Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 August 1877 — Lagging Justice In Massachusetts. [ARTICLE]

Lagging Justice In Massachusetts.

Justice is a fine thing. If you don’t believe it, read this synopsis of the doings of a Police Court in a Massachusetts city for one day. First appeared a woman, charged with assaulting a child who had been an inmate of her family. The arms, neck, shoulders and back of this little slave were examined by the officers and presented an awfnl sight, being raised in large welts, some of them as wide as the two fingers, in various stages of discoloration, from a bluish-black to a greenish-yellow, while there were several long stripes on the back where the flesh was literally raw. One of the child’s ears is disfigured for life, and the little thing burst into tears as she recounted to the officers that “it was made larger by a beating,” adding mournfully, “itwill never be small, like the other, again.” Her last whipping, the child said, was brought about because she failed to finish a large ironing at four o’clock, and the weapon used was a walk-ing-cane. Testimony could not have been more conclusive. The woman pleaded guilty, and was punished by a fine and costs, amounting in all to $13.95. Next came Patrick Gorman, who was lined $55.65 for peddling without a license, and four persons were fined for drunkenness. Nowj can anybody be blamed for asking where the justice came in ? Was this outrageous discrepancy the fault of the Judge or of the law! Whichever it was, it should be treated as it deserves.— Boeton Herald.