Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1900-05-23
LITTLE MAID OF GIN LANE.
Never Had No Soul, Never Heard of
God or the Bible.

In the large cities more than eIsew here.
one catches those glimpses OF show the
other halt livesn which touch Tue chords
OF commol brotherhood, tut their SYM
pathetic vibration /, SON stilied by the
clamorings OF se,t-Interest. The police
and criminal courts OF New York city
every day furnish stories OF tragedy,
pathos and humor which need not the
clothing OF fiction.
Timothy Collins, q Iongshoreman, was
on trial for wife murder, says the New
York Sun. 1t was alleged that he had
struck his wife, aud fractured her skull, at
their home on "Gln Lane, as the section
OF the street where they lived was locally
known.
The principal witness for the prosecu-
ton was Collins ten year-old daughter
Kate. When the child was called to the
witness stand Judge Gildersleeve said:
Katie, do you know the meaning OF
the word oath?n
means a bad word"
Didn't you ever hear Of any other kind
OF an oath?" inquired the justice.
"Nope," answered the child.
"Did you ever hear OF the Bible?"
"Nope."
"Did you ever hear OF God?"
"Of who?"
"God."
"Nope. Never heard OF Him."
NV here do you expect to 60 when you
die?"
"In the cemetery"
"Do you know what your soul is?"
mo, SIR"
"Then you don't know whether you
have n soul or not?"
81 never had none"
Justice Gildersleeve said that the child
was not competent to be sworn, but
added that he would permit her to tell
her story Of the alleged murder.
Papa and mamma were nearly all the
time drunk" said the girl, land they had
| fights nearly night and morning. One
night it WAS Saturday, cause papa was
| always drunk on Saturday; that's how l
know 1t was Saturday-papa told mamma
| to get pigs head for Sunday dinner and
| tripe for supper. When papa came home
| he found mamma had cooked the tripe
and he told her he would not eat 1t. He
said, Il told you to get pigs head
| Mamma said, You did not; you told me
to get tripe.' Papa said, You're liar
"Then spoke. said, 'Papa, you told
mamma to get tripe, cause l heard you
| tell her. Papa said he didn't and Re got
mad at me too. Then he tried to hit
IL
hide under the bed. She run and hid
under the bed. Papa stayed in the kitch-
en- some time and then he tried to find
mamma. He asked me where she was. l
| told him didn't know. He said to me,
YOU'RE a liar; you do know where she is. ;
| Then he found her under the bed and
dragged her out by the hair and while she
WAS crying he punched her. Then he
went into the kitchen aud sat down On
| the lounge, looking over at her where he
| had left her.
mamma got up, and she took the floor
broom as II she wanted to keep him away
| from her in case he wanted to come at
| her again. She hadn't tried to hit him
| yet, but he saw her take the broom and
he started to hit her again. Then she
tried to put the broom up so she could hit
him, but she couldn't cause he grabbed
the broom away. He hit her with it and
she fell down. 1t was pretty hard hit.
He had the broom up over his head in his
right hand, and turned 1t around his
head and then hit mamma with it. He
kind o. grunted when he hit her, because
he had to twist himself to hit her hard.
"After mamma fell down, papa knocked
at the bedroom door and told Mrs. Shee
| han to come in. Mrs. Sheehan came in
and held mammals head with her hand.
Papa picked her up and tried to set her
on the chair, but she always slid down.
Mrs. Sheehan said that mamma felt bad
| in her head, and then Mrs. Sheehan and
papa put her on the lounge. Mrs. Shee =
han said she'd go out to get some water,
but she didn't come back. She kept yell
ing all the time, Your wife is dead. You
killed her. After that the policeman
came around and took me and papa to
| the station house"