The Forgotten Child: The Tragic Case of Mary Ellen Hutchings

Mar 09, 2025

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⚠️ Reader Advisory: Sensitive Content ⚠️

This article contains descriptions of child neglect, extreme poverty, and death, which some readers may find distressing. Viewer discretion is advised.

A haunting black-and-white illustration of a small, frail 10-year-old girl with hollow cheeks and tattered clothes sitting in a dilapidated wooden shack. The scene is bleak, with cold air visibly seeping through broken planks. The girl’s eyes are sad and distant, as if resigned to her fate. A small, empty bowl sits beside her, emphasizing the extreme poverty. The background shows a harsh winter landscape outside the shack, with frost creeping in. The atmosphere is somber and tragic, conveying a sense of deep sorrow and neglect.

In the spring of 1944, just outside the city limits of St. John’s, Newfoundland, a ten-year-old girl named Mary Ellen Hutchings took her last breath in a tiny, deca…

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