The local papers omit all news items in which credit should be given to people of our nationality, but they stretch those reports which place the Czechs into an unfavorable light; then they take pains to nail down the fact that the person in question is of Czech nationality. Among these papers, the Examiner occupies a sadly prominent position.

Last night, Leola Allard, one of that sheet's contributors, vividly depicted how a fellow-countryman of ours tortured his little son. We are giving a translation of the article without assuming any responsibility for it. Owing to the fact, however, that the grand jury voted indictments against the man, the charges may be grave ones and the evidence conclusive.

The report says: "A little, browbeaten, pathetic woman appeared in 2the office of Mrs. Josephine Lawrence, head of the Social Welfare Bureau, Tuesday and gave a heart rending account of how her husband, Frank Kalbáč, a bricklayer, slugged her nine year old boy, Charles, half to death. The grand jury returned indictments, charging assault and battery with intent to inflict bodily injury. Assistant State's Attorney, Charles Center Case, Junior, in charge of the case, declared that Kalbáč, who is of Czech nationality, and not a United States citizen, could be held in a detention camp until such time when prosecution for the serious charges sets in.

The boy with his five brothers and sisters used to pick rags and old iron to partly provide for their living. They were, however, mostly dependent on the good neighbors.

Last Sunday, the father gave the boy ten cents to buy a can of beer from the saloon owned by Otto Wolf. The child bought ten rolls for the ten cents and gave each of his starving brothers and sisters his or her share. 3Kalbáč went to the saloon, where the barkeeper told him that the boy had spent the dime elsewhere. Mrs. Lawrence, in relating the news item to the reporter, proclaimed never to have heard a story as terrible as this, and she continued:

'The father beat the boy with a heavily buckled strap until the little fellow's head resembled a mass of pulp, his swollen back was criss-crossed with welts, and the other parts of the body covered with blue marks. When the boy attempted to escape the brutal attack, he slipped, falling upon the hot stove smashing his nose to the bone. He finally crawled under the bed, completely exhausted. The father then sat down, breathing heavily. The moment he had recuperated, he pulled the boy from under the bed, began to flog him anew, and to kick him in the hips until the boy was unable to stand on his feet. After this, the boy did not get any nourishment all day, except a bowl of soup. The strap with the heavy buckle, the mother said, was the terror of the whole family, none of whose members was spared.

Two weeks ago, Kalbáč, in a drunken stupor, began to beat the children, ages 4from three to fourteen. They finally took refuge under the porch of a neighbor.

I was told that a neighbor loaned the boy some clothing so that he could appear before the court, for none of the children has either clothing or foot-wear. The father weights one hundred eighty pounds, while the boy is a weak child, with a crestfallen gaze, and half crippled by continual beatings.

The mother had brought the fourteen year old sister of the boy before the grand jury, and told how she had taken the boy into the saloon to show the keeper what he had done by selling whiskey to her husband. The man ejected her, saying it was none of his business to bother about her husband.'

Mrs. Lawrence supplemented the foregoing statement by stating that the Bureau of Public Welfare had knowledge of these conditions already one year ago; that a social worker had been sent to Lansing where the family lived. The father produced false witnesses, who declared that the mother had the habit of 5drinking liquor. The woman being intimidated, did not dare to produce proofs to the contrary, and the case was dropped."