A Family Feud Erupts in Court
A dispute over a boy's wayward behavior reveals a fractured family and a grandmother's dramatic courtroom outburst.
Tom Copp, Frank Hutchinson and Henry Porter, charged with burglarizing Dr. P. B. M. Miller’s barn, were arraigned yesterday. Porter was turned over to his aunt, Sarah Freyberg, to appear before Judge Langley to show why he should not be sent to the reform school. Porter's aunt alleged that the boy was too wayward for her to manage. While Mrs. Freyberg was testifying, her mother came into the court room and, catching the drift of her daughter's remarks, burst into a violent fit of anger, cursing her daughter and declaring that she was trying to send the boy to the school to get rid of him and avoid the expense of his care. Judge Langley decided that it would be best that the aunt make another trial, but that if after thirty days she found the boy still unmanageable, he would be committed.
“While Mrs. Freyberg was testifying, her mother came in at the door of the court room and catching the drift of her daughter's remarks burst into a violent fit of anger.”
This account of a family crisis spilling into a courtroom offers a raw look at the lack of social support systems for troubled youth in the 1890s. The grandmother's accusation of abandonment reflects the desperation and economic strain often found in the margins of society at the time.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.