The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1919-07-01
A Difficult Problem


sented to him a case which will re
q quire much thought and will caus
+ him considerable uneasiness before /;
+ final decision is reached. The matte
was brought to his attention by pros
2 ecutor Kelsey, who proceeded un6e
7 the child welfare act and asked tha
| the children of George c. Gibbs ant
his wife, Mary l.. Gibbs, be taker
from them and that they be placed ir
! some institution where they would re
! ceive better attention than it was
represented they were getting at home
. The family lives on the edge of New
Gretna. Testimony was given by resi-
dents of that place that the children
were badly treated by their parents
and that the entire community was
up in arms over the affair that had
grown to such an extent that it had
been determined something must be
done. Howard Mathis made the com
plant on information furnished him.
There are three children, two girls and
a boy. the oldest being IA years of
age.
A woman who gave her name as
Mrs. Lane was the first witness and
she related that she saw two of the
children brought to the store of How
ard Mathis. The boys neck was
purple and it was stated that the
marks were made by chain which
had been fastened around the child's
neck. He also had scar on his nose
which he said came from blow given
| by his mother. The girl said the
woman is her stepmother and that she
had stripped her nude and whipped
her. The mother chained the boy but
the sister released him and they went
to the woods where they stayed four
days. The girls legs and ankles were
badly scratched, probably from being
torn by briers. The child said all they
had to eat was green strawberries and
huckleberries. The witness was very
much affected while giving her testi-
mony.
Aaron Mathis told of the boy COM
ing to his house and wanting to stay
there. He gave as a reason that he
had been compelled to run away be-
cause his father had shot at him and
he was afraid to stay around home.
Mr.. Mathis would not let the boy in
because he did not want to be charged
with harboring the lad. He had heard
of this case and that the parents were
claiming that the neighbors were en-
couraging the children and he did not
propose to get mixed up in the affair.
The boy went to another neighbours
where he stayed all night.
David Smith, one of the neighbors
referred to, said he was working in a
field and when he went to get his din
ner pail he found it empty. On in
quiring he discovered that the little
girl had taken the contents. He found
the child half starved and he took her
home and kept her until prosecutor
Kelsey directed that she be returned
to her parents.
Mrs. Rosa Smith said she had en-
gagged the boy to do some work. Mrs.
Gibbs found fault with her and be-
came threatening, displaying revolt
yer, which alarmed the witness.
Benjamin Brown testified that he
saw a chain around the boys neck and
that he filed it SO that it could be re-
moved.
MurrelI Mathis had heard the boy
screaming as he passed the house of
the witness. He saw larger brother,
Clifford, whipping the lad. He had
heard sounds of whipping in the Gibbs
house, had heard screaming and heard |
gun fired. Mrs. Gibbs told him that
the father fred the gun to scare the |
children. John Smith said he knew |
that the children were in the habit of |
running away. He had known them |
to be punished more than he would |
punish his own children.
Mary l.. Gibbs was called to the |
stand and was asked if she desired to |
make a statement. She was warned |
that anything she said might be used |
against her. The woman said she |
would like to tell her side of the story. |
She talked a steady flow of words for |
several minutes. She said she is the |
mother and not the stepmother of the |
children. Dorothy and Anna, the two !
girls, ran away about two years ago. |
The mother had gone to the city to
make some purchases, among them a
present for Anna to take to a party.
When she got home she found Anna
had not been good SO she punished her
by refusing to let her go to the party.
a had fxnyr nh 1oly
to death. The refusal to allow the
child to go to the party angered the
two of them and they ran away and
stayed in the woods for a long time.
The mother said the children were
never punished for accidents. They
ran away second time for some
trifiing punishment. David, the boy,
told her lie and she would not give
him any strawberries for his supper, SO
he ran away. She admitted having
taken rawhide for whipping purposes
and that she had shot revolver over
the children's heads to scare them, but
in reply to question she said the chill
dren were perfectly fearless and that
they were not afraid to gou up and down |
the road at night or to stay in the
woods alone. When she fired the re-
volver David was in the strawberry |
patch and she fired over his head |
and told him to get" He ran out in |
the road, screaming. 1t was the
customary thing for them to do when
threatened with whipping. Once
when the boy was screaming his father
told him to "shut up" and to- enforce
the order he fred a revolver over the
boys head. David was represented as
very mischievous child. In disre-
gard of orders not to empty ashes he
took some hot embers from the stove
and emptied them near the barn which
was soon in flames, and the child did
not say word about the occurrence
until too late to save the building. OnI
another occasion he destroyed lot of
bread that had just been baked The
mother said Clifford, the older brother
had whipped the children-Anna 19l
times and David 10 times. He did
this at the mothers request, she being
very nervous and subject to heart |
trouble and could not do the work her
self. She had gone to the Home for
feeble-minded children at Vineland,
but the physicians there said the chill
dren were not mentally deficient. The
mother said that in response to her
question what should be done with
them to keep them from running
away, and that one of the doctors had
suggested putting dog collar around
the boys neck and attaching a chain
to it. She admitted having used the
chain but said it was never SO tight as
to cause bruises
The mother claimed that the chill
dren were always in the village being
fostered and harbored by some of the
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