The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-02-07
TO GIVE up CHARITY WORK.
LEGITIMATE WORK FOR THE
CHILDREN's SOCIETY.
Special Officer Hea1y Runs Ur
Against an Action for Forty
Dollars.


for the Prevention of Cruelty to Chill
dren last evening President Van Nor
den was in the chair, with Rabbi Simon,
Secretary The routine business which
was brief was disposed of. The Off
ers' report was submitted by Daniel
Healy for the month.
He reported twelve cases handled IN
addition to those held over from the
preceding month For the first time
probably in a year, not one of these
cases related to brutality or bodily in
fiction cruelty. One was regarding
the pursuit and capture of one of the
society's wards and his return to the
asylum where he had been placed. This
involved a trip to Sonoma County. In
another case little girl was taken
from unhappy and demoralizing sur
roundings and placed in the Day Home
to await arrival Of money from an un-
Gle of the child in the East to take her
to him to be cared for
In another case a mother had given
prietorship while she was out at SER
vice. 1t was proper enough at first,
but changes exposing the child to bad
surroundings, she was removed and a
good home found for her, for which the
mother sent her thanks to the society
Three of the Douglass children, concern
ing whose discovery in unspeakable
squalor and filth by the Chief of Police,
the public was informed last month,
were reported disposed of, Placer Coun-
ty standing the expense of caring for
and bringing them up properly. This
occasioned a trip by the officer to Au-
burn.
A most involved case of too much
stepfather was reported in detail. An
other case like it in some respects, was
a sort of romance at the expense of an
innocent little girl banded from pillar
to post in San Francisco and then in
Sacramento County, and concerned the
pursuit of her father by an over Off
cious Child's Society in San Francisco,
in the endeavor to compel the father to
pay bill alleged to have been incurred
for the child's care on the part of an
aunt of the, girl. The father, declar-
ing the bill unjust, to escape the socie-
ty which followed him holly with writs,
has gone to parts unknown where his
wages cannot be reached, but a relative
in Sacramento knows where he is and
that he wishes to care for his little girl.
In the meantime the child's mother.
who has married again, pushes her off
upon an aunt not able to bring up the
girl and provide for her At which
juncture the Sacramento society is ap-
pealed to in behalf of the child. 1t will
endeavor to communicate with the
father and have him provide for his
own flesh and blood In another case
the complaint is that a sick child is
neglected. But the officer found the
facts alleged not to be sustained, but
found the matter to be still worthy of
looking into further. In another case
a mother stranded here at hotel while
en- route to Portland, and having four
children with her, appealed to the So
ciety- The officer turned the case over
to the Towards, who promptly afford
ed the relief necessary.
The officer reported that he still has
in charge and under care of his own
family girl abandoned by her rela-
tives who brought her. here from a for
eign land. Being dissatisfied with her
they set her adrift. She is temporar-
lily crippled and not able to work much,
and the question is what to do with
her kind-hearted physician is min
istering to her. Resort to the County
Hospital being suggested, the girl. a
stranger in a strange land, begs not
to be sent there. The idea of pursuing
the relative to compel contribution fer
her support, was abandoned as too ex-
pensive a proceeding, with doubtful re-
suits on collecting any Judgment
awarded
The officer reported his indisposition
to do any more charitable work, be-
cause he found more than enough to
do within the strict line of work laid
down by the State law for the society
without too widely spreading his ener-
gies. Besides, he added, the society
was not organized as charity.
In one of the latest cases where the
officer procured a situation for a party
in need of such aid the beneficiary not
having been paid for the full time she
served, has sued the officer for $40.
holding that he is responsible for her
wages, because he found employment
for her. The disgust of the officer over
this exhibition Of ingratitude was so
plainly manifest in his report that it
occasioned a smile, sympathetic how
ever. After considering general mat
tiers and discussing informally the
proposition in the Legislature to raise
the age of consent, which the members
present plainly disapproved of, an ad-
journment was taken for one month.
WANDERERS WANTED.