The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-12-17
TWELVE MONTHS
FOR ON-SU.PP0|.fT
JOHN A. Griffin Given tile Full
est Penalty Of the
Law.
WIFE MAKES PATHETIC SCENE
Two Women Nearly Suffocatsd
III the Smoke Of a Fire in
Tivc-Story Building.
Especial to The 1Ymes- Dispntcll.)

NORFOLK, VA, December 16.-On
charges OF desertion and non-support,
4 brought against him. by his wife, John a.
Crlflntwns given twelve months In jail,
the maximum penalty, BY n Jury In the
Corporation Court to-day. Mrs. Griffin,
poorly clad, presented q pitlful appear
ance when compared to the ilashy get-up
OF her recreant spouse, and tho story she
told made sensatlon among the mas
clllinc crowd that Is accustomed to hear
ing ,seamy things in Norfolk courts.
With tears streaming down her haggard
checks, the wife described the manner
: her husband had treated her. and finally
confronted him with tho statement thnt
he was supporting n woman IN hand
some style and allowing her TO 90 hun
cry. Tho woman in question was d.
vorced by her husband some time ago,
and Griffin was the correspondent in the
case, 1t developing that he had taken her
on q trip to Atlantic City.
Mrs Griffin declared her husband waa
a gambler, and that when she married
him he posed us n broker.
Unless Griffin agrees tn allow his wife
I. n stipulated amount. which viii! be settled
upon tomorrow, he will likely spend the.
next year behind the bars.
NEARLY SUFFOCATED.
Two women were nearly stltrocatcd BY
smoke during q fire In the fvc-story fur
niture block OF John Willis, Jr., Main
and Church Streets. They We're working
on the NTH floor. and the fire was in
tho basement Before they could reach
tho street by way OF tho elevator they
b had almost collapsed.
Tho stock In the store was damaged to
the extent Of several thousand dollars
by smoke. $3
LEGAL FIGHT FOR CHILDREN.
Two little girls. respectively six and
seven years Old arc the innocent and
unconscious objects OF a legal encounter
which Is being fought to finish In the
Norfolk courts.
n When Ova and Naomi Mansfield were
respectively three and four years old,
their mother, the wife of William Z.
Mansfield, and the sister OF Joseph L.
Tentress, died. Mansfield put the children.
TO board with Mr.. rentrcss Fentrcss.
claims that Mr.. Mansfield gave him
the children TO raise. He had no chill
dien OF his own, and iis wife land he.
soon came to love them MS II they had
been their own.
One Sunday IN tho summer OF 1852 Mans
field came from Richmond, where he had
obtained employment, TO see his chill
dren at their uncle's home in Norfolk.
He took them for an outing to Ocean
View and stayed later than he had In:
tended When he got back TO Norfolk.
II was too late to- 20 by the Fentress
4 home TO leave the children and also catch
his train, 80 Mansfield took the children.
to tho home OF n member OF his imme-5
dlatc family explained the situation, and
asked that the CT ildren be kept there.
that night and returned to their uncle in
e the morning, which was done. Ia
It can readily DO imagined that Mr..
and Mrs. Fentress passed n wretched
! night Their natural supposition was
that Mansfield had spirited the babies
away.
N Not many days after AIR. Tentrcss
brought suit in chancery, claiming that
the father OF the children was not q
proper person to have them III custody.
Judge Martin. on complaint Of Mr..
Fentress, issued IN enjoiIling order re-:
straining Mansfield from interfering with
tho possession OF tho children. The in
junction was never served, but Mans
field retained counsel and proceeded to
take dispositions.
Mansfield remarked about a year ago
and is now living ut Port Norfolk where
lie has permanent home and employ
ment as foreman FOR prominent con-
tractor aud builder. Several weeks ago
lie renewed the efforts to recover his
children by filing q petition OF l1abeas
corpus, which was granted by Judge
Hanckcl In the Corpora ton Court, and
Will be heard on Its merits December 2sttl.