Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-02-20
NAYNE' 5 DEAIN
ADDUS[S PEOPLE
Indignation Felt by st. Anthony
Citizens Over the Case of
Destitution
STORY is MOST PlTIFUL
story is MOST PlTIFUL
Because Family Did Not Know How to
Use Necessaries of Life, Neglect to
Sick Man ResuIted-St. Anthony
People Did All They Could to Relieve
Conditons--John Beck Talks.

People Did All They Could to Relieve
Conditions--John Beck Talks.
The people of st. Anthony are much
wrought up over the recent death of
Charles Mayne, a county charge living
near that town, in Minerva township.
Mayne died a week ago Sunday, Feb
rrary II, after an illness of intiam-
nation of the bowels That the man
suffered from cold and hunger, there
seems to be no doubt, but it was not
the fault of the people of st. Anthony.
1t appears that food and fuel were given,
both by the people of ST. Anthony and
Mrs. Mayne and her older children did
not have a sufficient knowledge of how
to use them, and the sick man suffered
as a result.
Nichols, to the effect that the man
died with colo and hunger, was investl-
gated by the T.-R. a few days ago
with the result that it was shown by
interviews with the county officials and
DR.. C. G. Turner, county physician
that the necessaries of life We're fur
nished the family. DIR. Turner said that
the family did not know how to use
the food furnished them, and in this
the people of st. Anthony concur. The
surroundings of the howell in which the
family lived We're so very unSanltary
that even a we'll man could not sur
vive very long. 1t would be impossible
to attempt to describe the squalor In
which the family lived. and the scenes
of the poverty stricken home, as told
by eye witnesses. The people of ST.
Anthony, who have been caring for
this family since before Christmas.
took the case into their own hands
after Mayne's death, and removed the
family to the county farm. This they
claim the trustees of Minerva town
ship should have done, long ago, even
tho the family did seriously object.
Had this been done, before Mayne took
sick, it is thought he would not have
died. AS it was no sick man could have
been properly cared for in the miser-
able house called a home. especially in
weather thirty degrees below zero. So
poorly constructed was the house that
the wind could blow thru it from any
direction, and the cellar could be seen
thru the boards of the floor. No matter
how much coal was burned in the
stoves, the room could not be kept
warm.
Neighbor Tells His Story.
Several people from ST. Anthony
called at the T.-R. Saturday to tell of
the case. Among them was John
Beck, who lives on farm adjoining
the place where the Maynes lived. Mr..
Beck says that the case beggars de-
scription, and the details of the condi-
lions that surrounded the family are
almost too sickening to be told in pub
lie print. Mr. Beck says that when
Mayne was first injured. in sustaining
fracture of the knee cap, he begged
not to be taken home. for he said then
that if he were he would never live.
Mr.. Beck says that the entire family
is far from bright and Mayne himself,
while not an imbecile,, was not of av
erage intelligence. Such, he alleges. is
true of Mrs. Mayne and the children
Mr.. Beck says that Mayne lay in
the bed of rags, with the cold wind
blowing thru the cracks in the walls,
and was SO cold that ice had frozen
to his beard. Between the man the
bed Stats was an old straw tick, with
scarcely any straw in it. and covering
him was piece of shirt and an old
NT1s hot no &c
back was covered with large sores that
had formed and that when he, in COM
pany with Thomas Gill, Edward Guy
and Will and Raymond Slough, car
ried the body to an adjoining room, to
get it out of sight of the family, the
stencil was so terrible that none of
them could stand it, and had to seek
fresh air. This is a fact, says Mr..
Beck even tho the man had just died.
The seven children of the family,
and Mrs. Beck herself, We're barely
clothed, and two of the smaller girls,
10 and ~ years of age, so frosted their
feet and legs in wading thru the snow
that the skin all peeled off. The chill
dren came to his home to beg for food,
and he saw that they got provisions.
Before Mayne died he said to some of
the men who had come to bring pro-
visions that he was starving to death.
Take Case in Charge.
John S. Hixson, Of st. Anthony, who
has been familiar with the case, and
knows what the people of that town
have done for the family, told to a T.
r. man Saturday night a story that
conceded in every particular with that
given by Mr.. Beck A signed state
ment of other residents, telling of the
conditions surrounding Mayne's death,
has also been furnished the T.-R.
Mr.. Hixson says that neighbors of
the family, and residents of st. An
thony have been caring for the family
since before Christmas, and that pa
thence had ceased to be a virtue. No
matter what was done. the family
could not be properly provided for UNI
der the conditions as they We're eXis-
ing Mrs. S. f. E'arber Mrs William
Slough Mrs. Raymond Slough, Mrs
James McManus and other women of
ST. Anthony had been frequent Wis
itors at the Mayne home. and had done
that was possible 10 relie'e
the sufferings of the family and keep
the house in some kind of shape. The
interior of the house was so filthy that
it was almost unbearable. and impos