The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-12-24
SUIT Is SETTLED
MYRTLE HAMMOND WILL NOT BE
KIDNAPPED BY BBR FATHER

KIDNAPPED BY BBR FATHER
Attorneys Hit Upon Plan for Placing tn
Mopey Belonging to the Child In tn
Hands of q Guardian, and the Prim
Object of the Unnatural Father for Sc
Curing the Child Is Thus Removed-C
L Davidson is Appointed Guardian ant
the Money Is Paid Over-History of tn
Strange Case.
An interesting suit was settled yester
day by an agreement Of counsel Of bott
sides in the sensational suit of Myrtle
Terreu-Hammond VS.. the Frisco rail
road company, whereby the interests o.
the child will be fully protected.
It will be remembered that after the
suit was filed for the child against tbs
railroad company by w. E. Stanley
that the child's father, Robert Ham
mond, appeared upon the scene and at
tempted to get possession Of the child
At this time Mrs. Terrell was visiting
at her old home in Indiana and was
handing her to produce the child in
open court. There she met her first
husband, Robert Hammond, who claim
ed that he had received a decree OF
enforcement from Mrs. Terrell a few
months previous, and had by the decree
been given the custody OF the child
Myrtle.
Mrs. Ferrel had supposed that she
was discovered several years before the
time alleged in the petition upon which
the writ of i1aibeas corpus had been is
sued, and in the meatime had mar
ried MIR. Terrell Of Wichita, Kansas.
It appears that the first suit, copy
of which had been served upon her sew
eral years before, had never been prose
cuted to a termination, and as a con-
sequence at the time Of her marriage
ITO Mr.. Terrell of Wichita she was the
wife of Robert Hammond.
She was able to show at the time that
her first husband was a worthless char
acter and had never given anything to
the support of the child Myrtle, until af-
ter the SUIT had been brought by the
mother as the next friend against the
railroad company, and that the only
reason that the husband now desired
the child was TO secure the money COM
ing TO the child, and the woman had no
trouble in securing friends who went on
her bond that she would return the child
upon the order of hhe court after the
court had become fully advised in the
matter, and she was permitted TO return
TO Wichita with the child.
Here she was confronted with another
trouble. Owing to the fact of the first
suit not having been prosecuted to a
termination, she was, unknowingly, at
the time of her marriage to Mr.. F'errell,
the wife Of Robert Hammond, and the
marriage to Mr.. Terrell was null and
void. She laid the whole matter before
her husband, and together they called
upon their attorney, Mr.. Stanley.
The attorney could see through the
whole case in a minute. He realized
that what had caused Hammond to take
an interest in the child was solely for
rhe purpose of obtaining the money, as
the railroad was anxious to settle the
case, and could do so by receipt from
the. father Of the child, provided he
could gain possession of the girl, and
set about to thwart the unworthy fla
Tiers purposes. In the meantime he
had Mr.. and Mrs. Terrell cease living
together as husband and wife, and filed
a suit in the district court of Sedgwick
county asking that a decree of divorce
ment be granted to Mrs. Hammond
from her husband Robert Hammond,
and that the mother be granted the Gus
tody and be made the guardian of the
child, which she had supported from its
BIRTH
Two years before, while Mrs. Ham
rnond and her little girl Myrtle were rid
Ing on a Frisco train near Pitts5urg,
Kan, a piece of gas pipe fell from the
bundle case of the car and struck the
child in such a manner as to injure her
back, and caused her TO be cripple.
Suit was filed in the district court of
ssdgwick county against the Frisco
railroad company for $4,000 damages.
In short time after the fling of the
suit, and while Mrs. Terrell was in In
d ana, the father of the child appeared
on the scene and as stated above at
tempted TO secure the child long enough
to sign a compromise with the railroad.
Failing in this he followed the wife TO
Wichita where two or three Unsuccess-
full attempts at Kidnapping were made.
All through the trouble TO which Mrs
Terrell has been forced to pass. her
present husband, Mr.. Terrell. has stood
by her like a true knight. and has de-
Tended the woman and her child
throughout.
yesterday the attorneys Of the Frisco
railroad. who had been made aware of
the true status of the case by Mr.. Stan
ley, visited Wichita, where a comprom-
ise was affected and the money turned
over to c. L. Davidson, who was chos-
en- IS the guardian of little Myrtle. Rv
the agreement reached yesterday the
railroad paid 20 c. L. Davidson. who
was appointed the legal guardian n. $500.
and paid Mrs. Terrell for her
care of nursing the child and ex-
per Ne she had been at, besides the at
sor ey's fees.
1lle great cause of the contention has
thus been removed, and IL is supposed
u.at the interest of Hammond Will
Cos e.
TIE neighbors of Mr.. and Mrs. Fer
rel. who live on Sherman avenue. were
ce2 ratulating the couple yesterday on
the happy termination Of the trouble.