American Republican and Baltimore daily clipper. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1844-1846, 1845-06-20

| 1890 "'t|' W hlCh lIley were READ second time
by Charles II. Pitts, Esq, and unanimously
adopted. The meeting then adjourned its dc.
lIheratlons having been conducted with all tina,
soemnity BETTING the occasion.
The committee of arrangements TO he an.
pointed by the chairman, will be announced
through the public prints on Saturday or Mon
day.
AN INTERESTING QuEsrIoN OF LEGITIMACY
-.fccuSattOn against Southern Ladu We have
seen a very interesting case copied from the
Western Journal of Medicine, the particulars
oil which are not less useful in a medical point
of view than of interest to the general reader.
The facts involve question of paternity in one
ofour Southern Courts, and may be condensed
as follows:
white woman, the wife of a planter of
wealth and respectable connections, rave birth
to male child Of so dark a complexion that
unpleasant suspicious were awakened amonp
her acqualntances Her husband died suisse
quent to the birth of the child and after re-
naming widow four or five years she arain
married. doctor, it seems, IN an evil hour.
charged her with incontineuce, alleging that
'she had given birth to mulatto chiId.n Un
on this an action for Islander has been bropght
and is still pending, the jury having failed, on
The hrst trial, to agree on verdict Nine
doctors appeared as witnesses, who expressed
opinions widely variant touching the merits of
the case.
1t was proved that the first husband, the al
legged father OF the boy, was man of fair com
plexon, being of German extraction, but that
his mother and two Of his unces were dark
like the child, and that hls family in Germany
were descended from the Gipses 1t was fur
ther stated IN the trial, that during the prep-
nancy of the mother with this child. she was
repeatedly frightened by reports of ''ncgro in
surrections."
The appearance of the boy is described as
remarkable. Ills surface presents different
shades of color, the chest and axlla heinz
nearly white, while the abdomen is dark. the
change occurring abruptly and being marked
by we'll defined line
The boy has been growing gradually whittier
since his birth; "his hair is nearly strs;obt-a
little curled, but not kinked his feet and ankles
present nothing Of the negro popularity; his
whole appearance might suggest the thouoht
that he was the product of white woman and
mulatto man." Such is the description of
the boys physognomy.
TWAS proved by the defendant that the cha
racter of the plaintiff had not been above Sis
picion.
Some of the questions upon which the medi-
cal witnesses differ are thus put:
sis not a muatto from white woman dark
er than one from black woman?
"Are there any anatomical or physiological
signs by which negro blood might with GER
talnty be detected
SIS it not usual for mulattoes to GROW darker
instead of whittier?
"Do you think it possible that menus ma
terni would cover nearly the whole body;
"Do you think it possible for color to show
itself in the third and fourth generations
"Ds you know of any mode of bleaching by
which the skin might be rendered white;n-
(See Hoods History on bleaching young Mig
gerlings.)
1t seems that the boy has been growing WIFI
ter since his infancy; that he is wanting in the
characteristics of the negro race about the heel
and ankle; that he is descended of the Gypsies,
and that some of his ancestors were as black as
himself Still it must be admitted that these
proofs are not conclusive Of the purity of blood
and the question is one which it may be impos-
sible TO place beyond the reach of controversy
Nature in her operations in this obscure walk
seems not TO be governed by very settled laws
Thus we are told of an English woman married
to black man, of whom the offspring was
quite black; and of similar case in which the
child resembled the mother in fairness of fea- |
lures, the whole skin being white, Except some
spots on the thigh which were as black as the
father" White, in his work on the Graduation
OF Man, mentions more remarkable case
that OF a negress who had twins by an English
man, one being perfectly black, with short,
woolly, curled hair, the other white with hair
resembling that of the European. Beck, in his
Medical jurisprudence, has more cases going to
show the difficulty of establishing any univer-
sal rule on the subject.
Parental likeness, in the estimation of Lord
is one of the strongest arguments in
favor OF legitimacy. In case which came be-
fore him involving this question, he said, 81
have always considered likeness as an argu-
ment OF child being the son of parent, and
the rather as the distinction between individu-
ais in the human species is more discernible
Than between other animals. A man may sur
vey ten thousand people before he sees two
aces exactly alike, and in an army of ten thou
sana men every man may be known from an
other. 1t there should be likeness offeature,
there may be difference in the voice, gesture
Or other characters; Whereas a family likeness
runs generally through all of these for in every
hing there is resemblance, as of feature,
voice, attitude, and action" This test, we
should suppose, might avail in the case under !
consideration.