Smith v. Sisters of Good Shepherd of Louisville

• Citation: 87 S.W. 1083
• Parties: SMITH v. SISTERS OF GOOD SHEPHERD OF LOUISVILLE et al.
• Decision Date: 09 June 1905
• Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals

87 S.W. 1083

SMITH v. SISTERS OF GOOD SHEPHERD OF LOUISVILLE et al.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

June 9, 1905

Appeal from Circuit Court, Jefferson County.

"Not to be officially reported."

Action by Hattie Smith against the Sisters of the Good Shepherd of Louisville, Ky. and others. From a judgment for defendants plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

W. T Burch and D. T. Smith, for appellant.

Kinney & Fitzgerald, for appellees.

BARKER J.

Hattie Smith was born in Hardin county, Ky. and the earliest annals of her history, as shown by this record, introduce her as an inmate, with her mother and sister, of the poorhouse of her native county.

At about 12 or 14 years of age she was placed in the home of a family in Bullitt county, Ky. At 15 she had been married and abandoned by her husband, after which she returned to the poorhouse of Hardin county, covered with syphilitic sores and where she soon demonstrated by her conduct that her character was as depraved as her body was diseased. At the suggestion of a Catholic priest desirous of relieving the county officials of the embarrassment they endured between the duty they owed the public, of turning out of its eleemosynary institution for the virtuous indigent one so wantonly wicked as appellant, and the distress they suffered at the thought of casting an unfortunate and helpless child homeless into the world, the county judge and the sheriff sent her in charge of the latter to the house of the appellee, in Louisville, Ky. The Sisters of the Good Shepherd is a religious, charitable corporation, composed, as its name indicates, of consecrated women of the Catholic faith, who devote their lives to relieving the necessities and uplifting the character, so far as that is possible, of fallen women. If the inmate gives such evidence of reform as warrants the sisters in trusting her again into the temptations of the world, they try to get her a home. If not, they permit her to stay-- she, in common with them, doing such work as is found for her in the maintenance of the institution. Without seeking absolute accuracy of statement, appellant resided with the sisters 15 years, when she left, and within a year thereafter instituted this action for $25,000 in damages for false imprisonment and cruel treatment. Without unnecessary prolixity, it may be said the petition states a cause of action, and the answer places all of its material averments in issue. A trial resulted in a verdict for the defendants, and from the judgment predicated thereon this appeal is prosecuted.

Before the day of trial, appellant entered a motion for a change of venue, and filed certain affidavits in support thereof, in which it is substantially stated that one-fourth of the population of Jefferson county are Catholics in faith, and the influence of the church such that appellant could not obtain a fair and impartial trial. Counter affidavits were filed, and the court overruled the motion. It has always been the rule in this court to repose great confidence in the judgment of the trial judge in the matter of change of venue and we see no reason in this case to deviate from this...