Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1907-04-25
CUSTODY 0F CHILD
 VITAL QUESTION Chancery Court at Little Rock Permits N. P. Willis to Be With Daughter For Only a Few Days.
OF TROUBLES
Mrs. Willis Has Many Times Defeated Divorced Husband in Legal Fights For Possession of Little Mary, Only f Years Old.

On account of the short time of service of the writ of habeas corpus issued by Chancellor J. C. Hart of Lit- tie Rock for the custody of Mary Fran cis Laura Willis, the four-year-old daughter of Nathaniel P. Willis of Indianapolis, Indiana, it was yester- day agreed at the initial hearing of the case ill the Pulaski chancery court that the case should be contin- ued until May 27 United States Sem ] ator Jeff Davis and Attorney Creed Caldwell of this city were present rep resenting the petitioner, and Mir. M A. Austin, of the legal firm of Austin and Danaher, vas also on hand repre- senting the respondents.
 1 Senator Davis, in behalf of his eli ent, stated, before the order of the court delivering the custody of the child to it's father to the end that lie could take it back to his home in In- diana to visit his family, and offered to make a bond in any sum fixed by the court that his client and his friends were able to make. at once. He assured the court that the child would be. on hand May ?.
 But Judge Hart, after hearing the argument of both sides, refused to grant the order, stating that it had been his invariable rule to never per init any persons, committed under a out the jurisdiction of his court, and in this case he saw no reason what ever to vary from this rule, notwith- standing the passioned appeal made by attorneys for the petitioners.
 At the request of Mr. Willis, the girls father, to be with the child for a few days before his return to h. dianapois, and inasmuch as he would 1 not consent for reasons to come to 1 Pine Bluff, the court ordered that the child be kept at the Marion Hotel in
 
 aunt, MT. and Mrs. H. B. Bell, for three or four days to enable her father to see her.
 Little Mary is bright little girl but because of her age does not realize the troubles or the reason why she has so frequently been brought into court Mr. and Mrs. Bell are in Little Rock with their adopted daughter, guarding it carefully to see that she is not taken away from the Jurisdiction of the court.
 Little Mary has been a bone of con tention in the courts of this country almost since her birth Soon after the child was born to them, Mrs. Willis ! left her husband on account of his alleged cruel and inhuman treatment 1 This seperation occurred at Indian l apolis when the girl was fourteen months old short time afterward Willis went to the mother of the child in Missouri and persuaded her 1 to go with him back to Indianapolis giving as his persuasive reasons that | the childs aunt or some other rela- tive was dangerously sick and wanted to see her. It was alleged by her that when she arrived in Indianapolis her husband pointed out hotel at which she was to stop and he took the child supposedly to his sick relative. She called for the child next morning and he refused, she says, to give her up. She then instituted suit by habeas corpus in the circuit court of Marion county, Indiana, and on final hearing the GUS tody of the child was awarded to the mother It was appealed to the Su- perior court of that state, where the decision of the lower cou&t was af- 1 firmed
 1 It was recited in this decision of l the Superior court that N. P. Willis and Hattie Bell were duly married on April 25, 1900, and since that date Willis was guilty of cruel and inhu- man treatment of his wife; that he
 Continued on Page Five.)