The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-01-13
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|EA|INT..!S|jI'I| IN NGC D
T'iteously for the the: ..s Cts
tody$$of: U Ter e I7>is
! Children. Il!
ToU CHED BY STORY ]IIi'
5l3llesNVoman and Her Little Ones Ones,
Sent Back ITO fred
5g3 ericllsburg.

NH .rrag edy$as black robed as over spoke
4 n $1,rol osue held the center Of the stage
Ii 1T the Police Court on yesterday q
mother and .herEilvc small children We're nc
before His Honor; tho oman II chharged
5with&belng an Improper person ana lt sNl
To have custody of the little ones.
3 Rev. Maybe ,lpe @s y, OF
tho Children's Home Society, was the
) accuser. A. backed by ono cCann, the
3keeperao Of Il cheap boarding house IN the
old n Ballard Hotel. Mccain ~ advanced
) grave charges against the woman.
1T This is the story: NJ u 55 ak
Mrs. John II. Payne, It'll, her five chill
9dren, left Fredericksburg OH account
n or trouble with her husband. On her way
20 Richmond she met a cousin Of her l,us-
ibnnds who offered to show her q lodging
place, This mall.s. Eeattts by name en-
gag ed two 4 rooIas 3,frenl Mccain at the
ballard House. Mccain and Mr. Maybee
charge that the relations between !; Mrs y RS
Payne and Mr.. Beattie have been i'm
4 proper. and that therefore the small
Echildren should be taken from the moth
! cr's charge.
B III looked black for Mrs. Payne who
stood surrounded by the little ones, and
4 said never word While the evidence
was piled up against her. Finally, when
Snll the witnesses had spoken, Mrs. Payne
took the stand and simply carried the
\ day by her eloquence. She told practl-
eally the same story that had been al
ready tnld. but n different atmosphere
surrounded 1t. 1t was the story of a
struggling woman with drunken lus-
band. whom she had left and with FIVE
hungry little ones to feod. l
clutched by Poverty.
IA story or friendiness and utter, lack
4 OF means, with the cold hand Of poverty
clutching Mt her throat; OF a man who
wanted her To marry him, and who,
though drunken and dissolute, was her
only friend in the whole, dark world: Of
Il p mothers unselnsh love and her chill
H drcn's loyal devotion. -
I'll Not many eyes wero dry when the
= story was completed. Hon. Gilbert Pol
& lock stepped forward and addressed the
y court. aiE8
''Iffit please Your Honor. will under.
lake this case in behalf Of this poor
i woman. who, as 1t seems to me. has been
il greatly abused, ,1
" Baiiff Gibbons held the smallest child
X tenderly in his arms, and then. 3ust as
a His Honor Wac about to give Mrs. Payne
" freedom and the custody OF her children
tjhe poor. lialf-starwed woman fell, a
N 3khapcless heap, upon the floor, a helpless
Offering to the great Jusgernaut OF jus
N lice, Ks III
Excitement had KEEP, ler up for a time
but illness, hunger and tho heavy hnns
38of the law triumphcd at tho end Til,
poor creature was cared for ny Or
A Iabcnburg. while kind hearted police
4 men ard syinpathe,ic bystanders com
forted the wefp!ng children t5S
Mr.. George -. Davis, who befricnde,
the woman IN court, secured tickets 70
& her and sent her TO Fredericksburg
4 where she will be cared for,
Mrs. Payne aud hCr children viii b
sent back to fredericksburg, where sh
is we'll connected, and where Il comfort
table home awaits ner,