Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1907-05-30

Mrs. Hattie Bell Willis, mother of little Mary Willis, the 4-year- old girl who has been the cause of many legal fights ill the courts of Indiana and Missouri, was this morning permanently awarded the custody of her little girl. The de- cision was rendered by Judges Lea and Winfield in the Pulaski chan cery court at Little Rock, after sit ting for several days in the absence of Chancellor Jesse Hart. hearing several hundred pages of deposit tions and much oral testimony.
 When the court gave out it's opinion Mrs. Bell broke down and cried like a baby She hugged and kissed her daughter and had to be taken to her room at the Marion hotel. She thanked the jufists time and t4me again. The scene was one of the most effecting ever witnessed in a Little Rock court room. 's@ -sEa.ts
 The decision was triumpha at victory for Attorney NJ. A. Austin and Mike Danaher of this city. It is of more than ordinary signifi- canoe, in view of the fact that the local attorneys went into the legal battle unassisted, while the father of the child, who declares that he will yet have his baby girl, was represented by United States Sena- tor Jeff Davis, his law partner, Charles Jacobson; Creed Caldwell, of this city, and Attorney Spann, one of the most prominent attor- news in Indianapolis, Ind.
 The case originated several weeks ago when Nathaniel Parker Willis, the father of the little girl, and divorced husband of Mrs. Hat tie Bell Willis, went to Little Rock and secured habeas corpus writ, had the baby girl taken from the home of her uncle, H. B. Bell, here and brought into Little Rock courtroom the following day. The little girl had been adopted by MT. Bell at the request of his sister, Mrs. Willis. She took this step, she says, to protect her child in the event that the father should come to Pine Blum and attempt to take the baby from her.
 The court directed that the girl be Kept in Littls Rock by MT. Bell sew eral days that her fatherfsmight see Der This was done and the hearing was set for May 27. When Willis saw Little Mary at Little Rock that morning in the court room it was the first time the father had seen the child since it was mere baby. Her beauty and attractiyeness made him the more anxious to get possession of her and when he returned to Lit tie Rock several days ago he was ac- companied by his brother, sister-in- law, woman detective, who had been employed by him to locate his divorced wife and child; his mother and others.
 Attorney Austin in his final argu- ment touched the hearts of those in the crowded courtroom when he told of the mothers love for her baby, how she had suffered in the past and how she had nursed and cared for the baby in the midst of continuous trouble, caused by legal proceedings brought by her husband and several times by the mother to regain posses sion of what she termed her stolen daughter" He declared that notWith- standing the wealth Of tae Willis family and their palatial hos,es ,a Indianapolis and St. Louis, it would not be advisable to give the little girl into the custody of 9 family where three d;vorces had been secur- ed in almost rapid succession, At torney Austin proved Mrs Wills 10 be a pure woman, devoted mother, a parent well prepared to care f2r her daughter and rear her properly and upon these facts he laid grsA stress. The speech Of Senator Davis is said to have been 9 masterpiece but. the court did not look at the case in the same light as the well pad