In Worcester, Mass., not long since, a 19-year-old girl by the name of Maggie Barry received a public whipping from her mother for attending services of the Salvation Army.

Miss Maggie Barry, who is 19 years of age, had been for some time occasionally attending the meetings of the Salvation Army, and was desirous of becoming a member of the corps, having been converted a short time since.

Her parents were Irish Roman Catholics and insisted that Maggie should remain a Romanist.  They regarded the Salvation Army, which is purely non-sectarian, as a Protestant organization, and they were determined that their daughter should have nothing to do with it, and forbade her attending any of the meetings.

On a Sunday evening not long since she attended the services of the Salvation Army at No. 5 Commercial street, where there were at least 250 people present.  While the commander of the corps was reading from the Bible, Miss Barry’s mother came through the doorway and down to the front row of seats near the corner of the platform, where Maggie was sitting, and grabbed her daughter by the arm and began to pound her over the head, and at once proceeded to pull the girl from the hall and down the stairs into the street, all the time unmercifully beating the poor girl over the head and shoulders.

The incident happened so quickly that for a moment the audience could not realize what was taking place, but as soon as the audience could gather their wits, there was a rush made for the street.

After the meeting had adjourned many of the attendants found Miss Barry in the street weeping like her heart would break and afraid to return to her home.

She told the audience that as soon as she reached the street where a number of relatives were waiting for her that she broke away from her mother and fled.

A policeman was called into consultation relative to the case and stated that as Maggie was under twenty-one years of age, that she had better be taken to her parents at 125 Salem street, and two policemen accompanied her to her home.

It is stated that Miss Barry has received many unmerciful beatings because she attended these religious meetings, and her old Romish mother, while dragging her down the stairs that Sunday night, threatened to do her bodily harm if she ever attended these meetings again.

A few days after this disgraceful and un-American spectacle happened in the streets of Worcester, a notice in the Central District Court appeared that “Miss Margaret Barry was charged with being a stubborn child and was sentenced to the Woman’s Prison at Shearborn.  She appealed and furnished a bail.  The girl was arrested on the complaint of her mother because she would not stay away from the meetings of the Salvation Army.”

Now, reader, you have a case right in the United States of America where a poor girl was sentenced to prison for attending a Protestant meeting.  What do you think of a judge of a court who will sentence a child to a State prison for attending a Protestant meeting?