The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-11-18
Problem That Judge Pollock
Must Solve.
Formally Admitted That Mrs.
BleakIey Is Its Mother.
Observation-Disclosures
Are the Papers Held by Mrs,
Barclay Legal2
Little Girl, Now Four Years
Old, in the Court.

Upon the validity or the ado option
papers hangs the issue as to whom the
famous incubator baby belongs.
The validity of those papers will be
tested in the United States circuit
court in the hearing which opened at
o'clock this afternoon and will con-
tinue without intermission until the
adjournment of court shortly before 6
O'Clock.
AS preliminary it was practically
admitted that Mrs. Charlotte E.
BleakIey is the mother of the incu-.
bator baby, which is no longer in
| reality baby but merry, happy
prattling little girl of four years.
Mrs. Stella Barclay, formerly of
Rock Island, Illinois, but now a resi-
with Mrs. Bleakley for possession of
the child, has been claiming in prior
proceedings that the baby did not be-
| long to Mrs. BleakIey but to some
actress.
A brief hearing was had this morn
Pollock over some points at law and
after threshing out the issues Judge
Pollock decided that the hearing this
afternoon should hinge upon the
legality of the adoption papers. The
legal chaff that has accumulated in
the previous hearings in the state dis
trict court and appellate court of
Illinois and the district and later the
away and the fight has settled down to
fundamental principles. In order that
the adoption papers which Mrs.
Bleakley signed in the first instance
giving over the child to the Barclays
might have some standing in the
court, Mrs. Bleakley's claim of rela-
tionship as mother of the baby prac-
tically had to be accepted as fact.
Otherwise the papers of adoption
would not represent anything vital for
he
parties that could claim no real inter-
est in the child.
Any secret fear that the officers of the
court or the attorneys OF Mrs. Barclay
might have held that Mrs. Bleakley
would not appear in .seourt with her
child were dissipated When she appear
ed at the mornings hearing. It was
thought that Mrs. Bleakley In her anx-
her tactics followed in the past of slip
ping outside of the jurisdiction Of the
court taking the child with her and hid
ing 1t. Though fearing every step that
she took that the little girl might be
snatched from her arms Mrs. Bleakley
appeared and returned again at the af-
ternoon's hearing. Public sympathy
seems to be largely with Mrs. Bleakley
There Is considerable local interest IN
the case due to the wide publicity and
the unusual circumstances connected
with the case and the exclamation
heard on all sides this morning was:
If she is the mOCneT, dS SH0 uHuOuUleu-
ly is, why don't they let her keep her
baby. There are plenty of other babies
that can be adopted.
Attorneys representing Mrs. Barclay
and w. p Hackney of Winfield. Attor-
neys representing Mrs. Bleakley's in
terests are Eugene F. Ware of Topeka
and Kansas City, w. B. Brownell OF
Lawrence and Judge @. A. Norton of
Lawrence Mrs. Bleakley's old home Is
where f0rmeTIv went
to school.
In brief the story is as follows: Mrs.
Bleakley gave birth to baby girl In
a hospital in ST. Louis during the early
week of 1904. The child was fra1l and
was put by a nurse In. an incubator in
a concession at the Worlds fair, then
i'm progress BY careful tending and |
nursing together with the conditions
By the incubator the child
lived. 1t was seen here by the Bare |
lays who took fancy to 1t and Sc
cured papers of adoption from Mrs
Bleakley who had parted from her hus-
band and who had been told by the |
nurse that her child had died: In Sc |
curing the papers of adoption the Bare |
lays claim that they did not recognize
that Mrs Bleakley was in reality the |
mother but that since the motherhood |
of the infant was not clearly establish
ed they adopted this plan to avoid any |
possible claim that Mrs. Bleakley had.
Later Mrs. Bleakley became OF the opln-
district court of Illinois gave her pos
session declaring the adoption papers
Of no good. She then came to Kansas.
Later the appellate court Of Illinois ov-
grruled the lower court and gave the
child to Mrs. Barclay. But Mrs. Bleak
ey was in Kansas and outside of the
of the Illinois court Then
the fight was transferred to Kansas. In
the district court at Lawrence Mrs.
Barclay was held to be rightfully in
possession of the child but on appeal
% the supreme court Mrs. Bleakley won
and has since retained possession,
.hough frequent attempts have been
made to wrest the incubator baby
rom her |