1883-19-23ee

In the October 23, 1883, the Hamilton Spectator reprinted the following letter which had previously appeared in the Toronto World. The letter was written by the mother of the convicted prisoner held in the Hamilton Jail, Maria McCabe:

“Is there no one to plead for the unhappy girl just condemned to be hanged for infanticide in Hamilton ? Of course, the tender maternal heart yearns over the infant; but does it not also mourn and sympathize with the unhappy mother? Can no one put themselves in her place enough to realize the shame, the disgrace, the bitterness that has pursued the poor creature all through the dreadful time before the birth of her infant, and can no one picture a very true conception of the horrors of the future that the illegitimate mother knows is before herself and her offspring, the taunts, the neglect, the cruel coldness that both will have to endure for years, perhaps forever? Cannot every mother recall the painful hysteria that any excitement induces before the child is born, and thus find every excuse for an act that none would condone, but which all could realize the force of the temptation to.

“Beyond all this, it is to be remembered that the mother is congratulated, cheered and encouraged back to health by husband and friends; but the unhappy mother, cast off, or at any rate, uncared for by the father , is – unless she fall into exceptionally good hands – insulted daily, made to feel her shame by every means in her neighbor’s power, and she rises from her bed of weakness to find her exertions, necessary to her livelihood have failed by those maternal cares, which are, in the married state, held to form the highest and strongest claim on the husband and father’s care.

“Pray use your influence in this matter, and believe me that you will earn the praise of many a sorrowing woman who yearns over the trials so often unfairly inflicted upon her sex.”¹

¹ “Maria McCabe : How a Loving Mother Pleads for Her”

Hamilton Spectator.   October 23, 1883.

As requested by several of its readers, the Hamilton Spectator got up a petition for the commutation  of the death sentence imposed on Maria McCabe. The petition, which had already been signed by a large number of people in the Spectator’s business office, read in part:

“That the said prisoner is an unmarried woman of the age of 18 years, and was seduced by the father of the said child, the issue of their unlawful intercourse,

“That the said Maria McCabe is young and inexperienced, and was easily led, and was the victim of her designing betrayer, and, having no friends nor relations in this country, has been exposed to great temptations, and has been deprived of the benefit of home and parental influence, and was, from her destitute circumstances, unable to retain the services of counsel at the trial aforesaid,

“That the said Maria McCabe was apparently driven in desperation to the committing of the crime in question, and stated at the said trial that she was driven to the desperate act in consequence of the refusal of the father of the said child to support the same, and owing to her destitution and friendless condition,

“Your petitioners, while in no sense desiring to countenance the terrible crime of which the unfortunate girl has been found guilty, desire to call your Excellency’s attention to her very exceptionally unfortunate state, and humbly pray that their executive clemency may be extended to her.”