Married at Nine.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 152, 1 July 1904, Page 4

Married at Nine.

CHILD-WIFE'S AWFUL YEARS OF DRUDGERY. SLAVE TO A MAN OF SIXTY. Married when but nine years of age to a man of sixty, little Gertrude Trusty, of Brighton, in the American State of lowa, lias just been rescued by tho courts, says the Daily j Mail's Chicago correspondent, alter I two awful years as wife and household drudge. 'l'lie girl is the eldest daughter of a widow, since married again. The family were wretchedly poor, and lived in a sparsely settled part of the Ozark Mountains, in Missouri. Here Gertrude came under the notice John Leeper, an old man, who, attracted by her skill and energy about the house, asked her mother for her. The woman, glad to have one mouth less to feed, weakly gave ; her consentAs Gertrude hated the old man from the first, and always endeavoured to avoid him, she was not told of what was in store for her. The marriage ceremony took place in a neighbour's house, Gertrude being dressed ir. flowing robes to deceive tho officiating clergyman. She was told it was a party, and innocently believed it. Two weeks later she was told she was John Leeper's wife and must go and live with him. The unsophisticated child obeyed, and found that her new home was an abandoned cabin a mile from any human habitation. Here the old man made her slave day and night for him, and kept her on a scanty allowance of wretched food. For more than a year she knew no play and no amusement,and saw no other human face. Eventually Leeper returned to lowa, where he had grown-up children, and here Gertrude entered on a life of new tortures. Her husband had grandchildren older than she, but she was not allowed even to play with them. One day the old man, vain of having bo .young a wife, took her to Mrs Crandall, who had formerly employed him, and Gertrude was allowed to stay the night. It was then that she unbosomed herself to her hostess, and the latter, full of indignation, refused to let Leeper take her back, despite bluster and threats which frightened the child nearly to death. A lawyer was set to work, and the marriage was annulled by the courts.