Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1910-01-26
SUIT FOR CHILDREN.
Mrs. B. R. Tillman; Appeals
to the Supreme Court 70 Re
cover Her Two Little
Children.

In the State supreme court this.
morning Lucy Dugas Tillnlan, wife
lof B. r. 5Tillman; Jr., will lsbring
habeas corpus proceedings for the
recovery of her infant children,
|Douschka and Sarah. 1t isEentireIy
4 probable that there will follow one.
of the most interesting legal con-
,troversies in the history Of the State
Mrs. Tillman will bring tie action
lagainst her husbands parents, Sena-5
ftor b. r. Tillman, and his wife,.
who are now sinsS possession Of the.
chisdren. Her. attorneys last:night:
refused to give out any information,
not that they oppose publicity, but
because they wish for the records to-
be presented in court before any
newspaper publication.
Mrs. Tillman, since her alleged
desertion, has been making her
home in this city with her nearest
of male kin, DR.. Francis w Pick
ems Butler. She is tile grand
daughter of r. w. Picke9s, war
governor" Of South Carolina and
the minister to Russia under Presi-
dent Buchanan. To Gov. and Mrs.
Pickens was abornsin ST. Petersburg,
in the palace of the Romanoffs, a
girl baby, for whom the czsrina
stood godmother, and she was call
ed Douschka, meaning I darling
This woman, afterwards beloved by
the people of South Carolina, mar
ried DIR. Dugas of Augusta, Ga,
the father of Mrs. TillmarL The
Pickens family and long been among
the most influential in the State.
Mr.. and Mrs. b. r. Tillman, Jr.,
were married December 80, 1908,
and parted in November I9cs. just
WHY'S not yet ann ounced officially,
but Mrs. Tillman's relatives stated
that her husband drank to ofexcess /
and was very sunklnd to- her. In
February Of last year, after "a sepa-
ration Of three months, Mr.. and
Mrs. b. r.. Tillman, rs. began iv-
ing, ogether again, and this was
supposed 70 Fe a hap ending of
the quarrel. tas5
But in December, while they
were living in Washington, Mrs.
Tillman had a sudden and desperate
illness. Her husband, it is said,
provided no nurse for her, and
showed no proper attentions to her.
On the first day Of her couvales-
cense he came to the apartmentsand
asked to! take the two children to
see their grandmother. The wife
assented, but the children protested
and had to be forced to 60 to their
grandmother. This was on Decem- 7
bers, and Mrs. Tillman has not seen !
her babies since that hour. IN the
afternoon Tillman came back with
out them. He told his wife, that
their grandmother had taken them
and had gone to South Carolina
with the little ones. A few days
thereafter Mrs. Tillman was in
formed by attorneys for Senator
Tillman that the father of the chill
dren had made and recorded ,regu-
lar deed in which the custody Of the
children is given to the grandpar-
ents until the little girls become of
age. The deed on file with the
clerk of court at Edgefeld shows
that young Tillman, after alleging
his wife's inability and unsuitabili-
ty to raise the children properly,
admits that he, too, is unable to as
sumo the responsibility.
1t has been known in Columbia
for some time that Mrs. Tillman's
lawyers have been getting afida7
WITS from the best citizens of Edge
field to show that she is loving
and painstaking mother and that
she is financially responsible, hav-
ing a plantation which brings an
annual rental of over $1,000. The
afidavits will declare that the moth
er is far more suited to raise the
children than their grandparents,
who are away from home half the
time.
Mrs. Tillman is named for the
grandmother, Lucy Holccmbe Pick
ems, the belle of the Virginia fash
ionable summer resorts before the
war. Her husband was war COVER
nor and in her honor there was fit
ted out troop known through the
wal. as the Ho,combe Legion. She
was said to have been the most
beautiful woman of the South at
that period.
Her daughter, Douschka, was
equally as much of belle in South
Carolina after the war. Of the once
distinguished family, but. the two
daughters remain, Mrs. Sheppard
and Mrs. Tillman. The late Gen. NJ.
9. Butler was an uncle of Mrs. Till
man, and he was the political oppo-