From the October 11, 1897 New York Times:

“Poughkeepsie–The charge that three girls, inmates of the Orphan Home for Girls at Tivoli, were confined in a pigpen by way of punishment, was not denied by the Superintendent, E.F. George, when he was asked about it to-day. He says that three girls were thus punished for what the doctor said was laziness, and that the punishment cured them. The only part of the story which Mr. George denies is that the children were kept in the pigpen for forty-eight hours. He says that they were kept there twelve hours instead.

The village talk goes so far as to intimate that the children and the pigs were inclosed in the same building, but this Mr. George denies. He says that no pigs were in the barn at all. The pens are all filled with pigs now, however.

The children were put in the pens a month ago. The names of the little ones are Hazel Cahill of New York, eight years old; Beulah Delehanty of Poughkeepsie, eight years old, and Mabel Moore of New York, nine years old. The matron of the home is Mrs. George, the wife of the Superintendent. She says that the people of the village are down on her husband because he tried to break up gambling and horse racing in the town. The management of the home was discussed a year ago, when May Conklin, twelve years old, committed suicide by taking paris green, because, as it was said, the matron had cut off her hair.”