The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-01-03
LOCKS HIS MOTHER
IN THE HOG Sly.
Acme of Human Depravity Reported
in East Prussia.
NO LAW TO COVER THE CRIME.
Nei-II,ors Took Matters in Their Own
Hands, aud 1nhuman Son begged
Police TO Place Him III jail
for Protection.

From Bartenstcin, a small town in East
Prussia, comes the report Of what is re-
Earded here as the most heart1ess deed
of the century a barber named Joseph
Bartcl has actually kept his seventy
year-old mother locked up in closed
hog sly for more than u year. The dis
uovcly Of this cruel treatment, border
Ing on tie acme of dcpravity, has
aroused The Inhabitants of the district
and for his own safety Bartcl has been
confined in the Bartenstcin Jail.
The Berlin papers devote considerable
space 10 a recital of all the details of
The affair. Sociologlsts cite it to show
that The present system OF moral train
ing is faulty in the extreme. saying that
under ideal social conditions such in
stances OF inhunan brutality could not
be-
Joseph Eartel, it appears, gradually ac-
qured the bulk of The parental estate
HEd when his father died ten years ago,
ne offered TO care for his mother. The
latter had a large sum OF money in bank.
aud it WAS undoubtedly with the object
of securing his that her Oldest son
showed such great anxiety TO harbor and
care for his mother.
NeighborS often overheard heated quar-
reis between mother and son over money
matters and Bartcl's wife bore a deep i'll
will against her nothcr-in-law because
she contributed nothing to the household
expenses and was TOO cid TO do house
work.
LOST HER REASON.
II seems that old Mrs. Bartel gradually
began To lose her reason on account of
The uniilial conduct of her son and the
everlasting quarrels with her daughter
in-layv- She was denied a place ut the
family table at meal times. and finally
she was locked UP in Il room in the gar
ret, where once a day the son brought
her what scanty food and drink he
thought she might need
Persons who passed by the barber shop
of Bartcl often heard the raNlnSS ana
I,iteous complaints OF the old woman
Bartel at last determined TO remove ms
mother from the garnet lie conveyed
his helpless victim To a hog sly at me
father end OF his plat OF land, where he
lacked her up in one of the middle pens.
In East Russia The hog sty is more in the
form of q; stable. To inquiries anent the
Whereabouts of his mother Bartei would
say that she had gone away for a time to
visit relatives. For months nothing was
heard from the old woman
During the first days of her conilne-
mcnt she would scream out aloud IN ter
,or and anger. Every time she screamed
her son went ont to the sty with a raw
hide and gave her severe hcatinES until
she promised 10 keep still She WIS told
that as long as she would not be quiet no
food would be brought to her. The beat
ings and starvation finally had the De
sired effect and the wretched creature
silently pincd away in the swine stan,
REFUSED TO SIGN
One day last week some of the neigh
l,Io an
1ure in the sly, and there they beheid
what they thought was a haggard old
witch. with long, dishcveled gray hair
They reported the discovery TO their par
cntS. as it Was noticed that food was
brought 10 tho stable once :: day Inc
news spread that old Mrs. Bartcl was
kept confined in the stable. The ponce
at once made AN investigation, and the
tottering old woman. nearer dead than
alive from a years imprisonment IN the
sly was taken to i san!tarlum III the
vicinity
During all this time the Old woman re-
fused to sign away any OF her money to
tler son.
Bartel could not be arrested, as his
crime n not covered by the statutes OF
Prussia Learning that the townspeople
had held a meeting and decided to take
the law in their own hands, Bartel hur-
1ied to the police and begged them TO
place him in Jail. His wife and children
have left Bartensteiu. and are supposed
TO be with relatives in Posen.
When the old woman was removed from
the sty il was found that her hair and
body literally Swarmed with Ncrmin. y
lot of dirty straw had been her couch for
= wear, and during all this lime she had
not changed her clothing, which was
hanging in IartcrS on her cnaClatcu body.
Chicago Chronicle.