The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-08-29
THE GIRL WANTED HER MOTHER.

Clinton, Aug. 2S.-'I would as soot
be in Jail as living in Sterling with my
father" said pretty Lila Mae Rodgers
to Judge Christopher C. Stone, in dis
! trict court, this morning.
Her voice was hard and contemptu.
Gus rather than angry. Her answer
was the climax to one Of those sac
scenes, the result of vanity and strong
drink, which are oftener observed il
the magistrate courts of New York city
than in the courts of such comparative.
ly small places as Clinton.
Lila Mae Rodgers is the Sterling CIR
who was arrested in the small hours
of Sunday morning, for the first time
and whose story was told in The Spy
this morning
If the girl would rather go to jai
than live with her father, it was evil
dent he would rather have her in jai
than living with him.
| 1t was his evidence, principally, given
sternly and without relenting, that con.
| victed her of the more serious of the
two offenses of which she stood &C.
cused,
| The father was an elderly man, with
| little appearance of Vindictiveness ir
his face, but much in his manner. He
said that he lived at Sterling centre
that his daughter had been living away
from home, that she returned two
months ago, that she has since been
making almost nightly trips to Gin
ton, walking over from Sterling early
IN the evening and returning on foot
about midnight.
She has led a disreputable life" the
father said. She is bad, very bad"
She was not yet IS years old, he said;
hardly more than II, in fact.
Constable Edward S. Phelps testified
that he had known the girl for six
months. Stories had been brought to
him about her They We're stories that
she was travelling toward bourne from
which girl travellers rarely return.
Judge Stone appeared to take even
more than his usual interest in the
case.
With kindness in his voice, he asked
the young woman what she had to say
for herself
That l would as soon be in Jail as
living in Sterling with him." and she
pointed at her father. He is mista-
ken If he thinks it will do me any good
to have me arrested"
DO you think there is anything that
viii do you good, my poor girl?" asked
his honor.
Nothing except to send me to my
mother. She is in Ottawa, in Canada
you know; 1 have not seen her in two
years"
There was visible eagerness in her
voice as she said this.
But whatever impression her. soft
ened manner made upon the court was
lost, when from mistaken sense OF
honor, she refused to answer the cues
lions of the court regarding the means
by which she got into the predicament
in which the police found her Sunday
morning. She admitted freely enough
that Saturday evening she met man
and that she went to a hotel where She
was given things to drink.
What street is the hotel on?" asked
Judge Stone.
Il do not know what street."
WAS it on Main street?"
| mot on that street." she said
what was the name of the man with
you?" Il will not tell his NAME" she
replied, defiantly.
From this determination she coult
not be budged. Judge Stone said: q
find the prisoner guilty of being drunk
and of walking in the night season.
He sentenced her to be confined il
Sherborn for two years
According to the police the girl has
never been arrested before Yet she
received a severer sentence than any o.
a half dozen women aged in sin and re
peatedly in the police station, who have
gone from Clinton to the women,
prison.
The other day a woman who was de
scrlbed as for IL years a common
|
has given the poor department NOR,
trouble than any other person on it,
list" was sentenced to Sherborn for ;
year.