Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-09-15
WHITE SLAYER FREED
CHILD HE EXPLOITED
HELD BY AUTHORIZE
Girl Who Worked All Dav e..
$3.50 a Week Easily Won
by His Promise Of r
Rest
SAYS SHE LOVES HIM

The case of Laura Bendetta. IN. 49,.
i5-year-old Italian girl, who was I've @
roaded into matrimony yesterday rtsn
Joseph zookey 25 years old. n rnsr sea
admitted that he had exploited ~. wno
hundred other girls for commercis,,.nuo.
vice, aroused the Indignation OF ss $50.
workers, probation officers and court cfs'
cials generally today, and the inahn'...
of Judge MacNeille, who refusea ~ '.''y ivy
NIT the girl to so with her husband ~.
terday after the ceremony had beer ~. -
formed by Magistrate Pennock ~. W.
mately to keep her from the man w,,sa..
resort to punitive measures, Is cans,,s
him serious concern.
On July 2s the girl was found -,
zookey In a rooming house ON sn,,,S4
street near 9Th. She was charged u,ss
being runaway and held in the Houss
OF Detention. Then, according TO Ina,
MacNeille, she was pale, nervous 49,
mic, with all the symptoms of a tuberc,,. .
losis victim. Today she Ia a nir..~
healthy-looking little person. with a eles,
skin and bright eve. The pity of II All 4.
she wants to go back to Joseph"
''My mother and my father" she ss,d
childishly, they say II / want to be rooS .
right l must marry Joseph and ma
want to be with him, too. And SO. whsr
he said yesterday he would marry me.
I was glad.
you see, before met Joseph and IA
took me away, 1 had to work awfullv
hard. ! was a skirt folder in a factorv
and only got $3.50. Joseph, he met ma
one day at eth and Catharine, ana he
said IL 1 come with him he will be Rood
to me, and / won't have to do nothing
Now l love him, and my mother ara
father, they say we can live with them.
and 1 am good because 1 am married
and so want to go with Joseph"
In the opinion of the court officials who
talked with zookey, he is of the lowest
type and openly boasted of his exploita-
tions. On the way to City Hall he Of
fered one OF the officers IS for a cigarette.
with the remark that money came easy
1T am sure.' said Judge MacNeille, seri.
ously. this morning. that If the little
girl is permitted to go back to this man
he will use her in the same way that he
did before he married her, and IL is just
like consigning her to life Of vice.
1.-THE only other alternative have
when her case comes up is to send her
to Sleighton Farms or the House OF thu
Good Shepherd. These places are reforma-
tories, and in so far as the girl has been
a victim and is not, / believe, a bad
girl. do not think she should be pun
ished in any way.
married the girl because he knew he was
liable to 15-year sentence in the peni-
tentiary. 1 have never heard a man talk
so callously as this man did or use such
terms in speaking of women. II was
great mistake to let the girl marry him,
even if her parents were willing
The girls father and mother live al
S5l carp street. They do not speak Eng
lish, but through an Interpreter they not
only sanctioned the marriage but in
sisted that it be. performed to save their
daughters honor" In the interview this
morning Laura. who is even more youths
full than her age would indicate, seemed :
to be completely under the parental dom
ination. -%
1t is expected the case will come before
the Juvenile Court tomorrow morning
for final settlement, and unless 1t can be
proved that Zookey committed bigamy
in marrying the girl of which there has
been some suspicion, 1t is probable that
Judge MacNeille, according to his state
ment today, will release the girl thus
permitting her to go to her husband. In
that event, however, she will be placed
under the constant surveillance of pro-
batlon officer to prevent her from be-
coming a white slave" ,.
Zookey was liberated when he married
the girl.