SHOOKING DEPRAVITY.

NZ Truth, Issue 156, 13 June 1908, Page 5

SHOOKING DEPRAVITY.

THE LINNS OF HANMER.

Isabella's Awful Allegations.

Who is the Father of the Illegitimate?

Oh« of the most astonishing cases o! open and unchecked immorality was threshed out m the Christchurch Magistrate's Court on Tuesday, when the Samaritan Hoinc authorities sued a stone deaf and practically dumb station hand named Williajn Smith for the maintenance of an illegitimate child of one Isabella Lunn, a half-witted Haniner girl, who has twice previously had illegitimate children. The circumstances of the cage are pitiable m the extreme. The pirl testified that she had given birth to a female child on March 25 last. : Who is the" father ? aisked Solicitor 'Wright. • "Jack Hill," Answered the girl. Matron McLaren explained that Hill was the father of the previous child and that the girl was confusing the two births. The pathetic-looking witness then indicated deaf Smith as the father, and said he had promised to marry her. Owing to Smith's infirmity there was no means of conveying detrimental statements to him: but Lawyer Donnelly -^upeared on his hehalf. Isabella said that when she came to Christchurch for maternity purposes she stayed with Smith's mother for three days before going to the Samaritan' Home. The admissions made by the girl to Mr Donnelly m crossexamination were appalling. She lived with her parents outside of Hamner and men were m the habit of tteauenting tho house. These men retired to the bedroom with her FOR LUSTFUL PURPOSES. and sometimes her mother was present m the house while, improprieties were going on. Sometimes her father was there. They gave the girl no money, and if money was ' handed, to her parents thoso astonishing guardians told Isabella nothing of it.. She didn't know what iub.nth the men went into the room with her ; hut Smith wa,s one of those men* , SUe forgot the names of the other men. Mr Donnelly : Do you know what a brothel is ?— Isabella : No. . May Lunn. mother oi the unhappy female, stated that her daughter had had three children. A man named Herries was blamed for one hut he had denied it. Hill was the father of another, rand Smith was responsible for the last. Or-: ilers for maintenance bad not been obtained against any of them. Smith had admitted the paternity of the last youngster, and he had promised, to marry the girl. Mrs Lunn had told Solicitor Wright that Smith was responsible for all three illegitimates* one of which, happily, was dead. She denied keeping a brothel and said her daughW , did not know what she was saying;. Her bus* end was a/mustercr of sheep, not men., end the old woman accounted for her daughter's lapses by quoting the IMMORAL INFLUENCES OF LOCAL ' . DANCES. Magistrate Bishop : The noint is, did the girl realise what she was saying ? Mr Donnelly said his instructions were that the Lunn establishment was a house of ill-fame. Smith didn't deny that he had been m the room with the girl, who was common property m the neighborhood. Smith, through an interpreter, was prepared to swear that he nad given the girl's father £1 for the dreadful privilege. He had oa, one occasion fouart , seven or eight men on the premises at one time and had seen the girl with % handful of money earned m a' disgusting traffic. Counsel asked for an adjourn--ment to permit of evidence being obtained from tho Culver den police respectiDß the character of the house. Magistrate Bishop, who referred to the matter as "one of those horrible and disgusting cases." said the facts were shocking, if true, hut it was a question if there was sufficient^ evidence m law to Smitii father of the child. The Matron of the Home stated that the girl was simple,'- pnd was not nermitted the use of a knife. She was an epileptic and used to have fits four or five times a day prior to the birth of the child. The fits were now less freouerit. The matron was nurse when the girl was brought to the Home with the second child, and Isabella then believed Hill waa the father, but she wasn't sure because so many SHEARERS CAME TO THE HOUSE, She was apparently dominated by her mother, and always said. "Mother says this" and "Mother says that." In this case she said, "Mother says Smith is the father of the child." The case was adjourned for a fortnight.