The Mary Ellen Wilson Child Abuse Case And The Beginning Of Childen's Rights In 19th Century America

by Eric A. Shelman, Stephen Lazoritz

"As recently as 1874, no laws yet existed in the United States for the protection of children. That year, the widely publicized case of Mary Ellen Wilson - a nine-year-old girl who had been a prisoner in her tenement home, enduring unimaginable cruelty - drew national attention to child abuse and to the notion that children are entitlted to humane treatment. American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) founder Henry Bergh and his attorney, Elbridge T. Gerry, intervened on behalf of the abused little girl." This examination of the case begins with a look at Mary Ellen Wilson's life and the events surrounding the case. It draws upon, and reproduces, numerous primary sources. Mary Ellen's famous court testimony, queries urging Henry Bergh's ASPCA to continue work on behalf of children, articles describing the courtroom scene, pleas from Mary Ellen's family appealing for her custody and published documentation of the trial itself are all offered here for the first time.

This edition is out of print. Newer editions are titled "Case #1: The Mary Ellen Wilson Files".

Genres: True Crime

247 pages, Paperback

First published January 4, 2005

About the author

The Scabs Trilogy in my rearview mirror, and Dead Hunger long finished, I introduce Emma's Rose: The Cave! It's my new ZOMBIE series.

It has been a while since I delved into the zombie world. I really enjoyed writing the Scabs Series, but something was pulling me . Perhaps they were dead arms, peeling and gray, reaching for flesh. My flesh.

As usual my stories are character driven. Emma's Rose is no exception. I hope you enjoy the whole new cast of characters, and the new adventure, along with the new zombies.

A HUGE thanks to all of you who have read any of my work.

Now ... about me.

Eric A. Shelman was born in 1960 in Fort Worth, Texas. He now lives in Cape Coral, Florida with his wife of thirty years, Linda.

Life is good. But it takes hard work.

Reviews

[Bill Sleeman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Case #1: The Mary Wilson Files explores the background and legal challenges surrounding the formation of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and the Society’s seminal case – the rescue of Mary Ellen Wilson. This work suffers from a distracting amount of ‘spell check errors’ that a better editing effort would have caught. This is a very basic introduction to the history of the Society that would have benefited from a more critical view of the history, the era and most importantly, the legal arguments employed by Gerry. While this is certainly not a full history of the “Gerry Society” it is not, overall, a bad start.

[B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of great primary resources, but there was a lot of repetition. It might have been better if the author used some of these resources, and filled in the space with other types of resources or more of their own words?

I'm glad Mary Ellen grew up to have a happy life. So many others were and are much less fortunate.