The Anaconda standard., 1899-12-31
ANACONDA NEWS.
AN ANACONDA TRAGEDY
The Sad Story of Mary Venir
r. and Her Boy Husband.
SIN, MISERY AND DEATH
Weaved Into the Web OF Child's Life.
An Empty Cradle-Deserted Be-
cause Another Babe Was
,8 to Be Born.

5 story OF Mary Nen1r is the story OF one
of them. 1t is a much sadder story
than one reads each day in the year.
and there is much in it too dreadful
to write. Mary Venir is 16 years old,
Z IA wife and the mother of two children,
one of whom is living and one dead.
Il Mary Venir used to be Mary Harring-
%ton before she married Henry Venir.
/ She married him six months ago, and
he is only 10 years old now. The sec
sond babe was born a month after the
Y marriage. But that comes later in
the story.
sf There are many persons, particular
/; ly in the law fraternity of Anaconda,
who remember the sentencing of a
Imam named Rose, about four years
.aago, to term of rs years in the pen
sfttentiary for the crime of criminal as
2 .sault on Mary Harrington, who then
was ~ years old. The man is now
serving In the prison at Deer Lodge,
and it is said that a petition for his
pardon is being circulated and already
(. has secured upward of $50 signatures.
There are said to be mitigating cir
lgcumstances weaved in with the COM
mission of the crime. 1t is hard to
IA believe in mitigating circumstances
q when the girl who is outraged is only
~ years, old. Evidently the judge
who sentenced Rose to what is practi-
z
took the same view of the crime, for
it is said among the legal men of the
city that the trial brought out the
fact that no violence was used in the
commission of the terrible offense; in
harsher words, that the girl was an
funresisting party to the crime. AS the
story of Mary Harrington is being writ
ten from the middle of the book, this
may be considered as chapter / in her
life.
Then there is a skip of four years,
and chapter begins with Mary Har-
.rington's marriage to Henry Venir. He
is a. Frenchman. Some say his mar
rlage was forced. some say it was not.
However that may be. the babe was
born one month after they became man
and wife.
Mrs. Baird came into the life of Mary
Nenir two months ago. when the child
wife was grieving and crying over an
empty cradle. That was just after
Death had come into the little cabin
opposite the foundry and carried away
the second babe You may find, once
in while in this dreary world a wo-
man who is SO very evil in her soul
that wise men call her an unregener-
ate; and very much oftener you will
come across a man of the same stamp,
especially if the life. you live leads
YOU to rub elbows Wifi the world But
the Kind Providence that w1tc'las aver
the well being of all the children of
the earth and regulates Sorrow and Joy
has decreed that almost never shall you
find a woman so hopelessly sunk in the
virtueless depths that she will not
mourn over the empty cradle, whence
Death has stolen her child
1t was when Mary Venir was look
ing wet-eyed into the empty cradle that
Mrs. Baird came into her life. That
was good for Mary Venir; for the
heart of a chld-mother may be very
wrong because she has never been
taught, but never so hard that a wom-
ans sympathy and womans kindness
will not help. Some things that seem
wasted are not.
Mrs. Baird is Frenchwoman a ply
scian and nurse. She is not plump,
but she has rosy cheeks and blue eyes
and yellow hair. One needs only to
look into her face to know that she is
kind. Together with her son she came
to Anaconda three months ago and
took a house adjoining the cabin where
the -Nenrs were living, opposite the
foundry. There are no other houses in
that immediate neighborhood.
The rest of this story is told as it
was gotten from the lips of Mrs.
Baird.
Mrs. Baird had a patient in her house:
a woman. Soon after they moved into
the house on Sixth street a child was
born to this woman. You will remem-
Der that Mary Venir's babe had just
died. When Mary Venir heard there
was new baby next door she could
not resist the temptation of asking to
see it, so Mrs. Baird let her in. That
was how Mrs. Baird came into the life
of Mary Venir. For all her misery and
her sin, Mary Venir's face was sweet
And then, she was only 16 years old,
and a mother. Mrs. Baird liked the
poor girl from the start She could
~ hal hitol-j IoaI I,cI1 Il
the empty cradle next door.
So when Mary Venir told the French
woman that she was tired to death of
living in the cabin adjoining, where
there We're so many men who were al
ways getting drunk and quarreiing, and
asked that inasmuch as Mrs. Baird was
about to move TO O larger house in a
better part of the city, might not sh
and her husband go and live with them,
Mrs. Baird considered and said yes.
But first the girls husband was con-
suited, and he said he would be very
glad for the change of surroundings
and he knew no reason why they
should not go and live together. He
was 10 years old
That same day the Bairds moved, and
the Venirs moved with them, leaving
Mary Venirs uncle and the quarrel
some men to keep house for themselves
in the squalid cabin opposite the
foundry. Mrs. Baird paid the expense
of moving the Venirs' household goods,
which were poor enough She was to be
repaid on the 7th pay day
1t was not more than a few days
after they had taken the new house
that Mrs. Baird was awakened in the
middle Of the night by strange sounds
coming from the room where were
sleeping the Venirs. She listened and
recognized the voice of Mrs venir
seemingly calling in delirium Then
Mrs. Baird went to the girl and found
her in terrible fever Pneumonia
The French woman nursed her well,
which was more of a feat because the
patient was with child.
Soon after her recovery, Mary Venir's
husband said he must go to a place
Che did not say what place. about 10
miles out of town to assist in putting
up a stack for the company He was
employed at the works. He said he
would be gone four days, or possibly
n little longer, and that he would be
paid S4 a day for his work He eau