A Mother’s Threat Against the House of the Good Shepherd
A bitter custody dispute over a child surrendered to a religious institution takes a dangerous turn.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
It is understood that a suit will be filed in the superior court today or tomorrow by Mrs. Kate Magee against the House of the Good Shepherd to recover damages for the detention of her child from the custody of its mother. The child in question is a little girl named Maggie, 11 years old, who over a year ago was given to the sisters by the mother because she was too poor to properly care for the little one. The mother evidently repented of her action, for a short time afterwards she went to the home and tried to take the child away by force, and had a personal encounter with the mother superior. Mrs. Magee recently made threats against the House of the Good Shepherd, and has sworn that if the sisters did not give her back her child she would burn down the institution.
“Mrs. Magee recently made threats against the House of the Good Shepherd, and has sworn that if the sisters did not give her back her child she would burn down the institution.”
This story captures the tragic intersection of poverty and the state's (or religious institution's) role in child welfare. The 'House of the Good Shepherd' was a common 19th-century institutional solution to family poverty that often led to permanent, state-sanctioned familial separation.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.