The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-10-11

come up again, If she didn't sing song
and say things for them.
Edith cried and sang songs for he
tolmentors until they tired and let he
go,
On another occasion three OF the old
er boys of the neighborhood met Edit
and threatened to beat and kill her i
scared as she was, bad as the neigh
bors said she was, would not do. The!
could kill her first They let her go.
She went home with the story to he
! father, whose wrath although he il
more peaceful than a man has any bus
mess to be, was now brimmed and al
most running over.
| So the thing went on until the open
/ ing of the school term, this September
/ Then Mr. Whitaker sent Ethel back t.
( school, What happened was an Illus
! tration Of the relentless. determine
| ton to have none Of her. The outrag
| ed morality Of the district still de
manded satisfaction. The Ryans anC
! the Spears took their children out Of
school.
/ Once more the school committee con-
sidered its duty TO the majority, and il
the majesty of its office wrote another
letter, which they gave to Miss Xii.
bourne. Miss Kibourne is the new
teacher. She took the letter to Mr.
/ Whitaker. 1t informed him again that
the little girl could not go TO school
She had not atoned
/ 1t seemed like irony to the Whitaker
family when Miss Kilbourne, who is a
kind young woman, said that Edith
was a good little girl, kind and obed-
lent.
The second aggravated assault upon
| Edith was made just before the last
letter was written
1t was after the letter arrived and
Edith was returning from school, not
to return, that the incident occurred
that drove Mr.. Whitaker to a stand
In the assault referred to, the poor
child was beaten so badly that she
screamed, You'll kill mel You'll kill
mel"
Whether they would really have done
the child serious injury is, perhaps, a
question. 1t will never be known what
might have happened, because the ar
rival OF Mrs. P H. DivoIl the mother
Of little Ethel Divoll, put a stop to the
cruel work. The story that Mrs. Di-
vol told The Spy man was pitiful, and
detailed the brutal manner in which
several children mercilessly beat the
Whitaker girl
Other well known persons in the dis
trlct told the reporter about the abuse
of the child.
There was a lively time when Mr..
Whitaker gave his ultimatum to the
school committee. Mr. Quincy said it
would not do to take the girl back to
her own school. At last he offered for
the committee to pay for her tuition
elsewhere.
Mr.. Whitaker is an old man, with a
moving white beard. His wrath was
mosaic
If Edith is not fit to go to school
with other children, she is not fit to go
to any school. If she's good enough to
go to some other school, she's good
enough to go to the school in her own
district, and go she SHALL"
And go she will, unless the unfore-
seen occurs. The committee saw the
weakness of it's position, and ceased its
effort to keep Edith at home.
1t looks, however, as though there
will not be pupils enough to pay for
keeping it open if Thomas A. Ryan
does what he says he'll do-keep his
four children at home-and especially
if the Spears also keep their two chill
dren at home.
Mr.. Ryan announced his determine
ton to do this to a correspondent of The
Spy yesterday. He seemed much dis
turbed because Of Mr.. Whittaker's
threatened proceedings. He has receiv-
ed Attorney Walshs notification, and
has written a letter to Mr.. Walsh in
reply. Mr.. Ryan says he was willing
to do almost anything to keep the af-
fair out of the courts.
The position of the school committee
is exceedingly delicate.
Miss Anna Whitney OF the committee
| conversed with the correspondent of
The Spy, about Edith. yesterday. She
said; Edith was suspended, not ex-
PEELED, because nothing Iuns through a
school as quickly as obscenity."
why was she taken back?" asked
the correspondent.
Because circumstances have
changed Within the Year. Things are
not as they were.
Things haven't changed much in the
last three or four weeks, have they?"
mot much" said Miss Whitney.
Then why was she sent home the
second time, three weeks ago. Has
her character improved in three
weeks?"
Miss Whitney did not seem to clear
~ understand why Edith was sent
home the second time, but she was
entirely certain that the threat Of Mr.,
Whitaker to go to the courts for pro-
lection had nothing TODD with the COM
mittees change of front.
BOY FRIGHTFULLY INJURED.
Peter o'Toole, 10 years old, was
frightfully injured today, near the
north dyke. He was playing about a
gravel train, when, in some manner,
he was thrown beneath the car. The
wheel caught the little fellows arm
and lacerated it fearfully. A strip Of
flesh two inches wide was stripped from
the right arm, starting two inches be-
low the shoulder, taking a spiral direc-
ton nearly to the wrist and then back
to the elbow. where the local tissue
hung by a thread. Fortunately, the
main artery was not severed.
DR. p. 4. O'Brien was called and at
first thought amputation would be nee
essary. The boy objected to going to
the hospital and was driven to the
home Of his father, John j. OToole,
at 1855 Woodlawn avenue. DR.. O'Brien
was obliged to take over 200 stitches to
join the tissue. The boy would not
take ether and stood the painful opera
ton like a hero The arm will prob
ably be saved but will be Withered
and practically useless.
Julia Kittredge Of 146 Main street fell
by accident this afternoon, and sus-
tanned fracture of the right arm,
which DR.. O'Brien reduced.
John Coughlin, four years old, was
knocked down by an oil team this af-
ternoon and sustained cut behind the
right ear, which required several
stitches to close.
CLINTON TOWN NOTES.