The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-12-30
Mrs. Stella Barclay Determined
to Have the Incubator Baby.
VIII Garry Contest to the
Highest Court, She Says.
CONTEST OPENS HERE.
Legality of Adoption Papers
Before Judge Pollock.
Case Is Suddenly Transferred
From Kansas City.

I'VE are going to carry this fight on
to the highest court in Gods land,
said Mrs. Stella Barclay of Buffalo
New York, who is contending in the
United States circuit court today with
Mrs. Charlotte Bleakley, formerly OF
Lawrence, but now of Topeka, for the
possession of the famous Incubator
baby"
I'VE don't wish to act as If we are
attempting to prosecute and I presume
that to the world it may look harsh
but we simply insist that the courts
decide to whom this child belongs.
There is a lot of this that the word in
general does not know anything about.
I'VE picked that little baby out of
the filth of the gutter, took it when it
weighed but one pound and fifteen
ounces that was with the swathing
clothes on, too, sickly, and cared for
1t, walking the floor night and day and
then when we had it healthy, beauti-
full child. they wanted to take it away
from us.
More than that, we have got the pa
pers to show for it. written by Mrs.
Bleakley, in her own hand, in which
she stated that her child was dead. L
can show them to you if you would
care to see them. They were written
eight days after the child was born.
The child was buried in one of the best
cemeteries in st. Louis in a little white
coffin. Afterwards she said that she
didn't know what she meant by writ
ing those letters, that she guessed that
she was in a kind of a daze from the
anaesthetic. But mind you that she
wrote thise letters eight days after the
child was born so that doesn't sound
reasonable.
''AIl we wish for is, now that this is
in the court, that it shall be decided by
the courts to whom the child rightfully
belongs. That is what we stood for
from the first but Mrs. Bleakley took
the child away and ran away with it.
I have just faith enough in the AL
mighty to believe that the courts will
decide rightly"
Have you seen the child lately?"
Not since 1 picked her UP in Elgin,
Kansas which is almost a year ago."
Did you send her any Christmas
presents"
"Oh, no, I wouldn't do that. I
wouldn't want to interfere with those
who hold her to that extent
In order to avoid the nOtoriety that
would attend a hearing or the case in
open court at Kansas City, Kan, as
originally set, the hearing was sud
denly opened in Judge Pollock's
chambers this morning.
This is the first time that the case
has appeared in the United States
courts though it has trailed through
the state courts of Illinois and Kansas
those states. The Appellate court of
Illinois held that the baby belonged |
to Mrs Barclay while the supreme |
court of Kansas gave the child into the |
custody of Mrs. Bleakley where it is |
now. Mrs. Bleakley lives at 1924 Col |
lege avenue and has resided here for |
several months.
The case came into the United |
States court on the issuance of a writ |
of habeas corpus directed against |
mother.
The stipulation under which the
hearing is now being heard is that the
little girl Is the child of Mrs. Bleak
ley and that issues are over the legal
fly of the papers of adoption under
which Mrs. Barclay became possessed
of the girl.
The attorneys for Mrs. Bleakley
commended this morning that the pa
pers are Illegal because the mother
and father of the child resided in this
state. while the papers of adoption
were sent to ST. Louis where they were
recorded. That in order to make the
adoption legal in Kansas action should
have been Instituted in the probate
court and that simply a deed of
a adoption drawn up in conformity with
the Missouri statutes would not be of
force and effect in this instance.
They also claim that Mr.. and Mrs
Barclay to VIII ON the deed of adoption
was made were not bona hde residents
of st. Louis at the time. but of Mo-
line, Illinois. Therefore they contend
that this further renders the adoption
papers imperative.
The attorneys for Mrs. Barclay
stated that the legality of the adoption
papers had already been passed upon
by the appellate court of Illinois and
that it settled the whole matter. That
the decision was binding upon the
was nothing further before the court.
In return this was combatted by
Eugene Ware, leading counsel for
Mrs. Bleakley, who claimed that the
decision of the appellate court was
only binding upon the court below. the
state district court of Rock Island
county. Illinois.
Marian Roberta Bleakley, as the
four-year-old girl over whom tho
fight has been waged for the past four
years, is called by Mrs. Bleakley, or |
Dorothy Edith Barclay, as she an
swers in turn to her second set of pa
rents, Mr.. and Mrs. James G. Barclay,
was born on February Is, 1904, at st.
Louis. She was so frail a little thing
tending nurse in an incubator in a
concession at the Worlds fair. With
careful attention she lived. 1t was
here that the Barclays had their at {
tention drawn to the infant and COM
menced steps to adopt it. Mrs. Bleak
ley claims that she signed papers of ,
adoption because she was led to be-
Iieve that the child was not hers but
that later she learned differently and ]
with that suit was commenced and the
fight started on its merry way. Mrs.
Is a school teacher and
Taught at Elgin, Kansas. She is d.
vorced from her husband, J. J. Bleak ,
ey, whose parents reside at Leaven-
worth. where he comes from a promI- :
1ent family.
Mr.. James G. Barclay is in the |
business at Buffalo and 8
vas unable to appear today in court
n Topeka. Mrs. Barclay, his wife, is 9
lere by herself to look after her in Q
erests. The strong chin and firm I
Ines of the mouth indicate that Mrs. a
Barclay is a determined woman and a