The Bureau of Charities Files for Guardianship of Five Children
A legal battle begins to rescue five children from a mother who allegedly forced them into begging and prostitution.
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The Bureau of Associated Charities will today begin legal proceedings in the probate department of the superior court to have a proper guardian appointed for five children of Mrs. Mary La Douceur, formerly Mrs. Mary Peltier, who acquired considerable notoriety a year or so ago by having the children beg for her support, and by her efforts to have an older daughter released from the House of the Good Shepherd on a writ of habeas corpus. The suit is to be brought in the name of Thomas K. Fleming, on behalf of the Bureau of Charities. It will be alleged that the parents are unfit; John Peltier has not contributed to their support for over a year and allegedly placed his wife in houses of ill-repute while encouraging his daughters to follow the same path. The mother has allegedly compelled the three boys to beg from house to house. The Bureau of Associated Charities has already intervened in the case of one son, Richard, who was arrested on his mother's complaint after he refused to beg for her benefit.
“The whole family have been chronic mendicants and applicants for charity from the county, the Roman Catholic church, the Ladies' Aid Society and other charitable institutions.”
This case highlights the 19th-century struggle between public charity organizations and the autonomy of families struggling in extreme poverty. While today’s social services focus on different intervention models, the tension between state-mandated family guardianship and parental struggle remains a recurring civic challenge in Seattle.
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