The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1892-03-02
MISS MONTAGUE'S CRUELTY.
The Terrible Punishment She In
.dicted on Her Children.

DELfAoIt I6Us -O,-DlIcs AGAlO hdI-
garet Montague, wife of Robert Montague
of Coleraine. county Londonderry, and
6aughter-in-law of Lord Montague, who
on Feb. Is was held by a coroner's jury as
being responsible for the death OF her
three-year-old daughter, Mary Helen, and
who was taken before q magistrate and
remanded in e700 bail. was rearraigned
for a further hearing today. The case has
excited the most widespread interest
throughout the province of Ulster, and
considerable i'll feeling has been aroused
by the action of the Rev. Father Macdon-
aid, the parish priest of Coleraine, who
declared from the altar on Sunday last
that Mrs. Montague, who is a convert to
the catholic faith, was being prosecuted
because of her religious belief.
When the hearing was resumed today
Coleraine was in state OF wild excite
ment. Feeling for and against the prisoner
had reached such a stage that the judge
before whom the hearing was to be held
had taken alarm and deemed it necessary,
in order to preserve the peace, to forbid
the admittance of the general public to
the court room. So serious had the out
look become that the authorities as
matter of precaution had a draft made
upon the police stationed in the villages
adjacent to Coleraine, and quite number
of extra constables were on duty in and
about the court house and on the streets
in the vicinity.
With all these precautions to prevent a
violent outbreak of the popular ferment
ha nj
placed in the dock. The first witness
called was Miss Dozell, the governess,
She repeated the evidence she had given
to the coroner's jury, to the effect that the
little girl had committed some act OF mis-
behavior for which she, the governess
had placed her in dark room. She after
ward informed Mrs Montague of what
she had done, whereupon the latter, who
was evidently much incensed at her
daughters action, went to the room and
tied the little girls arm behind her back
with stocking. She then triced her up
with a cord with ring in the wall and
left her. At the expiration of four hours,
when Mrs. Montague went to the room
to release the child, she found that the
stocking in some unaccountable manner
had slipped ur around the child's neck
and that she had strangled to death.
Further evidence was submitted to prove
that Mrs. Montague was guilty OF the first
count, granddaughter, and she was held in
s700 bail to await trial on that charge.
The hearing on the second count, charg-
ing her with cruelty to children, was then
proceeded with. The first witness called
was Miss Wallace, who had formerly been
in the employ of Mrs. Montague as a gov
erness for her children. She testified that
Waller Montague. the four-year-old son Of
the defendant, was upon one occasion tied
to tree In the morning and allowed TO
remain there until late in the afternoon.
His dinner was taken from the house and
put in the grass before him. On another
occasion Miss Wallace missed the boy
from his usual place in the house and she
saw nothing of him for eight days. When
she saw him again the backs of his hands
were pulled up and looked as though the
blood had stagnated. He had bruises on
his face and neck. She had also heard
Mrs. Montague beating the child in the
dark room.
Mrs. James, formerly a nurse in the
Montague household testified that she
had seen Gilbert Montague, five years old,
with the marks of cord around his elbows
and with pieces of flesh out of his toes.
Austin Montague, another son of the ac-
room. Mrs Montague had said to her
that this was her way OF Furnishing her
children. She did it to save their souls
che did not mind their bodies. Mrs. Mon
tague was attired in deep mourning and a
heavy veil concealed her face. Her hus-
band and brother sat beside her through
the whole proceedings.
The nurse, Mrs. James, deposed that she
once saw the accused dragging her son
Austin along the corridor by his feet, his
head trailing along the ground. This tes-
timony caused a sensation. A housemaid
named Campbell deposed that she saw
Gilbert Montague stripped naked and
beaten with a scourge until his whole body
was lacerated; that he was then thrust
into u dark closet, where he lay moaning
all night, and that she was unable to sleep
on account of the moaning, and pleaded
with the accused to let Gilbert out of the
| closet.
Mrs. Montague was committed for trial
on the second charge.
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