Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-04-06
LITTLE CHILDREN WHO SUFFER.
Cases Investigated by the Agent of the
Humane Society.


LIVES OF MIsERT-THE NEED OF LAW TO MAXI
FATHERS CARE FOR THEIR LITTLE ONES.
Policeman Charles W. O'Neill is detailed a.
an agent of the Humane society, and is charged
with the duties of looking sitter the interests o.
children. 1t is his duty to investigate all com
plants made against brutal parents, and insti
tute legal proceedings where such course i,
deemed necessary. Last year he investigated
40 cases of cruelty to children and instituted
IA prosecutions. During the year log children
were taken from their parents or guardians
Accompanying the annual report for last year
Agent ONeill cites several cases which were in
vestigated and prosecuted during the year. One
case mentioned is the interesting one of Mabel
Ryan, the child of an unfortunate mother
which was pending in court for long time.
| Mabel was found in the possession of col
ored woman, who was charged with cruelty
treating her, but this charge was not sustained
| IN court. subsequently the little one was taken
| from the colored woman on a writ of habeas
corpus and the mother, who was found in Nor
| folk leading the report says, an improper life
| was induced to sign papers conveying the right
| to the child to the society's agent The little
one has since been adopted in good family.
THE LAWS INADEQUATE.
Speaking of Mabefs case, Agent O'Neill said
to STAR reporter that the laws in this District
for the protection of children and women are
wholly inadequate. In the case of an unfortu-
nate girl left in destitute circumstances by her
betrayer the poor girl had to suffer all the pun
| lshment. There should be a law, Mr.. ONeill
said. to fit such cases. and the man should be
made to care for both the poor miserable
woman and the suffering child. Such cases. he
said, come within the scope of his investiga-
tions, but he is powerless to act in the absence
nf1 fhar civ ;1ort 60 baf
of Mabel Ryan, but which was not so holly
contested in the courts. As in the Mabel Ryan
| case, the child was rescued from home in an
alley and now has respectable place to live.
| The facts are reported as follows:
| "A white child, three years old. named Anice
Patten. was found living with colored woman
| in Hog alley, between 9th and 7th and II and !
! streets northwest The woman said the child
had been left with her to board by her mother
and reputed father. This statement was unsat-
| isfactory, and the agent, knowing that the sur
roundings were inimical to the future welfare
| of the child, took her in charge and found her
| a nice home in the family of a respectable citi-
zen. She was legally adopted through the Or
phans' Court as his daughter"
CRUELTY PUNISHED BY PARENTS,
"There are many complaints" continued the
agent, 'made against persons for cruelty whip
ping their children. Such cases are hard to
prosecute, for the reason that parents are given
a right to correct their children. But of course
when their correction assumes form of brutal
lty 1t Is time for the law to step in and take a
hand. The law did interfere in several cases
and the prosecutions were sustained in the
Police Court" A case printed in the report
reads:
1T having been reported that child had
been cruelty whipped by colored man and
woman. living on 10th street southeast, it was
found that the man was blind and that the
child, Lucy Carter, had been obtained for the
purpose of leading him about the city as beg
| gar. The child had been cruelty treated. was
| nearly starved and very weak Her body was
SCARED and sore from repeated whippings. The
! woman who had committed the offensc was ar
| rested tried in the Police Court. found guiity
| and sentenced to one year i'll jail An effort
was made by some charitably disposed persons
! to have her pardoned but through representa-
tions made to the Department of Justice by our
| agent the effort failed"
TIED IN BAG.
| Another case reported was rs follows:
ga colored boy called John Brown, four
| years old, had been adopted by a colored man
and woman, who were in the habit OF tying the
boy in bag and throwing him out in the yard,
where he remained in that condition for a day
| at time. At other times they would fasten
| him in dog box. They were tried in the Po-
| lice Court and fined $40 each. and the child
was committed to the Colored home.'
| NEGLECTED BY THEIR FATHERS.
| "There should also be some sort of a law y
said Mr.. O'Neill, ito protect women and chill.
dren against worthless husbands and fathers
| There is a great deal of suffering caused by
men spending their earnings in dissipation
There are many men who, after raising a fam
| lily of children take to drinking and spend
| most of their salary in saloons. They actually
| fail to give their wives money enough to pur-
chase sufficient food for their children. While
| the children do not really starve to death. their
| constitutions are so racked that they are made
! unhealthy and remain as long as they live
| In New York" he continued. there are laws
| to meet such cases. and there should be such
! laws enacted for the District. In New York.
| when such cases are presented to the courts,
| the husband Is required to turn over to his
! wife certain amount of his earnings and is
compelled to furnish bond that he will carry
out the courts requirements. Such law here
| would greatly assist hundreds of families
| There are now in this city hundreds of cases
where wives of worthless men compelled to
scratch for living to prevent their children
| from starving"
NEED OF AN ASYLUM FOR CoLoRED CHILDREN
Washington" he continued. lis greatly in
need of an institution for colored children. The
| Children's Home is always crowded and the
| only place left where the unfortunate colored
| children can be sent is the workhOuse or aims.
! house. They the only institutions to which
| the court can sentence such children. They
can only be gotten into other institutions by
| begging the directors or other officers of the
| institutions. There should also be a place
| where cOlored girls from ten to sixteen years
| of age could be sent. At present they can only
| be sent to the workhouse. That is not the
| proper place to send them with view to theil
reformation. There they get among hardened
| criminals and become worse instead of better
An institution of that kind would greatly i'm.
prove society. With proper place for refor
nation to send them to many of them nigh
be made good women"
| CHILDREN NOT SENT TO SCHOOL.
'There is another class of cases." continued
Agent ONeill, (which there is no law to cover
There are hundreds of children, both white ant
colored, who have parents and who are no
sent to school. They are permitted to hang
| about the streets at all hours of the day anC
night, instead of being sent to school. Such
| children grow up to be ragamufins and the boy
| often turn out to be thieves and many of the
girls begin life Of shame at an early age. Il
! there was a law requiring children to attend
school until they are at least fourteen years OLE
many of these unfortunates might become val
liable citizens instead of becoming a charge
upon the community. In many of the state,
all these evils are provided against, and in sucf
Jurisdictions there are fewer criminals anC
| vagrants.'
Married Twenty-Five Times.
From London Truth.
The following extract is taken from GIVE
lyn's Diary" and refers to a Dutch woman