There's some real Lydia Bennet energy here: Today in 1895, 16-year-old Belle Hara was sentenced to the SF Magdalen Asylum after she ran away with a soldier from the Presidio. Her uncle, Harding Robinson, was one of the city's early cable car operators! pic.twitter.com/pZKpXXg0CQ
— Beth Winegarner (@bethwinegarner) September 1, 2022
Today in 1885, 18yo Magdalen Asylum inmate Margaret Dix was called into court because George Webb claimed he wanted to free and marry her. But Webb had previously pimped her out in a local brothel, and planned to do so again. Dix wanted to be at the Mag! And so she went back. pic.twitter.com/BH7RxUY3SP
— Beth Winegarner (@bethwinegarner) August 30, 2022
Also today, but in 1886, teen Mary Derringer was sentenced to The Mag for working in a brothel on DuPont St. (Now Grant Ave.), while a piano player, Henry Flynn, was arrested for "ruining" Mary by tempting her to work there. Henry hoped to marry Mary but she wasn't interested. pic.twitter.com/SxFPxGAQNP
— Beth Winegarner (@bethwinegarner) August 29, 2022
How the paper describes Keefe: with "a frank, open countenance." And McKean: short hair, inexpressive eyes, "her voice is harsh and her expression wicked," with "none of the charms that lure the lustful to their own destruction." Uggghhh.
— Beth Winegarner (@bethwinegarner) August 29, 2022
Today in 1897, local teen Alice Cotter faced the possibility of being freed from the SF Magdalen Asylum, but authorities wouldn't release her to her father, which suggests he wasn't a very good parent, and may have been the only one she had. pic.twitter.com/SCopqmZK6y
— Beth Winegarner (@bethwinegarner) August 25, 2022
Today in 1873, an unnamed woman narrowly escaped a stint in the SF Magdalen Asylum after being arrested in a local brothel. Why? Because she was 18, and had legal authority over herself. So she went back to sex work. Maybe she enjoyed it. Maybe she wasn't "led astray." pic.twitter.com/gh1ey472p5
— Beth Winegarner (@bethwinegarner) August 22, 2022
On Aug. 20, 1892, 15-year-old Magdalen Asylum escapee Adelaide Cazneau almost married William Shade. But the officials involved in her case chose to send her to the Whittier Reform School (often an alternative to the Mag) instead. pic.twitter.com/kfGBvr5ng2
— Beth Winegarner (@bethwinegarner) September 20, 2022
Today in 1888, 16-year-old Ellen Bryan was entering the SF Magdalen Asylum after her parents in Portland sent her away for engaging in sex work and refusing to mend her "evil ways." Cops were meant to meet Ellen at the SF port but didn't show up. Love the way she drags them! pic.twitter.com/ssqMfdY2Ix
— Beth Winegarner (@bethwinegarner) August 19, 2022
Today's Magdalen girl is Bertha Whitehead (Kleine), a 16-year-old sentenced to the asylum today in 1902 because she was found living in a lodging-house. (?!) It isn't clear to me whether these houses served as brothels, or if this was considered "idle and dissolute" living. pic.twitter.com/YlEOauvsLX
— Beth Winegarner (@bethwinegarner) August 18, 2022
This is a rough one. CW for domestic abuse. Today in 1895, 14-year-old Louise Hahn was sentenced to four years in the San Francisco Magdalen Asylum for beating her mom. Repeatedly. pic.twitter.com/eutbfWGfsM
— Beth Winegarner (@bethwinegarner) August 17, 2022
Today in 1895, Katie O'Brien and Mamie Bush, both 12, were sent to the SF Magdalen Asylum, partly because they were hanging out downtown late at night, partly because they didn't want to live at home. What must home life have been like for them to (sorta) choose the Mag instead? pic.twitter.com/F7e5Ci6zmI
— Beth Winegarner (@bethwinegarner) August 13, 2022
She was proud to be lawless. Her first crime was breaking down her mom's door with an axe and stealing $24 to ride the train. The cops caught up to her after she fell off a bicycle. She ran away from missionaries. She was having a GREAT time. I wonder what happened to her.
— Beth Winegarner (@bethwinegarner) August 12, 2022
This one's especially gross. Today in 1879, 17yo Kate Trimmer was in court for stealing a watch and chain, and she'd already been in the SF Magdalen Asylum for leading an "idle and dissolute life." She was an orphan who needed family, not prison or racist judgments. pic.twitter.com/pM4P4NbKtc
— Beth Winegarner (@bethwinegarner) August 11, 2022
Today in 1902, Emma Holz was sentenced to the SF Magdalen Asylum for perjury (?). She initially accused her dancing master of "a criminal offense," I'm guessing sexual assault, later claimed she lied about it out of fear, then testified it was true. She didn't deserve jail. pic.twitter.com/hCgh4Fa5VT
— Beth Winegarner (@bethwinegarner) August 9, 2022
Today in 1895, "pretty, but wayward" 15-year-old Annie Banales was arrested after escaping from the Magdalen Asylum, where she had been sent for stealing money on the job. Note that she was still sent to a girls' prison even after her employer refused to press charges! pic.twitter.com/cTXCbp5hda
— Beth Winegarner (@bethwinegarner) August 8, 2022
The San Francisco Industrial School was a precursor to juvenile hall; a place where kids who'd committed crimes or who led an "idle and dissolute life" were sentenced. Boys went to a facility also called the Industrial School; girls went to the Magdalen Asylum.
— Beth Winegarner (@bethwinegarner) August 7, 2022
I don't have the follow-up articles, but the girls weren't released. In the early 1900s the Mag became the St. Catherine's Home, and I don't know if it was still the girls' branch of the Industrial School after that, but it remained a girls' prison until 1931.
— Beth Winegarner (@bethwinegarner) August 7, 2022
Also today, in 1896, SF Mag inmate Julia Christensen was mentioned in the @sfchronicle in connection with a case against Capt. Peter Lane, accused of assaulting girls in North Beach. Lane was acquitted; Christensen faced a transfer to jail for refusing to testify against him. pic.twitter.com/U2OEiXfy4C
— Beth Winegarner (@bethwinegarner) August 6, 2022
Kids don't run away from home for no reason, and doing so shouldn't be illegal, but today in 1889, Ada Carroll, AKA Kitty Reagan, was arrested in a lodging-house on Fourth St. in San Francisco and sentenced to the Magdalen Asylum for doing just that. pic.twitter.com/tlnQif5G4d
— Beth Winegarner (@bethwinegarner) August 6, 2022
Today in 1904, SF teen Blanche Blackwell was "to be tried on numerous charges" and likely sent to the Magdalen Asylum. By this time, the institution was about to change names -- to the St. Catherine's Home for Wayward Girls. pic.twitter.com/rbx4eyr8Kj
— Beth Winegarner (@bethwinegarner) August 5, 2022
Today in 1891, teenager Annie Terence, who'd been missing for several weeks, was found in the SF County Hospital and sent to the Magdalen Asylum. Hard to say what happened here, but I'm guessing a) pregnancy or b) mental illness. pic.twitter.com/p0GR1m4QPT
— Beth Winegarner (@bethwinegarner) August 3, 2022