Imagine living during a time when you had to work to survive. This included children and teenagers. On top of that, you had to, by law, attend school on top of working long, hard hours. If you missed school, you were sent to, of all places, a prison that housed the most hardened criminals. Welcome to New York City: the land of shitty drivers and even shittier laws.
Girl Sent To Tombs Under School Law
Worked All Day, Stayed Away From School At Night, Couldn’t Pay Fine
Charged with violating the Continuation School Law, sixteen-year-old Agnes Mullady of No. 538 West 130th Street was sent to the Tombs Prison for three days by Magistrate Brough in Municipal Court.
Magistrate Brough had given the girl the alternative of paying a fine of $15 for her six days’ absence from school or spending three days in prison. The girl said she could not pay.
Attendance Officer Ethel Murphy testified that the girl worked in a laundry, and because of her age was compelled to attend night school. She said recently, when she and Warrant Officer Sheehan came to Agnes’s home, the girl eluded them by running up a fire escape to the roof and escaping through the adjoining house. She later surrendered.
Agnes said she worked very hard all day, and that the compulsory school attendance left her little time for pleasure.
Source: The Evening World newspaper. January 04, 1921. New York, N.Y.
