All of the following are from the 'Lisburn Standard'...
18 June 1898:
CRUELTY TO CHILDREN.
David Donaldson and Mary Jane Donaldson were charged by District-Inspector MacGee with a breach of Section 1 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act of 1894. The wife appeared, but the husband did not, and a warrant was issued for his arrest - the woman in the meantime to go into the workhouse with the children.
2 July 1898:
ALLEGED NEGLECT OF CHILDREN.
The case of Mary Jane Donaldson, who was prosecuted by District-Inspector MacGee for neglecting her children, was further adjourned for a fortnight to see how she would behave herself.
16 July 1898:
CRUELTY TO CHILDREN.
In this case, which came up in adjournment, Mary Jane Donaldson in conjunction with her husband, were charged with cruelty to their child, a boy of 7 years of age. The woman had been in the workhouse, but the warrant against the father had not been executed, the defendant having fled the country. Mr. JOSEPH ALLEN, who appeared for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, applied that the boy should be sent to the Milltown Industrial School until he was 16 years of age, and that the woman and the other children, should be sent back to the workhouse. An order to this effect was accordingly made.
