Mary had obtained her present position by going to Gad’s Hill Center a month and a half before and representing herself as an orphan. She had tried to throw the neighbor off her track by going to her with a story of a “big noise” she had heard in the flat, but they had searched her and found the stolen things. Her employer also complained that Mary had taken clothing from her and hidden it. Mary was sent to the House of the Good Shepherd, but after her mother’s death in April, 1915, she was given some housework to do. On Dec. 17, 1915, she took $1 from her aunt and went away. She was sent to the Home for the Friendless. From there she wrote the probation officer complaining that the girl friends with whom she had been staying refused to let her have her clothes.
On Jan. 4, 1916, work was found for Mary at $7 a week. She worked one half day and then disappeared. She was located Jan. 10 and admitted remaining over night at a hotel four different nights with men. She didn’t know their names.... “I was drove away from home by my aunt. How could I stay there?”
“Q. to aunt: Did you drive Mary away from your home?
“A. Yes. She took $1 and I did not want her home.
“Officer: I found out something since then. When she came from the House of the Good Shepherd she worked at housework and took two rings there and silk stockings and underwear.
“Q. You hear, Mary? Why did you do that?
“A. Because I did not have no clothes.”[[66]]
65. Katie, 13 years old. August 22, 1913, in court. Picked up by an officer late at night after having wandered about the streets the two nights previous. Begged not to be taken home.... The home is poor. The mother sometimes goes out to work, leaving the girl at home alone. Parents are not capable of giving her the protection and supervision she ought to have. Though the mother claimed she had proper care she wanted her sent to an institution for a few months and then to have her home again. Girl sent to St. Hedwig’s. She was released in October and behaved well for a few months, helping with the new baby at home.
April 16, 1914, brought to court with another younger girl for having stolen money and a watch from the purse of a woman in the shower-bath room in Eckhard Park.
Katie told the court she did not know why she left home, that she often left home and wandered around—could not control wandering impulse and habit she had fallen into, that when she left she worked in a hat factory half a day, for which she received 75 cents, which she used for meals, and on Feb. 14th she secured work and remained at it until arrested April 1st. Josephine, the younger girl, told the court that Katie asked her to go to a show with her. On the way Katie said her hair was falling down and suggested going into the park to arrange it. They went to the shower-bath rooms and Katie wished to take a bath. They looked into different bathrooms and in one room saw a purse which Katie suggested taking, saying she wanted money for a nickel show. Josephine took the purse and hid it under the bench, but when the owner complained to the matron and threatened the girl with prison, Katie confessed and gave the purse back, putting most of the blame on Josephine. As it was proved that Josephine did not have a proper home atmosphere she was sent to the House of the Good Shepherd, while Catherine, who was a good girl, according to her mother, except for her wandering impulses, and who had never before stolen, was paroled.