REFINED CRUELTY.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 4077, 21 February 1894, Page 5

REFINED CRUELTY.

At the Chester County Police Court recently, before Mr H. D. Trelawny and other justices, Daniel Francis Phelan, of independent) means, and Constance Helen Phelan, his wife, of French extraction, residing at Upton Park, Chester, were charged by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children with having on various dates between June 8 and September 25 cruelly ill-treated their children, Augustus, aged three years, and Ernest, aged one year and nine months, in a manner calculated to cause them unnecessary suffering. The court was crowded.

Sarah Ann Griffiths, a qualified midwife, said she went to see Mrs Phelan on the 9th of August. She was engaged bathing her two little boys. Witness saw her pull up the youngest boy, Ernest, by the hair while she poured cold water over him, until he could hardly breathe. She lifted him out of the bath by the hair and the hand, and threw 'him on the bed. She knocked him on the head several times with her fist while she was dressing him. The boy cried when she struck, and then he was struck again until he ceased. Witness afterwards told Mrs Phelan it was a shame. Ernest was flogged twice a day for a week before Mrs Phelan's confinement— once when he was bathed, and again at night. She generally used her fist. The child was taken out to the lawn in the morning, tightly strapped to a chair, and left there all day. On Sunday night, September 3, witness remembered being in the studio, looking on to the lawn. She heard screams, and upon looking out she saw Mrs Phelan hitting Ernest with her closed fist and open hand. On one occasion Mr Phelan beat the child with a dog whip and strap, using the buckle end of the strap. — (Sensation.) He did this many times, and they were very cruel blows. On the night of September 17 the youngest child was very restless, and on the following morning she examined it, and found it one mass of "black and blue" about the buttocks. She directed Mr Phelan's attention to it, and he remarked that he did not think he was striking the child so hard. The children had castor oil given them every other day or every third day. On September 1 Mrs Phelan pushed the silver dessert spoon into the child's mouth, turned the spoon in her mouth, and put him on the floor. She held him there with his hand over his mouth until he was black in the face. She held his mouth so flat he could not breathe. Presently she saw blood oozing out of the child's mouth and on to his neck. Afterwards he became sick, and vomited quite six tablespoonfuls of blood. The child had not resisted.

Cross-examined : She knew that Mrs Phelan had previously been prosecuted for cruelty. Mrs Phelan used always to ask her to take Ernest for a walk in the afternoon, and she did so, but, added witness, " it always always got a beating when I got back." She did not consider that the children had enough to eat. She said nothing to Mrs Phelan, as she considered her a dangerous woman to say anything to. When Mr Phelan used the dog whip he doubled the whip and beat the child with the double thong. — (Sensation.) Detective Pearson said that when he arrested defendants on October 2 Mrs Phelan said : " I suppose they want more money out of us."

Mrs Marian Wynne, employed by Mrs Phelan as a charwoman, deposed that she saw the youngest child strapped to a chair by the ankle. She also heard sounds of loud smacking proceeding from the bathroom.

Mrs Jane Carmichael Bird, wife of the Rev. Clement Bird, minor canon of Chester Cathedral, said she drove to Upton on July 28. In consequence of what she heard she called at Mr Phelan's residence. She saw a child, which she took to be a girl, lying fast asleep on the grass. It had a strap fastened round its waist. The strap was fastened to a chair, and at the other end of it there was a 121 bor 141 b weight. The child looked pale and flabby and exhausted. Dr Mann said he examined the children, and found a number of bruises and abrasions on their bodies.

The Bench committed the defendants, who pleaded not guilty and reserved their defence, to take their trial at the Quarter Sessions.

The Chairman : We accept the same bail, but we cannot consent to the children being given up. — (Cheers in court.) Mr and Mrs Phelan were vigorously hooted a 8 they drove off to Upton Park in a cab.