The mother sold the children because of poverty. How was their fate?

This photograph is considered by many to be a staged shot, but it hides the true tragedy of a real family. The photo was taken in the United States on August 28, 1948. Four children from two to six years old are sitting on the steps of an old house, a sign with the screaming text "4 children for sale" hangs next to it, and the mother hides her face from the camera. What made people take this shocking step? Were the children sold, and what was the fate of the "live product"? Many years later, journalists found the little heroes of a creepy photo.

The Chalifux family went out of utter despair to sell their own children. Truck driver Rey and housewife Lucille barely made ends meet, and fate sent and sent them all replenishment. In 1948, Lucille became pregnant with her fifth child, and Ray lost his only job. The family was mired in debts and loans, for non-payment they were threatened to be kicked out of the house.

In despair, the husband and wife decided to put their children in good hands. The announcement of the sale was a cry for help: in fact, the kids were given away to everyone for free. For just one girl, five-year-old Rey Anna, her parents managed to "help out" as much as $ 2. Perhaps at that time Lucille and Rey sincerely believed that in such a wild way they could save children from vagrancy and from starvation. But later it turned out that children were just a burden for them.

Ray Anna (5 years old) and Milton (4 years old)

Foster father bullied Milton and Ray Anna / open sources

Five-year-old Rey Anna (pictured above right) was bargained for by a family of farmers. John and Ruth Zoetman paid $ 2 for the baby and wanted to take her alone, but Brother Milton (pictured on the left below) cried so much and killed his sister that they decided to take him "as an appendage." On the very first day, the baby bitterly regretted this: the adoptive father severely beat the boy and tied him in the barn. Rei Anna was also resettled there.

John Zoetman seriously believed that he had acquired little slaves for himself: from morning to night, children had to work in the fields. They were fed, according to the recollections of Rei Anna, stale bread with peanut butter. For the slightest disobedience or undone work, children were tied to the wall and left to stand at night.

Milton was the first to fail such an attitude. As a teenager, he attacked his adoptive father. He called the police, Milton resisted the arrest. As a result, the guy was arrested, and then declared insane and sent to a mental hospital. There the guy was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was treated for several years.

After leaving the hospital, Milton decided not to return to his foster family and started looking for a real mother. It turned out that Lucille wasn’t too worried about her wild deed. Having sold her four children, the woman decided to “get away with” the fifth child, whom she was pregnant with from Ray. After that, she divorced her husband, remarried and gave birth to four more.

Milton tried to understand and forgive his mother, and even moved in with her to improve relations. But he did not live in her house for a month: after another showdown with her new husband, Lucille again threw her son out of the house. “My mom never loved any of us. She never once apologized for what she did to us. She just didn't give a damn, ”Milton said.

Rei Anna still keeps the dress her mother sold her in / open sources

The fate of Rei Anna was also tragic. After Milton was arrested, she lived with a foster family for several more years. At 17, the girl was raped in the forest near the farm, she became pregnant, and John Zoetman kicked her out of the house. Rei Anna settled in a shelter for single mothers, but the child was taken away from her immediately after birth. After that, she also tried to improve relations with her real mother, but when she met her, she realized that Lucille had long erased the sold children from her mind and heart.

Lana (7 years old)

The oldest girl (pictured above left) is missing. Rei Anna tried in vain to find her, but her mother did not have any information about who took or bought the baby. Many years later, journalists managed to find out that Lana died of cancer at the age of 57.

Sue Ellen (2 years old)

Rey Anna found her sister Sue Ellen on the verge of death / open sources

The smaller of the children, Sue Ellen (pictured below right), Rae Anna managed to find only with the help of journalists. At that time, the woman was already 67 years old, she lived in a hospice and was at the last stage of cancer. Sue Ellen could no longer speak, and she had difficulty writing notes, so her sister did not manage to find out how her life turned out after the sale. Obviously, it is not sweet, because when asked about her mother, Sue Ellen wrote that she would never forgive her deed and wanted her to burn in hell.

Bedford

David is still trying to justify his mother's actions / open sources

The smallest of the Chalifuchs' children sold was the luckiest one. He is not in the photo, Lucille was just pregnant. She gave birth to a boy in 1949 and decided to sell him along with the rest of the children. The baby was adopted by the McDaniels, who could not have children. That is why the boy was not kept as a slave, but raised as a child.

When the adoptive parents took the one-year-old baby from the mother, his whole body was bitten by bedbugs, hair was infested with lice, and he himself was impossibly thin and dirty. Obviously, Lucille did not care for the baby at all. Bedford was given a different name (he was named David) and a rather strict education. As a teenager, he joined the army, where he served for 20 years.

Before the army, David also tried to meet his mother, and was overwhelmed by the cold and detached meeting. “All she said was that I have eyes like my father. At the same time, there was not a drop of regret in his voice, ”the man later recalled. However, David is the only one of the children who did not condemn the mother for her act. “Maybe she wanted the best. Maybe she just didn't want us to die in those conditions, ”he tried to justify his mother in a conversation with journalists.

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