St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-03-23
BETRAYED AND ABANDONED
BY Hack Driver Charles Will
son, She Smotheped Her
Newborn Babe
BY LOCKING 1T IN A TRUNK
She Is Behind the Bars, With
Murder Charged--Diseov-
cry Of the Body.

Lena Olson, aged twenty-three, oc.
cupies cell at the central police
station charged with the awful crime
of numbering her babe.
Betrayed and deserted by a heart
less scoundrel, and frantic with fear
lest her shame be discovered, the
woman, in her ignorance, smOthered
the infant in her trunk on the very
night she brought it into the world.
II is not believed by the authori-
ties or the coroner that the woman
realized what she was doing when
she placed the child in the trunk,
but was overcome by fear, and had
no thought except for her safety
and the concealment of her shame.
She has been under arrest since
Saturday night, but the body of the
infant was not discovered until late
Thursday night, when Lieut. Ed Sex
ton, learning the particulars of the
horrible affair, unearthed the trunk
in an upper room of Magee's Robert
street restaurant
Lying near the bottom amongst
a pile of clothing was the lifeless
body of the child, and later it was
handed into the custody of Coroner
Whitcomb.
The authorities have kept the fact
of her arrest a secret in order to
secure all parties implicated or in
any wise connected with the affair.
The name of Lena Olson's betray-
er, as given by her in her simply
told story to the police, is Charles
Wilson, a driver for a livery barn
on Selby avenue. He has fled the
city, and at present there is no hope
of his capture.
In the meantime Lena Olson is
moaning and crying her eyes out
in the dismal cell at the central
station, and with her double weight
of woe is wretched object to con-
template. She is almost beside her.
self, now that she realizes her stu.
alton and
THE TERRIBLE NATURE
of the charge against her.
In her anguish she cries out for
mercy from Him on high, and pro-
tests in the agony of her vivid
dreams that she did not mean to do
it.
1t is a most woeful tale of sorrow
and shame, villainy and ignorance.
Deliberately this man Wilson led
the innocent and unsuspecting girl
to her ruin. Now he is safe from the
strong arm of the law, and, as is
always the case, the woman is left
to bear the burden of both, and face
the world with it's finger of scorn
pointed full in her face.
Here in a strange country without
relatives, without those friends who
would go to her and soothe her an
guish in such a trying hour, she is
indeed poor in all the brightness the
world has to offer. She is left alone
within the narrow confines of a
prison cell to weep out her grief and
seek deliverance from her sin.
Lena Olson came to this country
alone not great while ago, and
seemed to think the new world Of
fered all that was good and pros
porous. Shortly after reaching st.
washer in Magee's restaurant. and
continued to work there up until the
time of her shame. She was not
long in making the acquaintance of
number of rapid" young women,
and, it is understood, went to many
of the parties given in the public
halls, and at which no premium was
placed on virtue.
She here became acquainted with
the hack driver, who pursued the
acquaintance at odd intervals when
standing with his carriage at the
entrance to Magee's restaurant. He
secured the girls confidence, told
the same old story of devotion, and
eventually succeeded in accomplish
ing the girls ruin.
For a long time she kept her secret
well, until finally it became i'm
possible to conceal her condition.
The other girls in the house were
made acquainted with her state, but
little was thought of it. 1t had hap
pened too often to excite much COM
ment. 1t appears that in Magee's
there is employed a conscientious
young girl by the name of Mary
Cassimer, who kept close
WATCH OVER LENA
and lent her friendly aid when needed.
Lena became silent and very un-
happy as her condition dawned upon
her, and it was feared that she might
make some attempt to do herself bo-
Oily harm.
Last Saturday night she became sud-
denly i'll, and was confined TO her room.
Cassimer, fearing that she was going
to die, hastily sent for DR.. Alvah F.
Whitman, who has an Office at 16j
East Seventh street.
DR.. Whitman responded to the sum-
mons, reaching Miss Olson none too
soon, for within half an hour after
his arrival he delivered her of q male
child.
DR.. Whitman prescribed for the poor
girl and left her in care of Miss Cas-
sinner and one other girl. In a little
while she told the girls that she was
feeling better and that they might 80
home.
She was able to walk around, and
feeling confident that she really waa
all right, the, girls departed. Soon
after they left, Lena arose and, seizing
the baby, laid it in the trunk. covered
it with some clothing and closed the
lid.
She had seemed all of a sudden te