The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1932-01-07
Family Given
Unfortunate
Notoriety
st. Cloud Times Reporter In
jures Holdingford Parents
with Sensational Story
YELLOW JOURNALISM
Used Confidential Report Filed
by Mrs. Moynihan in I'm
fortunate Case

In their zest for sensational news
newspapers sometimes make noun
tains out of molehills.
In the course of 10 years effic-
lent service Mrs. Emma Moynihan,
of this city, as executive secretary
of the Child Welfare Board, of
Stearns county, has met up with
many conditions which were dis
tasteful and unhealthy. 4.
Recently she had occasion to visit
Holdingford on case in which the
department was directly interested.
Prior to this time her attention
had been called to the, condition
under which Alex Itchy, 34-yearA
old insane son of Mr.. and Mrs.
Charles Lichy, of Holdingford, lived.
She called at the home in the
afternoon and found the man kept
in a cage in dark corner Of the
basement. The parents told her
that in the summer months he had
similar living quarters in the barn.
The man was for some =, time,
prior to 1922, an inmate of one o.
the Fergus Falls insane asylums
On petition he was paroled to the
keeping of the parents because
they felt they could no longer af-
ford to pay the $1,000 per month
which the state requires of parents
or guardians when they are finan-
ciallv able to do so. a.
Following this visit Mrs. Moyni-
han, as the law requires, made a
confidential report to Judge Of
Probate Himsl. Following the fling
of this report Alex Itchy was
brought before Judge Himsl and
after proper examination by repu..
table physicians he was recommit-
ted TO the Fergus Falls hospital
for the insane. 5--
The confidential reports filed by
welfare officers are for the guild
ance Of the Court and are not for
public use. A reporter for the st.
Cloud Times in some manner secur-
ed this report and published 1t as
an interview with Mrs. Moynihan.
The lady. stated to the Herald
that. she never at any time talked
to or was interviewed by a repre-
sentative of the Times or any 9TH
er newspaper regarding the Litchy
case.
Monday evenings Times carried
another story in which the parents
and Rev. Father Zoeller, parish
priest, refute the statements made
in Mrs. Moynihan's report.
Mrs. Moynihan regrets that the
affairs of the family should have
been brought to the glare Of pub
licity. Having been published and
her integrity brought into question
she authorizes the Herald to state
that her confidential report was
made without malice, her only
thought being to give the true facts
of the case to the Probate Court.
She insists that regardless Of what
has been said and published much
of the information contained in
the report was furnished by the
parents and brothers Of the insane
man. She made them because she
believed these statements were
true. The conditions described she
saw with her own eyes. Since
making the report she has seen no
occasion to change it in any par
ticular, and that the report is true
in every particular.
The citizens Of Sank Centre have
known Mrs. Moynihan work she
They realize the splendid work she
has done in the past 10 years and
they have every confidence in her
integrity and unselfish devotion to
the work Of executive secretary OF
the Child Welfare Board.