"Not My Fault"

Page  3 of The Weekly Western Sun, published in Vincennes, Indiana on Saturday, August 10th, 1878

The case against Robert Kingsberry for manslaughter of Lilly Nett, aged 12 years by cruel negligence was reported.

The prosecution claimed that Kingsberry procured this child some eighteen months ago from the county poor house of Knox County Indiana and that he kept her some three weeks when she died from criminal neglect. 

A jury, empaneled to hear the case after hearing the evidence and arguments, found the defendant not guilty. 

In this case the counsel for the defendant charged that the fault was with the keeper of the poor house and characterized that institution as a horrible place. 

(In other words whatever happened to the child was not Kingsberry's fault but that of the Knox County's Poor house. But you have to ask, what was the reason Kingsberry "procured" this child? If it was to use her as a servant, wouldn't he have looked for a healthy child at the very beginning? And if it was to give her a good home, wouldn't he have taken steps in the three weeks that she lived with him to provide food and medical treatment for her?)