The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1910-02-24
HISTORY OF The TILLMAN
family TROUBLE.
WHY The MOTHER ASKED The SU-
PREME COURT TO GIVE Her BACK
her CHILDREN.

see the daily papers have asked us to
publish brief history of the family
trouble of Mr. and Mrs B + TIL
mau. Jr. leading up to their separa-
ton and the suit brought bv yoang
Mrs T!llmau for the recovery Of her
little children, who were taken from
her By her husband, Mr. B r Till
mao ,Jr, and decided to their grand
parents, Senator and Mrs B K I'LL
man. without the mothers consent.
Tuis matter has stirred up more dis
oussion and feeling, probably, than
any civil case that has been heard
before our supreme court for many
wears, and, in order that our readers
NAV be informed as TO the merits OF
the whole affair, We give concise
statement of the case, as published
last week in the Columbia State:
On the morning Of the 24th of
JANUARY of this year the people OF
the State of South Carolina We're
aroused to intense Indignation be-
cause of the facts contained in an
article published IN The State to
the effect that Mrs Lucy Dugas
TIlman would seek for writ of
hsbeas corpus to compel B + Till
man, Sr., and mis- wife to return to
he- the custody of two little girls,
Douschka and Sara, taken surrep-
titiously from their mother by
their father while the mother was
i'll in Washington.
The case has been argued In the
Supreme court, both sides having
submitted in evidence affidavits OF
great length. The mail of The
State daily has brought hundreds
of letters from all parts of the
country denounclng such y mon.
strous law as that under which
Senator Tillman claimed the right
to take the children under the deed
signed by his son. Mrs Lucy Dugas
Tillman hae been overwhelmed with
letters of sympathy and of encourage
meot, and from thousands of bed
sides have gone up nightly prayers
for the mother and her little ones to
be restored to each other.
Mrs Tlllman, since her alleged
desertiou, has been making her
home in this city with her nearest OF
male kiu, DR. Francis W Pickens
Butler. She is the granddaughter
of F. w Pickens, "war Governor" OF
South Carolina and the minister to
Russia under President Buchanan.
TO Cot aud Mrs Pickeus was born
in st Petersburg, in the palace of
the Romanoffs, a girl baby, for
whom the Czarlna stood godmother,
and she was called Douschka,
mesulng darling This woman,
afterwards beloved by the people Of
South Carolina, married DR. Dugas
of Augusta. Ca, the fathe.: of Mrs
Tillman. The Pickens family had
long been among the most influential
in the State.
Mr. and Mrs B r Tillmsn, Jr.,
were married December 20. 1903,
and parted in November, 1908.
Mrs Tillman stated that her hus-
band drank to excess and was very
askind to her. In February of
last year, after separation of three
months, Mr. and Mrs b Il Till
mau, j., began living together
sgaiu, and this was supposed to be
happy ending of the quarrel.
But in December, while they
were living in Washington, Mrs
Tillman had sudden ard desperate
illuess. Her husband, it Is said,
provldea no nurse for her. ana a.
lowed rc proper attentions to her.
On TIE first day of her con-
valesceucc he came to the apart
- .eI.,I m take the twn