This hurricane season has kept the ASPCA busy with disaster relief efforts. I'll be donating to them this round and I hope you will too.
There's a strange and unusual story from the history of the ASPCA that I've always found interesting. Some of you may not know this, but ASPCA officers have the same force of law as deputies. The organization, the first humane organization in the country, was founded in 1866 by Henry Bergh, and came into being primarily because of the abuse of cart horses people witnessed on the streets of New York City. They were very active and got many laws passed to help stop animal abuse.
There still, however, were no laws on the books about child abuse.
In 1873, a janitress in a building in Hell's Kitchen told a church worker named Etta Wheeler about a little girl named Mary Ellen McCormack, who was living her life tied to a bed, neglected and beaten. With no laws on the books to allow intervention on her behalf, Etta went to the ASPCA, asking for their help on the grounds that the girl was a member of the Animal Kingdom. The ASPCA went to a judge who agreed to have the girl declared an animal so they could enter the house and remove her. After this, Henry Bergh founded the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children, the first child protection agency in the world.
So, let's hear it for the Etta Wheelers and Henry Berghs of the world.
Mary Ellen McCormack
Posted by floridacracker at September 27, 2004 11:35 PM
You're the first I've ever seen tell that story as well. I first learned it from an old, garage sale purchased "The Rest of the Story" book (written/edited by Paul Harvey's son) in my father's collection.
Posted by: fad at September 27, 2004 11:40 PMThank you, Fad. It's a lovely story, isn't it?
Back in '93 I saw a commercial for them where the voice-over said something like "Protecting animals (pause) and children since whenever." The "and children" part made me look up their history. The story is so dramatic, and has so many twists and turns, it could be a Law And Order episode. Good people doing good stuff. Yay for Henry Bergh.
Sent some more dough to the ASPCA. They're worse than mobile phone salespeople when they get hold of you, though. I'd still like to see a fund to cull ignorant, cruel and abandoning animal owners. I love feeding the critters, I'd like to hunt down the owners even more.
Posted by: Paul at September 28, 2004 10:05 AMThank you, Paulie. You're a good guy.
Posted by: Donnah at September 28, 2004 08:50 PM