DASTARDLY DADS FROM THE ARCHIVES (Brooklyn, New York - 1921)

Father MARTIN MICHNOWSKI is accused of beating his disabled daughter. Though the terminology is outdated, the abuse of disabled children is obviously still with us. It's not clear in this case that there were any legal implications for the father at all, or whether it's just moral outrage on the part of the authorities.

From the archives of the New York Times, April 27, 1921.

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9A03E4DD143EEE3ABC4F51DFBE66838A639EDE

BEAT CRIPPLED DAUGHTER

Father Admits Whipping Child and Says He was Disciplining Her.

Charges of cruelty against Martin Michnowski of 100 Eckford Street, Brooklyn, in connection with the treatment of his 12-year-old crippled daughter Wanda, who is a cripple, were made in the Children's Court yesterday before Justice Morgan M. L. Ryan.

The girl is suffering from Potts disease of the spine, and the beatings occured after she had left the Long Island College Hospital.

Charles Harstedt, an officer of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, who went to the Michnowski home on Aug. 18 to investigate reports made by the neighbors, testified that he saw Michnowski, who is a big man weighing about 200 pounds, whipping the child with a leather belt.

Dr. Lysaght told Justice Ryan that after the examination of the girl there were found four red welts across the back of the girl. The physician said that the girl admitted to her that her father beat her. Michnowski told the Court that he was disciplining the child.

Justice Ryan rebuked Michnowski, saying to him: "I wish I had jurisdiction over you in this case. I would send you to jail." Justice Ryan sent the girl to the Brooklyn Home for the Blind, Crippled and Defective Children at Port Jefferson, L.I. for treatment.