The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1914-12-16
BABES FATHER
ORDERED HELD
TO GRAND JURY
CHARLES PAGAN WHO Is BLAMED
BY coRoNER's JURY FOR THE
DEATH OF YOUNG CHILD, WAS
LOCKED UP FOLLOWING HEAR
ING.

! Following the testimony of more
than half a dozen witnesses, cor
oner's jury yesterday afternoon at
o'clock returned a verdict, which spe=
!. officially charged Charles Pagan, coll
ored, with murder. Pagan, who had
! been arrested during the forenoon,
| because his infant child had frozen
to death, was allowed to appear
at the hearing, and himself ques-
toned many of the witnesses who
were summoned to appear before
Judge W. L. Johnson.
The jury in the case, and who pa
tiently heard the testimony of neigh
bors of Pagan tell how he had ap-
parentIy neglected his offspring, was
comp osed of the following: 7. G.
Pate, John Beck, B. F. Lindsay, Ar
thur Mcclure. Chris Mandel and E. z.
Bayless.
Pagan and his wife. Mary Pagan,
lived at SIT East Aragon street. Mon
day morning the wife and mother of
two children, went off to her work,
leaving, the evidence showed, Charles
Fagan, the husband and father, home
with little boy Of four years and
another child of three or four months
of age Late that afternoon, neigh
bors who lived near were alarmed by
piercing cries from the mother who
The younger of the children had
been found dead, and from all indi-
cations, the mite of humanity had
suffered death from the severe cold
| weather 1t had no clothes on at the
/ time but was wrapped in several
cloths one of the witnesses said, and
had a bruise on the side OF its had,
and one shoulder had been wrenehed
out of place. Things did not look just
right, and early yesterday morning,
Judge ". L. Johnson. who had been
] officially notified of the child's demise,
I hurried to the scene to make an In
I vestigatfon. Things had not been dis
/ torted, SO far as the conditions OBJ
tanned in the place, and he at once
ordered that Charles Pagan, the father,
be taken into custody and held until
| the chiId's death could be officially In
quired into.
1 The Jury as named above was en-
paneled and a session was :-eld in the
! recently occupied offices of the cor
] oner Six or eight witnesses were
+. sworn, and after one witness had tes-
] titled that the child had apparently
| been frozen to death, because when
found it had not been clothed, the
| Jury apparently heard enough, and the
verdict was made, which will hold Fa-
gan possibly until the next term of the
circuit court Although 1t was nsveI
| charged that he had, by his own phys
icaI acts, caused the death of the lit
| tie child, the jury did find from the
III evidence adduced, that he was in {
| way technically responsible for the
| loss of life, and he was locked up
| The Jail bIotter shows the charge
Ii against him to be murder.
| Several witnesses were heard who
/ gave some startling testimony. One
] swore. and was later corroborated b5
/ two others, that Pagan and his wife
had been away from the house practi
| calIy the entire day, leaving the chill
dren inside with nothing like place
to keep warm. One neighbor said sh,
heard continual crying from the chill
dren. and when she went over ant
asked what was the matter, the four
- year-old boy said that he was hungr!
= and cold. This sympathetic neighbor
. ont of her own confessedly meagr
i store. spared a bit of bread and wen
r over To try and stop the child's erie
! by such offer. The reighbor furthe
q swore that when she went to Pagan
!. home she could not get in, at eithe
window or doors, and the only way sh
succeeded in handing the hungry caiI'
= the bit of bread was through
49, broken pane in a window The emil
then told the woman that ne mao nom
/ ing to eat, and that he was very cold
The jury did not take long to reacl
the conclusion that the alleged negiec
i of the father was the alleged respon
sible reason for the child's death. ia
gan was detained in the CUSTODY 0
- Constable Jones until the jury wa
. ready to render the results OF IT'S hho
ing, and then was taken to the count
iail There was no charge mao
against the mother, although her con
duct in the care of the children wa
not approved. She was, in this as
many cases, the bread winner -ol
- the family, and supposed the chlldre
o had been reasonably we'll cared for o
/ the father.