The _Memphis (Tenn.) Ledger_, of June 8, 1892, has the following:

If Lillie Bailey, a rather pretty white girl, seventeen years of age,
who is now at the city hospital, would be somewhat less reserved about
her disgrace there would be some very nauseating details in the story of
her life. She is the mother of a little coon. The truth might reveal
fearful depravity or the evidence of a rank outrage. She will not
divulge the name of the man who has left such black evidence of her
disgrace, and in fact says it is a matter in which there can be no
interest to the outside world. She came to Memphis nearly three months
ago, and was taken in at the Woman's Refuge in the southern part of the
city. She remained there until a few weeks ago when the child was born.
The ladies in charge of the Refuge were horrified. The girl was at once
sent to the city hospital, where she has been since May 30. She is a
country girl. She came to Memphis from her father's farm, a short
distance from Hernando, Miss. Just when she left there she would not
say. In fact she says she came to Memphis from Arkansas, and says her
home is in that state. She is rather good looking, has blue eyes, a low
forehead and dark red hair. The ladies at the Woman's Refuge do not know
anything about the girl further than what they learned when she was an
inmate of the institution; and she would not tell much. When the child
was born an attempt was made to get the girl to reveal the name of the
Negro who had disgraced her, she obstinately refused and it was
impossible to elicit any information from her on the subject.

Note the wording: "The truth might reveal fearful depravity or rank
outrage." If it had been a white child or if Lillie Bailey had told a
pitiful story of Negro outrage, it would have been a case of woman's
weakness or assault and she could have remained at the Woman's Refuge. But
a Negro child and to withhold its father's name and thus prevent the