Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-12-01

~ f fsSs E e S5r S Il! s;
W. .t.ssz- In one paper the
%=ss@@ advertisement read,
L "a nice baby boy
~ and girl
I answered this advertisement, and, SO
doing, discovered that within a stones
throw of the Capitol, in an ultra-respecta-
BILE neighborhood. at "a B street northeast,
there is a baby farm. where, for $780, I'M
godly parents may get rid of their on
spring, which is afterward disposed OF, l
know not how, except that 1 bargained TO
obtain a child without disclosing its des-
tipation or the identity of the persons who
were to receive it, on the payment of 500.
Furthermore, 1 have discovered that
under the laws Of the District of Columbia
baby farming is legitimate industry.
Suspecting the source from which the
foregoing advertisement emanated l re-
piled to 1t thus:
Kindly inform me where the hahy ad-
vertised may be seen. Also inform me If
the parents relinQuish all claim and Vheth-
er 1t can be arranged for the child to be
taken 10y persons DESTROYS of copcealing
their Identity"
BY return mail received this reply:
viii you please and call at No. "a B
street northeast; it is a nice boy from a
good parants; will give all particulars, not
claims, etc. / am, very Respectfully,
Mrs. MARIE RENNER,
"a street northeast
This was precisely what 1 had expected.
For the past six weeks / have been pa
tiently waiting for Mrs. Renner to furnish
me Just such an opportunity to call on
her. l knew that she, assisted by DR.. S.
A. Cara, conducts a lying-in hospital, the
mysteries of which regular doctors and
hn liStr NJ n
vain to penetrate.
Health Authorities Interested.
Mrs Renner became personally acquaint-
ed with the authorities early last summer.
when an infant she had taken to the Chill
dren's Hospital died in the hospital before
it had been formally received. DR.. Wood
ward. then coroner. went to investigate
the case, and when lie asked to see the
body of the baby Mrs. Renner promptly
lifted corner of the cloth covering the
table beside which DR.. Woodward was sit
ting, and from a lower shelf produced the
small corpse. But barring this somewhat
extraordinary confusion of human re-
mains and parlor ornaments, the cor
oner found no irregularity attending
curious is the interest the health de-
partment has since taken in Mrs. Renner,
after she removed from l31 Sd street north
east, to her present quarters, the authori-
ties spaded up the back yard of her for
mer residence, anticipating further in
stances of original methods Of putting up
dead bodies.
Mrs. Renner registered at the health Of
fee as a midwife, April g. 1894 She was
then located at 227 1st street northwest.
Since then she has made two shifts, each
time lettering her location. Her first move
was to 131 3D. street northeast, and from
there, in October, to the conspiculously
prosperous, almost elegant quarters she
now occupies.
In the extensive advertising which Mrs.
Renner does, she appears sole proprietor
of the hospital. which. however, bears the
sign of s. A. Cara, physician and sur
geon.
DR.. Cara Joined Mrs Renner last spring.
He registered at the health department In
April. His diploma represented him as
having graduated from the Kentucky
School of Medicine less than a year prev
ious. When he sought to open an account
with one of the national banks here tho
bank refused his account, because he could
bring forward to introduce him nobody but
a so-called specialist of no standing among
regular physicians. To the bank cashiers
inquiry why do you not join the medical
association Cara replied that he did not
wish to, because he intended advertising
his business.
There is No Disguise.
Still he does not advertise his business,
not even in the circular announcing the
hospital which Mrs. Renner inclosed to me
with her reply to my inquiry concerning
the baby for adoption.
This circular. giving the location and
specifying the advantages of Mrs Renners
hospital in the Inducements 1t holds out,
places a premium on that crime which
makes women unnatural irresponsible
mothers Of unfathered children:
Another class of patients in need Of a
private hospital are those unfortunate
females VINO have made q misstep, but ore
unable to marry on account of their pres
ent circumstances. Every person of ex-
perience can realize the desperation which
seizes these unfortunate beings upon dis
covering their real condition, and can un-
derstand why so many resort to methods
that often result in the ruin Of their health
for life, and in the murder of their Off
spring. Hundreds of them have been for
tunate in finding advice and help, which
brought them to this institution in ample
time, before their condition was publicly
known. They have gone forth untarnishcd
in the eyes Of their friends, associates and
of the community in which they lived, and
today they are wives in happy homes,
saved from the disgrace of their misfor-
tune.
For this class of patients we have made
special provisions to enable them to keep
their secrets, conceal their identity, and to
live in strictest privacy, If they wish to DO
SO, and 1T is our intention to offer, in this
institution, constantly the same oppor-
tunities for the protection of these I'M
fortunate that we would wish to see offer
condition.
I'VE are willing and have always been
able to take care of the baby, and to find
suitable home for 1t, for a small considera-
ton We have also good home for the
infant, il the mother desires to part with It
for any length of time, so that the young
lady may leave our house without any bur-
den, and oftentimes better looking, fuller in
form, and more ladylike in appearance
than she had ever been before"
Visit to the Baby Farm.
The concluding lines. you notice. cleverly
bring vanity to foster that Vice which puts
money in Mrs. Renner's pocket, suggesting
that an offense against the sixth COM
mandment may, by the kind offices of Mrs.
Renner's institution, be made a means of
enhancing the offenders beauty.
A very pleasant-faced German girl adj
mitted me within Mrs. Renner's house,
and ushered me into a parlor characters