The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1882-02-28
A Wrangle With His Divorced
Wife at Clinton Yes
terday
Over the Custody of Their Lit
tie Eight-Year-Old
Daughter.
The Mother Victorious, and the
Father Sent Home Empty
Handed.

An interesting case under the habeas
corpus act was tried at Clinton yesterday
before Judge CAN'T, i'm chambers. The
res was the little eight year-oId daughter OF
George w. Wilson, of Shelby county, this
state
About four years ago Mr.. and Mrs. Will
son separated, after having lived together
as husband and wife for six years. The
immediate cause of the separation, as il
came ont in evidence, was adultery on the
part of the wife. At
THE TINE OF THE SEPARATION
the little girl was about four years of age
The mother returned to the fathers house
and has since lived with him. The little
girl has also lived with this grandfather
and was living with him at the time of the
application for the writ
About year after the separation, the
husband obtained divorce from his wife
in the circuit court of Shelby county,
where all the parties then resided, or did
reside at the time the proceedings were be-
gun, and by the decree was
AWARDED THE CUSTODY OF THE CHILD
but he does not seem ever TO have taken
possession of the child, or to have made
any effort to get possession of it, until now.
Pending the proceedings, to which the
wife made no defense, the grandparents
moved from Shelby county to johnson
county, bringing the mother and child with
them. Although the husband and father
knew of this, and had filed petition
against his wife alleging adultery as the
ground thereof, and asking the custody of
the child, he made no effort to prevent its
being taken out of the jurisdiction of the
court; and, after he had
OBTAINED HIS DECREE,
occasionally visited it at its grandfather's.
These Things gave color to the claim of the
grandfather that he had surrendered and
abandoned the child to him, and that
his present attempt to gain possession of it
by legal means was an afterthought. The
Judge attentively heard the evidence and
the exhaustive arguments of the counsel.
By the cOmplainant's counsel it was
commended that the decree of the court i'm
divorce proceedings awarding the custody
of the child to the father was conclusive, and
THIS COURT WAS BOUND By 1T,
and must order the child delivered to the
husband.
BY the respondents it was denied, either
that the decree, as to custody, was con-
elusive, or, if it was, that this court was
authorized, by habeas corpus, to enforce
the DEGREES of that court If it was cOnclu-
sive, this court had no jurisdiction or right
to interfere, but must dismiss the COM
plant. They, however. maintained that
the court had the right to enquire and
make such orders as the interest and well
fare of the child seemed to require, regard
less of the decree of the court of which
THE DIVORCE PROCEEDINGS
were had. This is the view the court
seemed to take of the case, and after care
full inquiry, decided to award the custody
of the child to its maternal grandparents,
and send Mr. Wilson back home to his
newly welded wife empty handed, to begin
his matrimonial life again, at the bottom
of the ladder. The aged grandparents, as
we'll as the mother and child, went out of
court with happy hearts, and all the peo-
pie said, Amen! NJ. A. Fyke represented
the relator and Messrs. Lewis and Wilson
the respondents.