The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-08-26
Kansas City Shows Much In.
terest in Incubator Baby.
Battle of Lawyers Wits in Pre-.
liminary Skirmish.
WOMEN ARE UNLIKE.
One Is Frail and the Other of
Masculine Physique.
Both Determined to Have Pos
session of Child.

The preliminary skirmish in Judge
Porterfeld's court room in Kansas
City yesterday to the legal battle for
the possession of the incubator baby
was interesting and brilliant affair.
The scene possessed all the heart in
terest and shifting lights of the stage
and no drama, even in the hands OF
master actors. could have equaled
the intensity of the principals in this
trial, the support of their friends and
the eloquence of the attorneys.
Mrs. Bleakley sat in one of the
chairs of the jury box to the right
of the judge and was supported by
her mother. sister and several Topeka
friends. The baby sat in her lap with
one arm around her neck and played
with a hand bag The bag was of red
leather and the child's lips were
slightly stained from biting tho
handle of the purse.
Mrs. Barclay sat directly in front
of the judge surrounded by her five
lawyers. She was probably fifteen
feet distant from the Bleakley party
and she never took her eyes off the
baby for which she has sacrificed
time, trouble, money and liberty in
her efforts to secure.
Mrs Bleakiey is small and delicate
with a thin face lighted and made
womanly by big brown eyes. She
looked tired and worn and told the
State Journal representative that only
excitement and will power kept her
on her feet during the long strain.
She listened wide eyed and anxious
to argument of counsel.
Mrs. Barclay was as impaSsive
throughout the battle as a stole. Not
a single shadow or expression of ex-
citement disturbed the calm of her
face and eyes throughout the legal
battle. She sat and looked at the
baby and scarcely changed her
position in her chair during the three
hours of the hearing. She is a portly
woman with regular features and has
almost a masculine expression on her
face. She is a direct contrast, an
opposite in feature physique and dis
position to little Mrs. BleakIey.
Atwood Shines as Usual
John T. Atwood. attorney for Mrs.
Barclay, is, as all Kansans know,
one of the most eloquent and per-
suasive lawyers in tho west. In argu-
ing for a postponement of the hear
ing to decide who should have
possession of the child in order to have
more time in which to prepare his
testimony and get depositions from
witnesses, he declared that while
public sentiment was naturally with
the mother in her fight for her little
one and against his client who now
appeared in the light of an abductor,
yet there was another side to this
case. He drew the picture of the
DdDX DelHB IdfSGQ III d DOA VI - go
and glass" and declared that Mrs
Barclay first abducted the waif
from this strange mother and cared
for it and raised it until 1t had
health. He said that If love
prom pied Mrs. Bleakley's fight for
retention that it could be only love
that was behind Mrs. Barclays fight
for possession. The sentiment OF
both women in this strange fight was
love.
His declaration that he would have 20
get dispositions from Illinois, Missouri
and Kansas and subpoena witnesses IS
1t means that the entire
case will be threshed over again IN
the friendly Missouri courts. ATWOOD
served notice that he would undertake
to prove that Mrs: Bleakley was not
the mother of the child. That her child
was born dead and that Marian Bleak
ley, or Dorothy Barclay, either you pre-
fer. was a waif and had been taken ana
raised and legally adopted by MIS-
witnesses in the Missouri and Kansas
trials of this case to support his asser-
tions. Mr.. Atwood's fluent recital dec
GRATED by most persuasive eloquence
would have made black white, to say
nothing of presenting the other side OF
this case.
Attorney Walsh Also Eloquent.
Then came Frank p. Walsh, attorney
for Mrs. Bleakley, and smashed this
pigment of beauty" as he called the
of Mr.. Atwood. with one
blow of his fist. Walsh is an 1rishman
ard his voice sounds like a summer
breeze blowing over Lake Killarney
His wit wisdom and fighting qualities
fit him to sustain an even fight with
the brilliant Atwood. The subtlety OF
the one was pierced by the keen earn
astness of the other. Walsh referred 10
Atwood's metaphor about the baby re-
posing in the arms of justice as a beau
tifuI word picture. but declared that in
reality the child was in the police sta
ton guarded by detectives and that IL
cried nights for it's mother from whom
t had never been separated at night
for four years. He wanted the baby
turned over to it's mother until the case
was brought up for trial He pointed
to the mother and child sitting a few
feet away and declared that the likeness
these two refutes the asser-
lions of Mr. Atwood in more eloquent
and decisive fashion than a ton OF law
books or a train load of testimony
Judge Porterfield wavered between
the vehemence of contending counsel
Atwood and Walsh had called each 9TH
debate and then had almost come to
blows in the heat of argument They
smiled and shook hands across the ta-
HE and then shattered all the courtesies
Of the bar in the heat of succeeding
conflict.
what to Do With Marian.
Councilman Stanley at this point Of
bond for $4,000 for its delivery to the
,ourt when called for. But the judge
shook his head Mercy hospital was
suggested and Porterf1e1d looked with
favor on the idea. but the police OBJ
iected to furnishing platoon OF off1-
GERS to guard the hospital day and
{ Continued on Page EiEht.l