The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-02-06
UNNATURAL MOTHER
 BEATS HER CHILD
Step-father, Who is Good to the Little Ones, Also Takes His Beatings Rath- CT Than Make Complaint.

| A case where the usual time honored
 conditions were reversed came up in
 the City court this morning. The | cruel stepfather or stepmother has 1 Of many a hero and heroine, but this morning Mary Mario was brought to
 the City court to answer to the charge
 of cruelty beating her own son 12 years
 of age. It also appeared from the i testimony that the stepfather, John Mario, was not only uniformly kind
 and considerate to the children of his
 wife by a former husband, but that he also had to take his share of the beat
 ings which were distributed with lav- ish hand among the members of the family.
 The attention of Prosecutor Delaney
 was called to the facts by the neigh
 bors of the family who live at 283 Will lard street. The boy, whose name is John, was brought to MT. Delaney s office and examined. He had a black eye and a cut over 1t. When his cloth ing was removed his back was found to be covered with black welts pro- duced by a club or poker. The boy told his story.
 Miss King, the probation officer, was assigned to the case to investigate and on her report the warrant for the arrest of the unnatural mother was issued. The case was the subject of conversation over the whole neighbor- hood and Miss King was told of the continued i'll treatment the boy re-
 ceived at the hands of his mother. Mrs. Mario was in court this morning with her sucking babe in her arms to answer to the charge of assault. The toy told his story in a quiet and un- demonstrative way.
 His mother seemed to have an un- conquerable antipathy to the boy and | lrahr I1i f,,1Ir
 portunity. She had beaten him re- peatedly with a poker. The wound on his face was produced by broom stick and the welts on his back came from the same source. Miss King told of her knowledge of the case. It is asserted that the woman is subject to fits of i'll temper in which the lives of those who oppose her are in danger. She uses any weapon that comes han dy to maintain her supremacy and she has the whole household so train ed that no one dares make move in opposition to her wishes. In her own behalf the woman said Johnny was bad boy. He staid away from home three nights and stole bread from bakers wagon. It was discovered that Johnny had passed the three nights on the roof of the house for fear that his mother would kill him if he went inside. He acknowledged stealing the bread 10 Keep rom StaTV- ing.
 The matter was first called to the attention of the authorities by William B. Kelsey, principal of the Walters vile school, who noticed the boys condition. He was regular in his at tendance at the school and a good boy generally.
 The little victim was not anxious to talk, evidently fearing that he would c-,1ff 1of nra0PRd1n0S. In her testimony Mrs. Mario said the boy fell against the broom and caused the wound over his eye, and that Johnny was a bad boy generally, statement which was denied, by every other witness.
 Judge Pullman called the mother and the boy together and made the mother understand his instructions to the boy that he should report to the police If his mother beat him again, and that he must be a good boy and not give occasion for punishment. He prom ised in a manner which convinced everybody that he was in earnest. His mother was told that she must her cruel beatings and that if she came into court again on the charge she would be sent to jail with her baby which she had evidently counted on to secure the sympathy of the court The unnatural mother was allowed to go with the boy. There |! are two other children in the family, but the vicious temper of the mother usually is spent on the boy John.