The evening world., 1893-10-27
SHE'S
A. Little Child Who Has a Mania
for Setting Fires
HER FOSTER- MOTHER GIVES HER OVER
TO THE GERRY SOCIETY.
SHE HAS IMPERIILED MANY LIVES.

Two stylishly dressed women, accompanied
by a pretty, little fair. haired girl not over
seyen, years old, came to Jefferson Market
Court yesterday afternoon. The elder IT the
women said she was Mrs. jacob llcidcr. She
said She wanted to be aleolvcd Of the care Of
the child, "Jcnnic." The little one seemed
to redlize the full meaning OF the woman $
strange request, for she hung her head and
patted the red checks OF the big doll She carried
in her arms as II to say, "Nou'l go with me,
won't you, dolly?
such a strange request staggered tie court
officials. Mrs. Rcldc continued ''lou see, she
Is only an adopted child, and, while She is
young. she Is crazy on the subject Of fires, and
am afraid OF my life that She will burn us all
up some night. Twice III the last two months
she Inns started n fire in the house. and J. IN
afraid to have her around. - Agent Mullican,
of tho Gerry society, was given charge of tho
case. TO him Mrs. Rcidcr said that her husband
was the proprietor Of the Pleasant Hotel. ut Nos.
326 aud bIS West street that She and her
husband occupied rooms over the rcStnll-
rant, which Is ON the ground floor.
81 never had any children, said M"
woman. "but always loved the dear little
things, one, day, about a year ns0, ! saw II
personal IN u morning PAPER Offering Tor
adoption n pretty little child. with full
surrender, | consulted my husband, and h"
ngreed To let mr have the child. ! visited the
place and was charmed with the baby. She
Ind just such n sweet, innocent face nS had
always dreamed of, and arranged TO take the
child. Fearing that after | Ind educated her
and brought hcrup her parents would take her
frym me, ] did not give sthcm my nam" and !
did not ask theirs. There were no paper,
drawn up giving me full possession OF her, hut,
] knew by the way the parents acted
that they would never bother me. Jennie was
only one out OF several aud they wcrr all very
poor, | took her home, bought her book, and
plhythings, clothed her, sent her To school and
did everything | could to make her happy.
When ] began To get notes from her teachers III
forming me OF bad behavior in school | "N-
planned matters to them and asked that they he
1alient. The more ! did for her the les She
TIED to do for me, she has gone from had 10
worse. You Can hardly believe how II child 50
Young can he 50 bad. She stays out mishts,
plays truhnt from school, stay away from her
meals, tears her clothes. and yet love her. -
Big tear came into til" foster mother eyes
as she looked ut the innocent fac" trtngrl with
golden curls. :" might put up with all this, =,
She said, " but Tor the new turn her mania If
II is u mania has taken. She delights to 81"
fires. 1t ism long ago thNt She built II bonfire
under the sofa IN the larlor, and had II not
been for the promptncsS Of the iircincn the no
tel would have been burned To the ground.
Even after this had hopes OF reforming her,
but last Thursday she entered the room Of
one OF our guests, an invalid woman, gath
cred up papers and books. stuffed them under
the wnshstand and sct fire Ia them. Luckily
the servants discovered the blaze in time. /
cant stand It any longer. She is an incurrigi-
Bile child, %still-llovc her.
Again the woman wcpt. The little one
played with her dolly, and It seemed hard To
believe that she was capable Of all these things.
'All the policemen in the Prince street
squad know her. continued the foster
mother. They bring her home ut all hours Of
the night, for She won come home herself. -
Agent Mulligan ltStincd attrntivcly to the
story. Then, taking the little one OH his knee,
he nskcd II she heard Ill these things that had
been said about her. She replied that She had.
When he wanted To Know why she lrptprrptl
TO be q naughty girl, she made no answer