Los Angeles herald., 1890-05-10
MATTE LAWSON.
The Neighbors Saw the Bruises on Her
Rodv

Body.
The story of Mrs. Mary Lawson and
her little daughter is stated to be true
by neighbors, so far as her return home
with her body covered with bruises. A
reporter of the HERALD yesterday Wis
tied the neighborhood of Mrs Lawson's
home, and interviewed number of the
people living in the vicinity, who had
seen the girl directly after her return.
They were unanimous in the statement
that when Matte returned home she
was covered with black and blue marks,
and that the child had anything but
bad reputation for telling the truth.
Mrs. E. Daneke, who is a nurse by pro-
fession, stated that she had known Mrs.
Lawson for three years and that she
had never known anything wrong about
her. She had been sick a good deal,
and her financial condition was at times
very bad. For month prior to the de-
parture of her daughter she was sick in
bed and was kept alive only by the
contributions of her neighbors. Mrs.
Daneke had devoted all her spare time
to her, and the little girl had waited
faithfully upon her mother. When Off
GER Wright took the little girl away
Mrs. Lawson took the separation very
badly, as she had been left alone. When
Matte returned Mrs. Daneke called in
to see her and was shown the black and
blue marks on Mattie's body. There
was number of welts on
Mattie's back and her statement
that she had been beaten by an
iron ring was certainly true, for the
mark was still there. In relation to the
statement that the two sons of Mrs.
Lawson were away in some unknown
place, it was shown to be untrue, for two
letters, one from each, were exhibited.
Both boys had been unfortunate in OBJ
tanning work, but Henry 7. Lawson
wrote from Wallace, New Mexico, that
he was in the employ of railroad COM
pany, which held back his wages two
months. He promised to send his
mother money when he received it, and
said he thought it would be good thing
for Matte to get a good position in a
private family. The other boy, John A.
Lawson, wrote from Spokane Falls, stat
ing that he expected to obtain work
soon. He had left San Francisco be-
cause he could not find work there.
Mrs. Peterson, who resides at 103 So
tello street, accompanied Mrs. Daneke to
Mrs. Lawson's house on St. John street,
and saw the bruises on the child's back
and arms.
Mrs. Stokes, who lives next door to
Mrs. Lawson, at 171S St. John street was
called in by her neighbor, and saw Mat
tie, the little girl, on her return. She
was stripped by her mother, and her
arms and shoulders were terribly bruised.
Miss Meo, who resides at the same
place, saw the child, Matte, come home.
She was barefooted and bareheaded, and
had scarcely enough rags on her back to
cover her nakedness, She and Mrs.
Stokes and her daughter went into the
house at Mrs. Lawson's request, and
found the poor child suffering intensely.
She was stripped by her mother, and her
arms, back and shoulders were covered
with black and blue bruises, which had
evidently been inflicted with club or
some other heavy blunt instrument.
The child had evidently tray
eled long way on foot,
as her feet and legs were scratched and
torn by thorns, and her arms and face
were badly tanned by the sun. The
child repeated her story to them all in
the presence of her mother. She was a
truthful child, as far as they knew.
Mrs. Fisher, who resides at 1920 ST..
John street, also saw the child's bruised
body, and thought it was an outrage
that she should have been so inhumanly
treated.
Several others of the neighbors made
similar statements, all agreeing that the
child must have been most brutally
beaten.