The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1900-06-15
An Affront to Christianity.

A local report In the New York
World few days ago speaks for 1t
self aud needs no introduction:
Recorder Golf called 1t the most
remarkable case of neglect, cruelty
and starvation that has ever come 10
my notice.
Joseph Kenna, big driver, of
744 East Ninth street. was accused
, esterday of beating his wife inhu-
manly. He pleaded guilty of assault
in the seconu degree.
"The physicians at Bellevue said
that the woman was black and blue
fIom head to foot and was nearly
dead. For six days between the
time of the beating and April 10,
when the case was discovered, she
had lived on two eggs, one cup OF
coffee, and one cup Of tea. The chill
dred had almost nothing.
"Mrs. Kenna was in court yester-
day, assisted by an attendant. she
held her baby in her arms. she
would lot testify. Recorder Golf
said to Kenna:
Your wife Ia a mass Of bruises
from head to foot. AS result of
your blows she will probably be
eventually blind. she mas lost the
sight of ole eye and may lose that Uf
the other
Recorder Golf sentenced Keuna
to three years in the peaitentlary.
KeDna smiled"
Smiled? OF course he smiled. He
had gratified his brutal instincts.
He had beaten, manned, almost kill
ed and deliberately starved the
wretched woman who depended on
his mercy and his care for her very
life. Whatever savage hatred he
had nursed in his vile thoughts;
whatev er bestial vengeance he had
contrived and formulated in odd
moments of dab ,lical intelligence,
this hapless woman certified and
emphasized through the medium of
her cruel wounds. Ii the devil him
self, 18th all his fiends to aid aud
counsel him, had taken the matter
in hand, IL could not have been
manage with more absolutely fiend-
ish ingenuity. The woman was not
tactually dead. There was no cor
pus deficit; but everything in the
nature of Joy, of self respect, even of
|
manity, had been beaten out of her.
She sat there in the court--refusiDg
10 prosecute or give evidence-a
mere battered anu brutaliZed and
ruined derelic, robbed of her human
heritage, despoiled of her pride,
reduced to the level of a cowed and
tortured beast!
And when Judge Golf pronounced
the sentence, the unutterable, the
Understandable monster "smlled ~
How long, we wonder, will civillza-
ton tolerate this maddening, this
shame full spectacle? How long will
society permit thts odious ruff ans
to escape with a term in some
luxurious prison, where they will be
pampered with unaccustOmed com
forts, surrounded by the most
assiduous vigilance, nursed inro
health and strength, and so in
visOrated for a new and more sue.
cessful infamies? How lohg will our
lawmakers ignore the miserable
wom.n and children-victims and
martyrs of ferocity more appalling
than Nero or Commodus ever
dreamed of-how long will they
shut their eyes to horrors whica
pass all power of words? Three
lyears : in prison Three years OF
safety. If bodily comfort, warmth
abundant food, sound sleep, and
wholesome appetite! No wonder
this vile monster smiled" 1t was
for him reward, a boon, a lift in
life, security and iullness in the
personal---very. prospects for the
future. He smiled" of course, and
society congratulated itself upon the
machinery OF jus ice maintained al
its expense, while the manned, mr
tllated, tortured victim of thi:
brute's savage fury returned to the
frightful desolation she knows al
"home," to hold starving baby te
her withered breast, and aek, in the
dull stupeiaction of her anguish
whether she Is brute or human
whether God reigns and Gods fol
lowers (.oi disanD know wha
Christ meant by love and ply anC
compassion.
Where are the lash, the whipping
post, the knout? Why do we, IL
lnis age of so-called sweetness anC
light, pamper the devil and neglec
his victim? These fiends and ruff
fans should be scourged well-nigt
20 death. They should be torn anC
maugled and tiayed alive. The
civilization that shrinks from this /,
a false and maudlin parody o.
Christianity. 1t is an insult to high
/, heaven!