The daily sentinel., 1907-02-07
@ sa %%s % River
I'm NOT YOUR MOTHER"
Young Wife Declares in Court ida,
That She is Not Mother
of Child.


Perhaps of all the sensational trials
that have been held in Mesa. county
in recent years the one that has been
in progress before county Judge Sui
Ivan today is the limit
A little child. Alice Ruby Ewing.
aged five years, bright and pretty, is
the innocent central figure in this
sensational and to some extent dis
gusting case that has attracted much
attention today and which represents
the rupture of home.
Some six years ago o. Ewing. a
well known young citizen of the
county, a ranchamn. was united in
marriage to Alice Ruby Hatton, the
attractive daughter of Mr. and Mrs
Hatton, who resides near Clifton,
Mr.. Hatton being an old time and
well known resident of the county
Shortly after the marriage the couple
went to Wyoming. later they went to
Denver, then to Boulder and in the
spring of 1902 returned to Grand
junction with a little child. which
they declared was their own and
which, naturally, everyone believed to
be their own. The husband and wife
in recent years have not gotten along
well together, the wife claiming that
the husband was dissolute and would
not provide for her support, the hus-
band claiming that his wife was un-
faithful to the marriage vows. Some
months ago they separated but were
not divorced.
The aged father and mother of
the young wife now have come for
ward and seek to adopt the little girl
which is in the fathers custody on
the ground that the child is not the
child of Mr.. and Mrs. o. Ewing, but
is a child whose parents are not
known and who has never been
adopted by the young couple and as
they have separated and the Colorado
law states that the man alone cannot
adopt the child. Mr.. and Mrs. Hat
ton seek to have the law give them
the little one for adoption.
The contention of the old couple
is held up by the sensational testl-
mony of their daughter. Mrs. Ewing.
this morning in court. She swore
that in April 1902 she saw an adv
in the Denver Post stating that a
child could be secured by people who
would care for it well and she an
swered the advertisement and
bought the child from DR.. Fitch, a
woman physician of Denver, paying
for it the sum of $500" The baby
she declares was then only a few
days old. She swears that she and
her husband agreed to keep the
child's true parentage n secret and
let the relatives believe It was their
own. She declares that her parents
or no other person knew that the
child was not hers by birth until five
years had elapsed and she told her
mother a few days ago. She further
swears that the woman doctor in
formed her that the child was that
of a Denver lawyer "and woman re-
siding on Capital hill in Denver"
The young husband contends that
he is the father of the child and
Ruby Hatton Ewing is its mother. He
denounces his wife's statements as
grossly false. He testified that his
wife had been intimate with other
men of late and consequently he had
LETT her.
In an attempt to prove that Ewing
is not fit to care for the child witnesses
swore that he gave 1t whiskey, had
taken into a saloon. and the wife
swore that he had frequently made
the child drunk.
The testimony of the wife and hus-
band and other witnesses was sensa-
tional in the extreme. dealing with
many disgraceful circumstance.
Five prominent attorneys are in
volved in the case.
The testimony will not be complet-
ed before tonight.