Emil Alvin Liebscher: Mayhem

Emil Alvin Liebscher was born 10 Sep 1880 in Voigtsdorf,Macklenburgische Seenplatte, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. He came to America by way of New York in 1890.

He married in 1907 in Tulare County, CA to Ethel Ida Scoggins (1878-1968). They divorced at some point.

On 27 Jul 1909 He was received at San Quentin Prison.

Inmate #7371

Crime: Mayhem

Term: 10 years

Discharged: 1916

Served 7 years of a 10 year sentence 

So what is mayhem you ask, well it can mean many different things. If he was a women it may be another Babbitt case. But he's a man and it had nothing to do with that. Here's the meaning.


Mayhem:
violent or damaging disorder; chaos.
"complete mayhem broke out"
synonyms: chaos, disorder, havoc, bedlam, pandemonium, tumult, uproar, turmoil, commotion, all hell broken loose, maelstrom, trouble, disturbance, confusion, riot, anarchy, violence, insanity, madness; informal madhouse
"no one would confess to how the mayhem started"
HISTORICAL•LAW

the crime of maliciously injuring or maiming someone, originally so as to render the victim defenseless.

Here's the text for above, I know it's hard to read.

SEWS BUTTONS UPON TONGUE OF HIS BABY, ONE YEAR OLD Fanatical Father, Atrocity Discovered, Flees to Mountains Near Sonora, Carrying Child by Leg; Captured

Special dispatch to "The Kiarainer" Sonora (Cal). July 15-

An Inhuman father, who starved his one-year-old baby, beat it, sewed buttons on its tongue, threw It Into pools of cold-water, carried it by its legs, head downward, and tortured it in a dozen other ways, was captured In Madera county late this afternoon and brought to Sonori to-night. Strangely enough, the baby girl, after undergoing torture which almost surpass belief, was found to be alive and not seriously injured, although wan and emaciated from starvation. Its father had carried it with him since Monday night, hiding in the hills to escape capture. The name of the father is E. A. Liebsher. He came here with his wife and baby last May from Fresno and since that time they have been coming out on the W. B. Bond ranch, a mile north of town. 

Before Juvenile Court. 

Thursday of last week for some reason unknown Mrs. Liebsher left her husband and baby and returned to Fresno. Someone reported the fact to the authorities and on Monday Liebsher and the baby were taken to the Juvenile court, where the child was given over to the custody of Mrs. Hulda Bauman, manager of the detention home. It was then that the evidence of the cruelties practiced upon the baby by its father became known. When Mrs. Bauman tried to feed the baby, she was horrified to find two buttons sewed fast to the little one's tongue. They were medium-sized white buttons and were fastened, one on the upper and the other on the underside of the child's tongue, by means of common cotton twine, the cord being passed twice through the child's tongue by means of a darning needle and the ends firmly tied. 

Child Suffers Patiently.

 The Infant was taken to Dr. Gould's office here, where the instruments of torture were cut loose, the child never uttering a complaint during the process. Liebsher went with the child to the doctor's office and while the physician was cutting off the buttons remarked- "You might as well take out her teeth, too." When asked what he meant he said: to explain his treatment- "I did that to keep her from sucking her thumb, as it wasthe only way to cure her of the habit." 

Flees With the Baby. 

After the baby's injuries had been  dressed it was taken back to the Detention Home, its father carrying It. All afternoon he sat holding the child in his arms, refusing to let anyone take it. He wept bitterly at every mention of the fact that the child would be taken away from him. Early in the evening of Monday, while Mrs. Bauman was out of the room, Liebsher with the baby in his arms dashed out of the home and ran for the brush-covered hills to the north." He ran with the frenzy of maniac, carrying the baby by one of its legs, swinging it over his shoulder, head downward.  The alarm was given and a score of men started in pursuit, but Liebshe managed to reach the brushwood, and, darkness coming on, he made good his escape. 

Men Search the Hills. 

The search through the hills continued all night Monday, and on Tuesday a regular manhunt was organized Officers in all parts of the county Joined in the search, as it was feared that Liebsher would kill the baby or that it would die of exposure. It was not until this afternoon that Liebsher was captured, the baby being with him and unharmed. He was brought to the Sonora Jail, where he Is being closely watched, It being feared that he may try to take his own life. He Is under arrest, charged with mayhem. The baby is at the Detention Home. The child is delicate In appearance, seldom cries, appears twice Its age and has a look of patient suffering that is pathetic.

 Religious Fanatic.

 Liebsher is believed to be a religious fanatic. He was selling literature in Sonora on the subject, "Why God Allowed Sickness and suffering, his explanation being that It was for the ultimate good of the sufferer as a means of spiritual advancement and purification through sorrow. 

The facts would follow out that Liebsher carried out his beliefs in his treatment of his baby girl and that his methods, such as sewing buttons on her tongue, denying her food, whipping her when she cried when hungry throwing cold water on her and mistreating her in a hundred ways, was really the carrying out In a distorted fashion of his strange religious belief. 

Believes in Suffering. 

He Is about 30 years old, delicate In appearance and very earnest in conversation, especially when discoursing his favorite theme of advancement through suffering. Though normal on every other subject It appears evident that his mind Is unbalanced as to the methods of bringing up his child, whom he appears to think a good deal of in his own very peculiar way.

This made me so mad, that poor little girl, I wonder how it affected her for the rest of her life.


Emil got out of prison and you will never believe where he is in the 1920 census.

With his wife and children living in California. I believe she did divorce him I couldn't find a record.

Their children:

Orpa M Liebscher (1908-2000) Married x2
Margaret H Liebscher (1910-)
Martha Liebscher (1918-) Twin
Mary Frances Liescher (1918-1996) Twin


Emil's 2nd wife Myrtle May Sheets (1887-1957) married in 1929 in California. This was her 3rd marriage.


Emil died 26 Sep 1957 in Ventura County, CA
Myrtle died 15 Aug 1957 in  Hermosa Beach, Los Angeles, California.


I am positive Orpa was in a lot of emotional pain her whole life. I hope she is finally at peace in death.

Rest easy Orpal, you are not forgotten.