The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1896-03-25

Ell a sensational story in which Daw
son party is the central figure.
Mrs. Maggie Hunter, nee Nixon
whom everybody about here knows OIL
has heard of, is making an effort be-
fore Ordinary Wiley, OF Bib county, to
secure possession of thirteen-year-old
child whom she alleges is her daughter.
M. B. Hunter, her tie husband, also APP
pears in the document filed with the Or
binary as one of the petitioners and
father of the child, who, it is claimed,
was born in 1882. Mrs. Hunters hus-
band, who was Pennsylvania, died
several months ago. The first seen or
known of him in Dawson was in 1883 or
1889, when he built several cement pave
ments in the city. He married soon
after coming here, and so far as is
known was man without means save
that derived from his daily labor and
federal pension.
The child whom Mrs. Hunter claims
as her daughter, has been reared by
lady of Macon, who will make every eff
fort possible before the courts to retain
possession of the girl.
The story is strange one, and is told
by the Telegraph as follows:
A singular case was called for trial be-
fore Ordinary @. M. Wiley yesterday.
1t was a petition for habeas corpus fl
ed by Moses Hunter and Maggie Hunter,
asking for the possession of 13-year- old
Rosa Dowdy, who, they claim, is their
child.
Tho haarsy1n MO VNncfpnnnd until %ha
18th of April, in order to allow all the
parties time to prepare their side of the
case. Mrs. Abigail Dowdy will answer
the petition and contend for possession of
the child, who has remarkable histo-
ny.
1t was pathetic scene in the court
room yesterday.
A young mother, hardly 80, sat Sob
bing for her alleged daughter, while the
child, several feet away, clung fondly to
Mrs. Dowdy, the only mother she had
ever known. Ordinary Wiley must de-
eide as to who is the real mother of the
child.
According to the allegations in the pc |
tition, the story is this:
Previous to her marriage with Moses |
Hunter, Maggie lived with her parents, |
ti' tuoo liz MAUI anu AdlAIOUlC INAAOU,
In the city of Dawson, Ga. Maggie |
wanted to marry Moses, but her parents |
objected; and although Moses had for |
some time been paying Maggie the atten-
lions of an accepted lover Maggie's pa
rents succeeded in thwarting the mar
riage.
In December, 1882, before any mar
riage ceremony had been performed, the
father took Maggie from home at Daw- |
son and carried her to Garrard, Ala, |
where she soon afterward gave birth to |
girl child, of which Moses Hunter was |
the father. Mary McMennis nursed |
Maggie Nixon on this occasion; and |
when, about month after the birth of |
the child, Maggie learned of the illness
of her mother at Dawson she left the
child IN the custody of Mary McMennis
and returned to Dawson to attend to
her mother.
"YOUR CHILD is DEAD"
Very soon after this Maggie received
letter from her sister, Mrs. Elizabeth
White, in Columbus, Ca, informing her
that the baby was dead.
There was no suspicion that this was
false report, and intended simply to
keep Maggie from exposing her disgrace
and th1s of her family by claiming the
child; and, for long time Maggie
mourned for her little one, and believed
it dead.
Within few years after this Maggie
was lawfully married to Moses Hunter,
the father of the child.
In the meantime, Mary McMennis al
lowed the child to pass into the posses
sion of an old lady by the name of Mrs.
Abigail .Dowdy who was a poor, hard
working woman, and the child became
known as Rosa Dowdy. When little
Rosa had reached the age Of 4 years
Mrs. Elizabeth White, Maggie Hunters
sister living in Columbus, took compass
sion on the little girl and determined to
look after the child as her own, and did
take possession of little Rosa, and kept
her for about six weeks, but Mrs. Abigail
Dowdy again acquired possession of and
spirited the little one away so that Meth
er Mrs. White nor other relatives knew
of its situation or whereabouts.
The case was carried into the courts
at Columbus, Mrs. White attempting to
regain possession of the child. Mrs.
White was at this time widow and she,
represented to the courts that the child
was her own. The case was litigated
for some time, the courts finally turning
the custody of the child over to the
South Georgia Conference M. E. Church
Bibb County Orphans Home, and since
that time, which was about four years
ago, the child has been an inmate OF
that institution until December, 1895,
when Mrs. Abigail Dowdy, who had fol-
lowed the child from Columbus and OBJ
tanned employment at the Manchester
mill, near the orphans home in Vine
vile, obtained custody of Rosa through
consent of the managers of the orphans
home