Hansford: Mental Defectives in County H., Indiana 93 
and others were amused and paid little attention to her tirade. 
It is said that when Ruth comes out of her house with a 
rolling-pin in one hand and a poker in the other, all the neigh- 
bors go into their houses and lock the door. She has prob- 
ably been a party to more rough and tumble fights than any 
other woman in the county. She still fights with her tongue, 
for her rheumatism prevents her from going far from her 
chair. Altho ignorant, her supple tongue can outrun that of 
anyone who tries to talk her down. She never hesitates in 
her speech, and she is very amusing when excited because of 
the long words she uses, the meaning of which she does not 
know. Bruce left her and she then married Horace Baker, 
a cousin of the Baker men of Township 1. By him she had 
1 child, Mabel. Horace could not endure her tongue-lashings 
so he left her within less than a year after he married her. 
Since then Ruth has supported herself and family by wash- 
ing and cleaning. One of her daughters married a York, a 
member of the Slack family. The youngest child, Mabel 
Baker, for several years was an inmate of the Indiana Girls’ 
School. The authorities there would not allow Ruth to visit 
her daughter, for the very minute she got within talking dis- 
tance, she would begin to revile the officials and to abuse the 
girl for not having enough “sand” to tell them what she 
thought of them. She would go up and down the corridors, 
swearing and threatening. Mabel was finally returned to her 
home and after several years of loose living, married the son 
of a well-to-do Italian manufacturer. His family never recog- 
nized her. This angered Ruth, so she went to their home, 
which is in a good part of town, and told them what she 
thought of “Dagoes” in general and of them in particular. 
The husband left Mabel, and she is now back with her mother 
unable to work because of a serious venereal infection. 
When Ruth’s mother deserted the family, Oran married 
Catherine McCormack, the daughter of Patrick McCormack 
and Cynthia Lyons, from Kentucky. Her step-father was 
Kenneth Briscoe, whose descendants along with those of 
James McCormack will be described later. By Catherine, 
Oran O’Brian became the father of 6 children : Adam, Lottie, 
Leo, Frank, Maggie, and Rose. Catherine McCormack O’Brian 
died insane. At times she was violent but was never com- 
mitted to a hospital. 
