1874 - Philanthropy

Philanthropy

American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals founder Henry Bergh receives an appeal in the spring from New York charity worker Etta Angel Wheeler to help rescue a little girl wandering naked through a city slum after being beaten, slashed, and turned out by her drunken foster mother. Bergh decides that the child deserves shelter as much as an animal, the 8-year-old American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) prosecutes the foster mother for starving and abusing the 9-year-old girl, and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ASPCC) is organized.

Reformer-philanthropist Gerrit Smith dies at New York December 28 at age 77.