The menace. [volume] (Aurora, Mo.) 1911-1920, 1916-09-23
|OCENT CHILD COMMITTED TO ROMAN PRISON
Beaey Placed
Family Sought

sttutions equipped to fight the battles Of tbR
Noria VIC must take issue with them on many
Polnn First liberty is not easily gained once a
child has been indefinitely sentenced 10 one ~
these papal slave pens, aud again there are SOW
eral cases on record showing that when liberty
vas attained the child was either manned or broE-
en- in health.
Readers Of THE MENACE remember The cose
OF Florence Cleland who while attempting 10 es-
cape from the House Of Good Shepherd In Wash
lngton, ID. G. on the morning Of August sth. was
so badly injured that she died on the evening Of
the same day in the hospital Of Georgetown Uni
Iersity, that city IL has never become definite
ly known whether or not Judge William De-
Lacy, the Romish child snatcher who occunisd
the chair OF juvenile Judge of the District Of
Columbia for several years, sentenced Florence
Cleland TO the II. o. @. S. or whether she was
railroaded into the institution through kidnap-
ing tactics This much is certain: Florence
Olelands case is similar in many instances 10
that OF Marguerite Beasley, for the parents Of
Florence Cleland were also separated, she had
attended the district school, and she had been
good child, not incorTigible in anv way. She
too, had belonged to a Protestant family.
Attempted Escape Brings Death
The details that brought about the death of
Florence Cleland have never come 10 lpbt
hole in the side Of her head which might have
been made with a pointed instrument has been
accounted for by those in authority. and il NAV
be correctly stated, by saying that she fell while
attempting TO slide down a rope she herself had
probably made sure was secure, before attempting
TO leave the second story Of the building.
And while this case in point occurred on the
shores OF the Atantic-in the far removed Pacific
region we find girl MANNED and degraded as
GIfI af har II -
helpless before the court in Portland Oregon.
When questioned by the judge why she did not
labor for her support as do other girls she barred
her left arm showing that the hand had been
removed at the wrist, and explained that she had
lost her hand while operating a mangle in the
laundry operated in the so-called House of the
Good Shepherd.
Liberty so dearly purchased as to cost a life
or an arm is worth the price however. il we are
to give any credence to the great amount of direct
testimony that has been given by former inmates
OF papal slave pens, but is it charitable act to
so cripple individuals and leave them TO their
fate, that degradation Of character and a sac
rfce Of virtue follow in the wake Of their struggle
for existence?
As to the New Orleans House of Good sbep-
herd much can be said that is in no way COM
plimentary to the institution. One lady living
in Shreveport, who is today the wife of Prot
estant gentleman, was for more than eight wears
an inmate OF the New Orleans laundry, and ac-
cordng TO her testimony-ronditions in that work
shop are horrible. And, we have been informed
that she is willing to take the witness stand and
swear to the truth Of her charges.
Denied Freedom In Defiance Of Law
According to Louisiana law this estimabc
lady who entered the institution at the age Of
fifteen years and ten months, Of her own free |