The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1915-11-26
PRISONER OF HER
FATHER II YEARS.
GRACE MARSHALL, OF TALBOT, VICTIM
OF MHUMAN CRUELTY--LOCKED UP
AT l6 TO END ROMANCE.

OF which finds no parallel i'm the hi
tory OF Maryland, Grace Marshall Is
the topic of conversation for all Eas-
ton today, for she has Just been liber-
ated from a tiny, foul room in the
home of her father, Frank Marshall, a
farmer, of near st. Michaels, where
she was held prisoner for 12 years.
The facts of the case became known
Saturday and, although doubt is ex-
pressed whether there il q law to
punish Marshall and his wife, who is
the young woman's stepmother, Tai
bot county il seething with indigna-
tion against them.
Through the efforts of Miss Emma
Davis, local agent for the Children's
Aid Society of Maryland, Miss Mar
shall gained her liberty, and is now at
the home or her aunt, Mrs. MI. III.
Jones, at Easton. Miss Marshall Is 28
years old. She weighs 81 pounds, and
the thread OF life IL worn almost to
the breaking point, for, it Is declared,
she was given barely enough food for
the period OF her incarceration upon
which to subsist And the cause Of
her punishment was that she, when a
schoolgirl of 16 years, went with a
youth or whom her father and step
mother did not approve. Her prison
since that time has been room about
s by 10 feet In dimensions, having one
small window, the shutters of which
were kept closed and the door always
locked.
Marshall, when examined before the
Circuit Court, gave no reason for his
treatment OF his daughter, except to
say that he was too poor to send her
to hospital.
One day soon after being imprison-
ed Miss Marshall escaped from the
room and jumped from a second story
porch to the ground below breaking
her leg. She was picked up and car
ried into the house and the limb re-
set, but not properly, leaving one leg
about four inches shorter than the
other. After she recovered she was
never allowed to leave the room. Her
stepmother, it is said, carried the key
/ in her pocket, and no one was allow
cd to see her.
! Marshall had other children, but on
the death of his first wife they were
distributed among her relatives to be
cared for. One OF these, girl, was
placed on Kent Island, and about
seven or eight years ago, il II said
this child died, and was brought from
I Kent Island in a motorboat to Mr..
Marshall's home, whence the funeral
and burial took place. 1t is said that
the rumor was circulated and was
never contradicted by the Marshalls
that this was Grace, the reported in
valid daughter.
All Of Grace's relatives and friends
believed her dead until several weeks
ago, when her uncle, John Hancock
of Wilmington, Del, came down to Mr.
Marshall's on visit. When he was
ushered up to bed that night he by
chance was assigned to a room ad-
joining the one in which his niece was
confined. During the night, he said
ing from the room adjoining he could
not sleep. The sounds continued all
night When light came he got up
sauntered out on the second story oi
the porch and, still hearing the
The shutters to Grace's room were
fastened, but peering through the
cracks, he said he saw q woman clad
in underclothing crawling around the
floor, seemingly picking up crumbs
( dHu coJ1HB Iucu
Tie went TO- Easton and reported the
case to Miss Davies, who began an in
vestigation. She went to Mr.. Mar
shalls residence to see what was the
matter and IL she could be OF any as
sistance. She asked to see Grace
but was told that no one was allowed
to see her. She then went back to
Easton and through the assistance of
Attorney J. Fletcher Clark got out q
writ OF habeas corpus before the Cir
cult Court for Talbot County.
Armed with this. accompanied by
Deputy Sheriff James "A. Cannon, they
procured Orland Horsey's automobile
and went to Mr. Marshall's and
brought the woman back with them.
Miss Davies was compelled to get
clothing for her, such as shoes, stock
ings-in fact, everything except un-
derclothing-as she had nothing to
wear.
The small room had only one win
dow and the shutters to that were
closed Under these conditions, and
practically unclothed, Miss Marshall
had been compelled to spend the last
years of her life like an animal in its
den-in the winter without any fire
and in the summer with hardly any
air. It was further learned that she
was given two very scanty meals a
day, which her condition plainly
shows was not sufficient for her.