The Topeka state journal., 1919-11-13
Mothers Threat of Beating
Forced Baby To Submit.
State Report From Wakeeney
Bares Sordid Tragedy.
ALL THREE SENT TO LANSIHG
Special Probe and Criminal
Prosecutions Probable.
Mother To Return to Husband
When Released, Claim.

One of the most revolving stories of
abuse ever related in Kansas became
known in state house circles today
when records were received regarding
the admission of Hilda Zwetzig, Wa
keeney. Trego county, to the state in
dustrial farm at Lansing. The girl is
seven years old. A history of the
case showed that the girls mother
beat her until she repeatedly submit-
ted to her step-father. Both the
mother and step-father are diseased
and have been sent to prison.
Hilda Zwetzig's story will stagger
the champions of country town purity.
The old theory that sin finds its breed
ing place and development in the big
towns i'll the glare of bright lights is
of little value in Hilda's case. None
of the Kansas cities have as yet pro-
duced a public record of deprayity and
forced submission by a parent of a
mere child which excels or even equals
the Zwetzig case.
Born Out of WedIocl.
Born out of wedlock, Hilda Zwet-
zig's life was one of sordid sin. A lit
tie girl in short skirts and in the pri-
mary grades of the Wakeeney public
schools, the child was forced by her
mother to submit to the lust and de-
sires of her step-father. And then
one day the legal machinery was set
in motion in Trego county. Maybe
tnerG Will De a new nope ahead Tor the
seven-year-old girl--the youngest in
! mate of the state industrial farm.
| where hundreds of women from the
primrose path have been sent for
On the same prison farm with Hilda.
Zwetzig is her own mother. Mary
zwetzig-whose threats of a beating
| forced the girl to yield her body. On
| the state prison quarantine farm is
H. j. Zwetzig. the ep-father-alleged
traducer of the near baby child. The
~
\ the same dread disease. And Hiida
| Zwetzig in her knee skirts and braids,
is learning the lesson of her elders
that the sins that are done by two and
two are paid for one by one.
Child Fought Approaches.
For time, so a report from Probate
Judge A. S. Peacock states. Hilda
fought off the approaches of her step
father. And the mother love that some
how didn't seem to have been born
! in the breast of Hilda's mother, denied
the child the protection she might
otherwise have received. Instead OF
protection when the child sought to
hide, the mother threatened to beat
her. Then the child, trembling, weak
and fearful, gave way. The abuse that
had been forced upon the child be-
came a practice and the mother per-
mitted and encouraged the practice
until the law came to the Zwetzig
home. All these facts are recited in
the case.
Reports of the case which have
reached state officials may call forth
a special investigation and proba abie
prosecutions criminal charges fol-
lowing terms at the prison quarantine
station and detention farm. A report
shows that the mother plans to return
to her husband as soon as they are
released. But the state may take a
hand in avenging the wrongs which
seven-year-old Hilda Zwetzig has suf-
fered and there is little probability
that the girl will return to her mother
and step-father.