The Coolidge examiner., 1934-01-26
GIRL PADLOCKED
TO HER BED FOR 6
YEARS BY MOTHER
Brutal Parent to Face Court;
Weak Father Fails to
Protect Child.

MOntreaL-1ne rTeHCH-CdHauldn
hamlet of Terrebonen, thirty miles
from here, will shortly produce
cruelty" trial unequaled in emo
tional intensity on this continent
since authorities In the United
States brought to book the parents
of Baltimore's "bat child"
Facing a jury will be Madame
Eugene Paquette, branded by local
newspapers "the most unnatural
mother In history"
Facing Madam Paquette will be
her twelve-year-old daughter, Ro-
lande, who will testify that she
spent each night for the last six
years In excruciating pain and ter
ror. her splndly body chained and
padlocked to a wall, her thin back
regularly beaten with strip of
lath two inches wide and a quarter
of an inch thick.
Husband as Witness.
Madame Paquette will also be
confronted by her husband, Leon, a
bow-legged caricature of man so
weak and cowardly that he admits
he never raised a hand to protect
his child from the womans fury.
Though Rolande was his favorite
and, because she was his favorite,
she became the victim of her moth
er's uncomfortable rage.
Other witnesses will be Rolande's
two sisters and her brother, who
will tell Of whlmpering in terror
while their sister received her
nightly flogging. By comparison,
these children were treated with
consideration by their mother. They
received a whipping only about
once a month and chains were not
/ fastened around them when they
lay down TO sleep.
The nightly walls of child In
terror and in pain stirred the hearts
of the housewives and the men OF
Terrebonen, but they said nothing.
The old French creed was strong
within them-the rod is good for
/ the child. There is little Of the
! softness of American parents evil
dent in the French Canadian father
or mother.
But over the past few weeks the
cries OF the maltreated child grew
so narrowing that some women
among the neighbOrs went to the
nearest station of the provincial po-
lice and asked that an investigation
be made. And what scene OF hor-
ror met the eyes Of these hardened
| officers Of the lawi
Found Chained 10 Wall.
They came at night and found
little Rolande covering in her bed.
They pulled away the skinny. dirty
blanket which covered her and
found chain. drawn tight around
her waist and fastened with pad
locks to the wall. They found
! blood on the mattress underneath
the child and across her shoulders
and hips the marks OF freshly ad-
ministered beating. While the po-
licemen went about gathering the
evidence of this brutal treatment,
the mother. big, phlegmatic
Frenchwoman. stood there with her
arms crossed and glaring. Her hus-
mand. Leon. whimpered and bit his
nails The other three children,
staring at their sister. wept con-
tinuOusly.
The whole family was taken
away by the policemen. The chill
dren. including the much abused
Rolande. were handed over to the
kindly administrations and care of
Catholic slsterhood. The hus-
band and father. after a prelim-
mary examination. was freed on
bond as a material witness after
he had promised that his fear of
his wife would not prevent his tes-
tifying. Nine Paquette is in prison
in Montreal awaiting trial.