ALLEGED CRUELTY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 3013, 9 October 1908, Page 7

ALLEGED CRUELTY.

.EXTRAORDINARY ALLEGATIONS. BT TELEGRAPH —PBESS ASSOCIATION. DUNEDIN, October 7. 'Charlotte Elizabeth Smith and l> George Edward Smith were charged *before Mr H. Y. Widdowson, S.M., •at the Polide Court to-day that, being :in charge of a girl under the age of sixteen .years at Green Island between October 19th and February 7th last, they did wilfully ill-treat her so ■as to cause unnecessary suffering. Both accused elected to be tried by •■a. jury.

The Court was cleared and the ipress representatives were directed inot to publish any evidence of an indecent character nor to bint at such. The gi:l alleged to have been illcreated, who is a sister of Mrs ;Smith, stated that on one occasion -the male accused held her down ana the female accused gave her eighteen .strokes with a strap. The strokes were on the bare flesh, and witness the effects of the strapping for three or four clays afterward;-. This v was for having said she had been to a 'theatre when she had not. ntUr this witness was told she would have to ask forgiveness fur what she had done, and witness asked forgiveness •of both the accused. Witness wanted to keep a diary, and the maie accused bought her one. The entries in it were made by witness at the dictation of the two ac used. The

diary contained a scale of punishto be inflicted upon witi.ess for -offences committed by her. Extracts from the diary were such as could not ba published. The second punishment atfer the eighteen strokes was six strokes, and was also for telling an untruth. The strap used was made out of the bellyband of a horse's saddle. It had six or seven tails, and was fastened into a handle. Tne second punishment was given by George Smith. Witness detailed the third punishment, and said after that her mother wanted to take her /home.

Witness said accused had straps maue for witness. These were to tie her down to her b<;d. Witness ■desciibe 1 how she was laid face down wards, and tbe body was strapped down with her arms and legs outstretched. Witness was also strapped for not looking after cows properly, for telling falsehoods about writing a letter, for breaking the lid of a butterdish, for writing a letter in which she told a falsehood, for telling falsehoods as to meeting someone in town (two occasions), for leaving her hat, jacket and boots in the kitchen, and for telling a lie as to having examined her garmens to see if there were any holes in them be.fore she put them'on. Witness ran •away to someone's house in f!argill .road after a strapping on Jai.uary :27tb, and bmith came after her. On going back to Smith's she re- ■ ceived eighteen more strokes of the ,s:rap for running away, these being by Smith. Most v£ t!;3 : •punishments were inflicted whtn witness was perfectly nude. Witness was punished for a variety of ■ other things, and was laid up owing •to receiving burns, and while she was in this condition her brother ■ t'-ok her home. To Air Hanion: Witness believed the punishment inflicted wa3 punishment she deserved.' She did not think the punishment too severe for the offences. Witness had received as many as fifty strokes with the strap. On one occasion Smith and her sister knelt down at the bed, and the female accused asked God how many strokes witness was to get, and said God had said two twenty-fours, three eighteens, and four twelves would be sufficient. Witness received one hundred and twenty-six strokes one morning. Her bock was bleeding in some places. Nothing was done to dress the wounds, but a week afterwards Smith rubbed her back with vaseline and glycerine. Dr. Liddell Herbert said he examined the girl on March 25th. Witness detailed what he found on the girl's body, and said that except from the girl's own statement there was no deterioration of health. He found sores which suggested scalds, and marks that might have been caused by strokes from something. If the girl had received one hundred and twenty-six strokes with a belt divided into seven thongs or tails, delivered violently, with considerable force, and her back left bleeding, witness would have expected to find scars from these. An ordinary thrashing might account for all he found there. With such a flogging he would expect to find scars that he did not find. The case was then adjourned to Monday, bail being allowed.