Verminous !

Hertfordshire Mercury, 12th December 1914

Transcript

 

Alfred and Mary Haggar, of 20 Kibes Lane, Ware, appeared in answer to an adjourned summons, charging with neglecting their children.

Superintendent Handley said that on December 5th, in company with Inspector Thorne of NSPCC, he went to 20 Kibes Lane. The female defendant was there with two children, the latter being in a dirty and verminous condition. He went upstairs and, in the front bedroom, there was a dilapidated bedstead and an old mattress and dirty sheeting, and the rest of the covering consisted of sacks and coats which were verminous.

The female defendant said that was where she and her husband slept. In another room, up another flight of stairs, on the floor in one corner, was an old mattress with a number of sacks on it, and in another corner was an old iron bedstead with some sacks on it. The only food in the house was a loaf of bread, a tablespoonful of sugar, a piece of butter, and a small piece of fried fish. The female defendant said that her husband had left her with 3d that day to get food with.

Inspector Thorne corroborated.

The defendants were each sentenced to 2 months’ hard labour.

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