Harvard, Massachusetts, USA
1868 - Mary Woodward on Trial

Mrs. Mary Woodward, of Harvard, Mass., has been held in $1,000 for trial on a charge of inhumanly treating her step-son, six years of age. It was testified in the Police Court that the child had been whipped by the hour at a time with a heavy stick; that one day in July the woman drew three buckets of cold water from the well, and, seizing the child, removed his clothes, and, placing him in a tub, dashed water upon his head, then took him by the feet and held his head in the water as long as she dared; that recently a cat brought meadow mole in the house, which the mother cooked and compelled the boy to eat it. Mrs. Woodward, in court, said it was not a mole but a rat.

St Joseph Herald
Saint Joseph, Michigan
August 22, 1868

Visit Harvard, Massachusetts, USA
Discover the people who lived there, the places they visited and the stories they shared.