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POTTERY
POLICE COURTS: TUNSTALL.
Before
T. B. Rose, Job Meigh, J. A. Wise & P. B. Broade, Esqrs:
Mary
Ann Caulfield, and inmate of the union workhouse at Chell, and a mother
of several children, was summoned by George Goodwin, the schoolmaster of
the establishment, who charged her with violent assault upon him. He
stated that when she came into the schoolroom with another woman, to
wash the boys, the defendant charged him with 'murdering' her boy, and
instantly struck him on the side of the head, and kicked him, and gave
him a blow on the ear.
The
defendant at once acknowledged the assault, and said that the cause of
it was the brutal attack upon her little boy, only 4 years old. She ran
out and saw her child, who had the marks of a 'crack' from the masters 5
fingers on each side of his face, and he appeared to have been much
ill-treated. The little fellow trembled and begged her with his hands
uplifted, that she should not go to the master, or he'd murder him. She
could not restrain her mother's feelings she said, and was determined to
be revenged, having often heard of the little boys 'carrying black
flesh' and knowing that he sometimes beat them with a thick knobstick.
She
said that she had neither money nor means, and had a bad husband, but
she was determined if her children were subject to such treatment as
that, she would leave the house.
The
poor woman concluded with a burst of grief, by saying that it was
"beyond nature" to submit to such treatment. She added that
when she named the matter to Mrs. Welsby, she did all she could to
console her, and begged her not to take any rash steps, but wait until
Mr. Welsby came home.
Mr
Rose, who appeared at once to suspect that some cruelty had been
practised, questioned two of the boys who had been brought up by Mr.
Welsby. One of them said "the master laid on very heavily"
when he beat them, and had used a stick twice the thickness of his
finger, and hit them chiefly on the head! Another boy said he had been
struck on the head with the thick stick until he had lumps on it, and it
had bled.
At
the suggestion of Mr. Welsby, the governor, Mr. Rose asked the last boy
what instrument he was struck with on the head. The lad replied "a
key", the lad said that the master struck the child on one side of
the face and then on the other, and the blows knocked it against the
wall, and its face was thus scratched. Mr. Welsby said
the offence which the child had committed, was crying to go to
his little sister who was playing at some distance!
Mr.
Rose said that he could not approve of this mode of treating children,
especially the practice of striking them on the head. He thought the
birch the best instrument, and even if a cane be used, it should be a
very thin one. Mr. Welsby,
in answer to Mr. Rose said the defendant was a very well conducted
woman. Mr. Rose dismissed the charge, much to the satisfaction of all
present. Mr. Welsby pledged himself to bring the subject under the
notice of the Board of Guardians at the next meeting.
North
Staffordshire Mercury 18th
April 1840:
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