Goes Mad in County Jail

The Marietta Daily Times, September 30, 1908

Reported that Nellie Kelley's Mind Has Become Unbalanced.

Woman Is Awaiting Hearing On Charge of Grave Character.

Is Nellie Kelley, in the county jail awaiting the sitting of the grand jury on a charge of harboring in a house of ill-fame a girl of tender years, insane, or is she feigning madness in an effort to escape a term in the Ohio penitentiary?

That is a question the courts will probably be called on to answer.

The woman has been in the prison for the past five or six weeks. She was arrested when a fifteen-years-old girl, Lena Freeman of Parkersburg, it is alleged, was found in her house on Ohio Street. When arraigned the evidence was found sufficient to warrant her being held for further investigation. Being unable to give bond in the sum of $1,000, she was sent to jail.

At first there was nothing unusual in her appearance or actions. Now, it is alleged, she gives evidence of being of unsound mind. At times she seems to have little recollection of where she is or why she is being held there. She talks incoherently and disconnectedly, and sometimes raves like a person who is violently insane.

The matter has been brought to the attention of her attorneys and the probability is that an effort will be made to secure her release on the ground that she has become insane through the confinement to which she has been subjected.

If the woman is found guilty of the crime with which she is charged, and the evidence is said to be very strong against her, she will get a term in the penitentiary. She is aware of that fact and this gives rise to the question of whether she is really insane or whether she has adopted this as a means of securing her release and possibly escaping the penalty for her alleged wrong doing.

The girl who was taken from the Kelley house was found guilty of incorrigibility and sentenced to the girls' industrial school at Delaware. She was taken there a few days ago and has begun her time at that institution. 

The condition of the Kelley woman has been noted only recently and her lawyers became aware of the change in her condition today. It is believed that they will take some action in the case within a day or two.

So far as there is any evidence the woman is really out of her mind, there having been no intimation that she is feigning insanity.