Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 July 1901 — Injustice to a Child. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Injustice to a Child.

The ignorance or stupidity of the constable and police justice who brought a 13-year-old girl from Matteson, 111., to put her in the county jail In Chicago, almost passes belief. The

child is too young to go to jail for any crime, a fact which both these country officials should have known. Moreover, her offense appears to have been nothing more than the taking of some eggs from a hen’s nest

found in the grass along the railroad near her home. A neighbor caused tho child’s arrest, and there appears to have been nobody to defend her. The justice of the peace, whose duty it is to know the law in such cases and to prevent injustice instead of inflicting it, has displayed a degree of ignorance that is highly discreditable. The mittimus by which he meant to send the child to the county jail charges the prisoner with “larcenl and insolitlng a lade.” The spelling is merely a surface indication of the deeper Ignorance of the duties of the position he holds. This child appears to need a little parental care and attention rather than imprisonment. She was promptly released and sent home by Judge Tuley of Chicago without trial.