1883-10-25tt

The follwing is what was published in the Hamilton Spectator of October 25, 1883:

“It will be remembered that recently a stenographer of the High Court of Justice took down a statement from Maria McCabe’s lips as to her crime.

“It is given in substance below, Her story is a particularly sad one, and it is no wonder that, taking everything in consideration, so much sympathy is expressed for the unfortunate girl.

“She said : ‘I was born in Dublin, my father was a blacksmith; there were nine children of us; when I was nine years old, my mother died of heart disease, father being sick at the time with rheumatism;

“ ‘After my mother’s death, he was sledging some iron one day when a scale of iron flew into his eyes, in consequence of which he underwent three operations, losing his eyesight totally under the last one.

“ ‘I was 18 in May last; during the time my father was in the hospital, I was put into the Carmelite convent by my sisters, remaining there one year and eleven months; all my sisters are dead but one, who is married and lives in Temple Bar, Dublin; I had no brother; after leaving the convent, I went as nurse girl and stayed three and a half years in one place.

“ ‘I then became sick and went back to the hospital; a month afterwards I went back into the convent again, and remained there until I came to this country.

“I was sick six weeks in the convent when I went back; the girls were all emigrating, and Father O’Toole asked me if I wouldn’t like to go to Canada, and I said ‘Yes; I have been here three years last month; I came straight to Hamilton from Quebec, and got a place with Mr. Maddigan, the police constable; subsequently, I lived nine months with the widow Foster, on Barton street, then at Scott’s hotel one month; then at Yaldon’s, three weeks; I couldn’t get along with the mistress, and I just left.; I was a kitchen girl; the reason I left Mrs. Foster’s was because I got a raise of wages from $5.50 to $6 per month; I was not able for the work at Scott’s hotel; I went to Jones’ saloon from Yaldon’s and was fourteen months there.

“(Her statement as to her seduction and giving her seducer’s name follows here)

“After leaving Jones’ I went to Dillon’s hotel, corner John and King William streets, remaining there two months, this was five months after my mishap; when the two months were up, I left Dillon’s and went to the city hospital, where my child was born; I was there three weeks; after that I went to Mrs. Foster’s, but not the same Mrs. Foster I had been working with before; I had a nurse engaged to take the child, and Mrs. Foster said she would adopt it; I had no written agreement for it, and the child was not a week in the house when she first objected to it and said that Mr. Foster would not allow her to keep it; they had no children of their own; Mrs. Foster would not let the nurse keep the child, and told me I would have to find a place for it; I went to the Mayor and told him my condition and asked him if he would oblige me and give half the baby’s month’s board, saying I would give it back to him when I got into a place and got my first month’s wages; he told me to appeal to the father of my child for the baby’s board, and that he (the mayor) could do nothing; I went to the Roman Catholic palace, and saw Father Heenan, but he could do nothing for me; I took the baby back to Mrs. Foster’s again, and she agreed to let the girl go, keep me until the baby would be twelve months old, and then she would take the baby; she took me and gave me $4 per month;

“ ‘I remained there three months; the baby being at this time about a month old; Mrs. Foster turned me out of doors twice this time; she used to throw things at me; the last time she turned me out it was after washing and ironing; she turned me out about 3 o’clock in the morning with the baby, and I was about an hour waiting until she brought me back in the house again; the next morning, I was turned out before I had time to dress; I went back to Father Heenan and asked him again if he could do anything for me; they were willing to pay half the baby’s board if I would pay the other half; that was about ten o’clock in the morning; I was to go back between 3 and 4 that afternoon to the sisters, and they were to have a nurse there to take the baby; when I went back to Mrs. Foster’s house to get the baby’s things, Mrs. Foster took my child and said it should never leave the house. She took me back but about a week afterwards she turned me out again.

“ ‘It was about 4 o’clock in the afternoon and I walked around with the child until about 9 at night, when I went back to Foster’s again with the baby in my arms, and I said to myself, ‘Well, I will never take the child back into that cistern again; as I went out, I saw the cistern lid off and dropped the baby in; I did it without a second thought; then I went into the house; I told Mrs. Foster that I had given the baby to a nurse; I stayed there three weeks afterwards, then I left; the baby was four months in the cistern before it was discovered.

“ ‘After that I boarded with a woman on Macauley street; I never looked in the cistern after, and I did not hear it cry or make any noise; I did not stand to listen; I had no idea of destroying it before I opened the gate; it has been on my mind ever since.’ ”¹

 

¹“Maria McCabe’s Crime : She Tells All About It to a Shorthand Reporter : Where She Was Born – Her Seduction and Subsequent Crime – Full Details of the Occurrence””

Hamilton Spectator.   September  13, 1883.