the bridge together, and that sllt AMI
George had then ran away from Nen- !,
nev.
John Ward, the first witness who n
was called for the defense, testified hat [
he had seen Laura, who was al the
brewery On the afternoon "t the lth, el
waving her hands to some Young men. st
Ieuney wanted her to drink with him al
hut she refused to do 50 unless GtHrAe
Hoffman drank. He accOinpa led al
';eoroe home at nine o'clock thai even :,
ng.
William Ward stated that he saw r.,
Al, 81, ,,l, ,ttl, I.,h,. |
Reynolds at II atrhers quarry. Wit 1t
less took her TO the Brandywine sta
ion, over Eleventh street bridge. She is
Old him that her name was Florence III
lellev. AT 4j o'clock that night ne ",
ots ner to.Ioscph Smiths place,
Mary J. Brown, colore' living near al
Sesg's brickyard, testified to having
cen the girl near the brickyar,. Some Is
erson said "the fox is out and the tn
ounds are hunting for her" On the
morning Of July 18th the girl visited y, N
81 house. She expressed desire to ~
20 Joseph Hofsmau as she thought she ST.
,uld get money from him. Hoffman St
fered her money and begged her to go
ONE but she would not. Witness never n pH
card the girl speak disrespectfully OF is is'
le prisoners. On one oCt"oiol sic h"u 90
card her remark thai they were nice
oung men. On July 18th the girl left ca
sr house be
George Grubb, mere boy, said hs co &c,
w the girl at the quarriA on sunday "'
,fore last. He WAS with l'er 1ron ~
clock in the evening until 10 O'CLOCK ca
70 next morning. to'
Susan Belindsay stated that Laura an
me around the corner of Thir 'eehth en- en-
i'd Popla. streets two weeks ago an" "'
ckoned to her (Slsan's) son, VINO
as sitting upon his parents steps.
Charles Walraven testified t, havin.
en Laura lying besi,le hedge, near, !
sing Sun, one week from last Friday,
tn two young men.
John Mclaughlin, who saw Laura at
ellpot marsh OH July 10th with John