The Jersey City news., 1899-12-13
LITTLE GENERAL.
Jennie MeLaren Gains That
Sobriquet Seeking Her
Fathers Release.
WAITING FOR DECISION
She Stays in Trenton Till
Court of Pardons Investi-
gates the Case.
WAITING FOR DECISION
Especial to sThe Jersey citv News .


TRENTON, Dec 13, 1Sse-With her
treasured document hugged close to her
breast, Jennie McLaren came alone to this /
city yesterday, having written Governor |
Voorhees, that he and the Board of Par
dons might expect a visit from her. 1t |
was impossible for the officials to decide |
the case off hand, and they notified the
little heroine that they would take her
prayer under advisement.
Very well, Governor Voorhees,, :" she re-
piled, IT know you will do what is right.
will wait in Trenton until you decide
| upon giving my papa back to me-"
| Jennie was taken to the home of S. P.
Moore. one Of the keepers of the Peniten-
| tiary, who sent to the Chief of Police of
Ho'boken this despatch:-
THE General will stay here tonight.
Notify her aunt"
! Jennie McLaren. is pretty child, small
for her years. She is an apt scholar in
Public School No. Z, in Hoboken She is
favorite with teachers and playmates
Her face Is round and fresh and full of
intelligence. Her eyes are blue and her
| hair hangs in golden curls. She is not old
beyond her age, and when not engaged
in her present serious enterprise is happy
with her dolls. her toys and her books.
| The efforts is all her own No one in
| spired it. No one has assisted her in the
| work except in casual manner. She
drew her own first petition. She circu-
| lated it herself. Her expenses have been
/ betrayed from the meagre fund she had
been saving for Christmas. Her campaign
has been so practical and thorough that
! she has come to be known as THE Little
| General" Those who know her best be-
lieve that failure viii be a death blow to
! her, as it probably viii be to her father,
who is reported to be in the last stage of
consumption.
! Many of the incidents surrounding and
| the circums tances preceding the death of
her mother the child is not yet old
enough to know or understand. Until one
month ago she thought her father an in
mate of a hospital.
! Now the little pleader is in Trenton beg
/ ging of Gvernor VOORHEES, and the State
Board of Pardons that they gladden. her
Christmas with the gift of a pardon for
her papa. HE must die is her plea
LET him die at home with me"
| Thomas McLaren was born in Scotland
forty years ago last month. He came to
the United States as a boy and soon es-
tabiished an enviabIe reputation for hon
esty and industry in the little Pennsyi-
vania village where he had settled. In 1886
he married Jennie Thomas in Maueh
Chunk, only to discover in a short time
that she was unworthy. Then he met Jen-
ME Kneattle who had been betrayed into
! a mock marriage with a man who had
caught her girlish fancy. These two
| loved each other and, moving from where
4 thew were known to Hoboken, lived to-
gether happily for nearly ten years. -Four
children were born to them, of whom
Jennie and her brother Thomas, who was
eight years old yesterday, are still alive
+ One day McLaren learned that his
brother had died several months before
| This news turned him to liquor, and he
went on a long Spree which left him in
! condition bordering on insanity Then he
hunted up his brothers widow and mar
ried her.
McLaren in the meantime came to "a
realization of what he had done. He
wished to get rid of his legal wife and re-
/ turn to the woman he had abandoned.
IShe refused and he again sought solace IN
| drunkenness. On July 4, 1884, he forced
his way into the house where Jennie
Kneattle was living and shot her to death.
McLaren escaped, but could find no peace
on earth In the end he returned to Ho-
boken and submitted to arrest. He made
| no attempt to secure an acquttal, and
| seemed well pleased when sent to the
Trenton Penitentiary for twenty years.
| Jennie McLaren was not quite four
| years old when her mother was killed.
She was taken charge of by her fathers
sister, Mrs. NJ. A. Williams. with whom
she has since lived. Mrs. Williams has
carefully kept from the child all knowl-
edge of the great cloud that over
shawdowed her life. Once a month Jennie
\ was taken to Trenton to see her papa,
who was first "a nurse in a hospital"
| and, after his own health broke, a
patient, in the same institution.
| This fable was given implicit belief by
Jennie until about six weeks ago, when
playmate revealed to her something of
her life tragedy. For a few days the child
was quiet and without spirit, Then she
announced that her mamma would not
want her papa locked up.and consequent
ly, he must be pardoned. In her own
quaint. childish language, she drew up
| petition praying the Governor TO release
her father. Then a lawyer friend pre-
pared formal petition. which the child
circulated.
First to give assent to the chifd's plead
ing was Mayor Lawrence Pagan, whose
name leads her petition for clemeIcy. Fol-
lowing his is the name of nearly every
official in Hoboken, including Sheriff,
Postmaster, Chief of Police and Judges.
Members OF the New Jersey Assembly
j signed without question Endorsed on the
petition Is the certificate OF good behavior
given Thomas McLaren by the Peniten-
tiary officials.