The San Francisco call., 1896-01-12
A FRAUD ON THE Church,
Archbishop Riordan Denounces
the San Leandro Found
ling Home.
WILL ADOPT EIGHTEEN BABES
Rev. Father McSweeney Empowered by
the Children's Society to Take
Them From the Home.
WILL ADOPT EIGHTEEN BABES
OAKLAND OFFICE SAN Francisco CALI,)
QllS Rrna6 rrnIr Lon / Z

OAhGAND OFFlCE DAN L FRANCISCO OALD,l
9]0 Broadway, Jan. IL.
In an isolated part of the county living
between the town of San Leandro and the
bay, is little four-room cottage. Very
few people, even in the neighboring town,
know of its existence. yet eighteen hapless
babes have been confided to the care of the
two women who manage the place, under
the delusion that they are Sisters of
Mercy, and that the cottage is a branch of
Catholic institution.
Tales of cruelty, neglect and starvation
have occasionally been told by the found
llngs and others, but only three days ago
was sufficient evidence proouced to war
rant Mrs. Prescott to officially investigate
the place and declare that it was not
healthy or proper place for the inmates.
The case was reported to Mrs. Prescott
last Friday by the parents of two boys
5 and years of age, who, by the instiga-
ton of Catholic relative, had been tenn
porarily boarded in the home. It was
don solely upon the representation that
for the sum OF So the children would be
boarded and carefully tended in a branch
of the Girls Directory located on farm
near San Leandro, where they would enjoy
! the freedom of the country under the
mOtherly care of the Sisters of Mercy. The
farmhouse proved TO be squatty, one
story cottage of four medium-sized rooms,
carpetless and bare in appearance.
In a darkened room were the beds that
eighteen babies slept in, anything but
clean and the odor was extremely sick
| ening.
The mattresses were bags made of calico
filed with straw and the pillows the same.
| sitting-room, carpetless and cherries,
was directly opposite the dormitory, back
| OF which came the kitchen, wherein the
| eighteen babes were seated in little wooden
! chairs eating dry bread
| A ferocious bulldog in a kennel at the
! back door growled and snarled most dan
gerously at Mrs. Prescott and her COM
/ panions who were refused admission very
( emphatically Only by asserting her
rights as an officer Of the law did she man
! age to get outside the reception-room.
This week it is now arranged that the
/ children Will be put under better and per-
manent care for their future welfare.
The Rev. Father McSweeney, pastor of
the Francis de Sales Church, was seen
Catholic institution at West San Leandro,
! known as branch of the Girls Directory
located in San Francisco.
He said: II did not know that such an
institution existed until recently. When
| heard 1t | was at meeting in Berkeley,
at which Archbishop Riordan was present,
and it gave the excellent opportunity of dis
cussing the matter, which is one of the
worst of frauds perpetrated on the Catholic
church. The institution has no connection
in any way with the Catholic church, and
the quicker the affair is investigated and
the wider publicity it gets the better it will
be, for of all frauds religious fraud is the
most dangerous.
1.-THE first we ever heard Of this organi-
zation was between three and four years
ago, when we were informed that band
/ of four or five women had met somewhere
in the Western Addition in San Francisco
without any authorization from any -eli-
! gious sect and constituted themselves into
/ what, If my memory serves me right as
the "Sisters of st. Francis or Sisters of
| Mercy. They donned the regulation uni
| form of the sisters of the Catholic church,
! but very little has ever been beard of
| them. Every priest in the State has de-
nounced the body from his pulpit and
warned his people against them. Conse-
quently it is TO wonder that building so
far away from every body should have
been selected and that the visitors who
sought to investigate the charges pre-
ferred should have had so much difficulty
in finding the place.
From the conversation I have had with
those who went through the institution
am perfectly satisfied that those eighteen
little waits are in terribly neglected and
suffering condition. Most of them if not
all, have been placed there under the be-
lief of their parents or guardians that thew
were in care OF genuine Sisters of Mercy
under the auspices of the Catholic church.
When the matter has been explained to
the public in order to inform the friends
| of these little ones of their suffering and
neglected condition and they fail to come
forward, if authorized by Mrs. Prescott
secretary of the Alameda County branch
of the Society for the Prevention Of
Cruelty to Children, l will upon two min
utes' notice take the entire lot of eighteen
children.
II will place them in one of our homes,
where they will be properly and kindly
cared for without any money considera-
ton, only to see those suffering. diseased
little waits made comfortable and happy.
"Archbishop Riordan, who is greatly
wrought up over this affair, has notified
all the priests to give publicity to the San
Leandr 70 affair from their various pulpits
tomorrow morning, and | hope this will
be the means of breaking up the fraud
that is being perpetrated upon the Catho-
lie church"
''I am well pleased with the proposition
made by Father McSweeney," said Mrs.
Prescott. land in my official position will
empower him to take charge of the
neglected children, whose present condi-
tion would warrant me in considering
them wards of our society. When | visited
the Chidren's Home at San Leandro there
were many indications that were strangely
out of keeping with any other Protestant
or Cath oiic institution | ever had visited,
and l determined to communicate with
our officers at the San Francisco head.
quarters and request that the directors Of
the Girls Directory remedy the great
number OF wrongs seen during my visit.
''I fully believe that most of the little
| in in et hau
there under the impression that it was a
Catholic home, and do not propose to be
party to a deception, and will do all in
my power to aid Father McSweeney in
placing the little ores where they will re-
ceive the right kind OF care and nourish-
nent.
eff necessary an officer of the society can
accompany Father McSweeney whenever
he wishes to take charge of the little waits,
whose distressed condition is pitiful to be-
hold"