The Fight for Mary Laneville
A legal tug-of-war erupts as a sister attempts to rescue a teenage bride from the House of the Good Shepherd.
Habeas corpus proceedings were instituted in superior court yesterday with the object of removing Mrs. Mary Laneville from the House of the Good Shepherd. Rosa Delia, who claims to be the sister of the girl, is the petitioner for the writ. Mary Laneville is a young wife who left her husband near Tacoma and came to Seattle with a journeyman tailor about three weeks ago. Her mother heard of her daughter's disgrace and had her placed in the House of the Good Shepherd. Sister Mary of the Nativity, the Sister Superior, stated she would not allow the girl to be surrendered without a struggle, fearing the writ is an attempt to drag the unfortunate girl back to the depths from which she has been rescued.
“She would not allow the girl to be surrendered to Rosa Delia, whoever she might be, without a struggle.”
The 'House of the Good Shepherd' was a common institutional site for the involuntary confinement of young women deemed 'wayward.' These cases highlight the era's paternalistic approach to 'rescuing' girls, which often meant stripping them of their agency and legal rights.
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