DASTARDLY DADS FROM THE ARCHIVES (New York, New York - 1885)

Father JAMES O'DONNELL is charged with "habitually and cruelly beating his daughter" in this account from 1885.

From the archives of the New York Times, June 26, 1885.

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9E0CEFDB1439E533A25755C2A9609C94649FD7CF

USING HIS WHIP ON HIS CHILD.

James O'Donnell, a big burly driver of an ice wagon, living at No. 618 Ninth-avenue, was arrested yesterday, charged with habitually and cruelly beating his daughter Mary, 8 years old. The neighbors were frequently horrified by hearing the cries of the child while she was being chastised by her father, who beat her about the body and limbs with both the butt end and the lash of his driving whip. Fearful that he would kill the child, one of the neighbors wrote to Superintendent Jenkins, of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. The child's body and limbs were found covered with lacerations and bruises. Justice Welde, in the Jefferson Market Police Court, held O'Donnell for trial.