In the 20Th century
forties, living conditions of Americans were not so good because of the Second
World War. Although the USA witnessed an economic boom by the end of the war the
result wasn`t reflected on all Americans. In addition, living conditions of many
were bad. One of those who suffered was Ray Chalifoux: a truck driver who,
unfortunately, was fired of his job, so he couldn`t supply food to his four
children and wife or pay the house fare, so his family was threatened of
expulsion and becoming homeless, so Ray and his wife decided to sell their
children!
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On5 August 1948, The
Viddette Messenger of Valparaiso newspaper published a photo of Mrs. Lucille
Chalifoux offering her children for sale on the stairs of entrance of her house
in Chicago!
In this tragic photo, the mother was shown hiding her face from the
camera ashamed of her deed.
Her four children were shown at the stairs of the house entrance, up is
the 6-years old Lana, next is her 5-year
old sister RaeAnn, down is the 4year-old
Milton, next to him is his younger sister Sue Ellen, beside them there is a
signboard saying:
CHILDREN FOR SALE!
INQUIRE WITHIN!
After two years
of publishing the photo, the mother could sell her4
pre-mentioned children in addition to her 5th
child David, who was in her womb when the photo.
2 of the children: RaeAnn and Milton were sold to the farmer John
Zoeteman and his wife Ruth for
2 dollars only. The farmer and
his wife took the2 children to
their farm. They forced them to work hard for long hours daily, they tied them
in the barn at night.
Milton said: "we used a corn knife to fight off the rats in the
barn. My new father Zoiteman
used to call me a SLAVE".
I asked him, once: "why he is so cruel to us?"
He replied: "If you went on
being afraid, you must do what I tell you”
Recently, when Milton became young, he was brought before judiciary after
he quarreled with a police officer pushing him against a tree trunk. The judge
considered him a danger to society and he was to choose either to go to a
mental hospital a reformatory and because of the horrible stories about
reformatory, Milton decided to go to the mental hospital. The doctors, there,
discovered that temper tantrums were because of schizophrenia. He was treated
and was set free in 1967.
RaeAnn’s situation wasn`t much better than her brother’s, she was
kidnapped when she became 17,
she was raped and became pregnant with a child, she was sent to live in
a home for unwed mothers. After giving birth, the baby was taken from her and
adopted. At that stage, RaeAnn ran away from Zoetman`s farm, without looking
backwards.
Concerning the youngest child David, who was in his mother`s womb when
the photo was taken his family gave him to The McDaniel before he was 2years, Harry McDaniel and his wife Luella took the child
from his parents in a pitiful state. The effects of bug bites covered all his
tiny body. The family adopted David because they didn`t have children, so they
treated him kindly and brought him up according to values and good morals. David`s
new house was close to Zoeteman`s farm, he was used to ride his bike or his
horse going to his brother and sister, Milton and RaeAnn, from time to time.
David said: “My brother and sister were treated badly, I saw them tied in the barn whenever
I went to visit them.”
Although David was living an easy life with his new family nevertheless,
he was rebellious. He left The McDaniels when he became 17 and joined the American military and served there for 20 years,
He left the army at the age of 37.
From that time on, David is working as a semitrailer driver in Washington.
As for Mrs. Lucille, she separated from her husband after they had
bought their 5 children. She
was married again and had four more daughters. She met her youngest son David
only once when he was adult.
David says: “As soon as my mom seen me, she said, you look just like your father, but, she never apologized. She got rid of all us children, and
sold them, married someone
else, had four more
daughters. She kept them. She
didn’t keep us".
“We’re all human beings. We all make
mistakes. She could’ve been thinking
about the children, didn’t want them to die.”
Mrs. Lucille also met her son Milton,
he lived one month with her, but she threw him out when he got into a fight with her
husband and the police arrested the husband.
Although life separated them,
nevertheless, social media reunited them once more. In 2013
RaeAnn met her younger sister Sue Ellen who was adopted by Jhonson
family. Sue Ellen suffered of lung disease and died at the same year. Few days
before her death. Sue Ellen couldn`t speak, because of illness in an interview,
therefore, she wrote the answers on a sheet of paper.
When she was asked about her sister RaeAnne, she wrote:
“It’s fabulous. I love her”
In the same interview, she wrote her view of her mother Lucille:
“She needs to be in hell burning”
As for their eldest sister, Lana, they could get in touch with her family and they knew
that she had died in 1998 because of cancer.
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