The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1910-01-27
MOTHER WANTSHER BABES
MRS. b. r. TILLMAN, JR., AP.
PEALS TO SUPREME COURT.
She Was Convalescing From Serious
Illness and Did Not Know of
the Plans.

Cllc fldNS.
In the State supreme court this
morning Lucy Dugas Tillman, wife
of B. R. Tillman, Jr., will bring ha-
beas corpus proceedings for the re-
covery of her infant children Dous-
chka and Sarah. It is entirely prob
able that there will follow one Of the
most interesting legal controversies
in the history of the State. Mrs.
Tillman will bring the action against
her husbands parents, Senator B.
r. Tillman and his wife, who are
now in possession of the children.
Her attorneys last night refused to
give out any information, not that
they oppose publicity, but because
they wish for the records to be pre-
sented in court before any newspaper
publication.
Mrs. Tillman, since her alleged de-
sertion, has been making her home
in this city with her nearest of male
kin, 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 Gov.
and Mrs. Pickens was born in st.
Petersburg, in the palace Of the Ro-
manoffs, a girl baby, for whom the
czarina stood godmother, and she
was called Douschka, meaning "dar-
ling" This woman, afterwards be-
loved by the people of South Caro-
lima, married DR.. Dugas, of Augusta,
Ga, the father of Mrs. Tillman. The
Pickens family had long been among
the most influential in the State.
Mr.. and Mrs. B. R. Tillman, Jr.,
were married December %, 1908,
and parted in November 1908. Just
why is not yet announced officially,
but Mrs. Tillman's relatives stated
that her husband drank to excess and
was very unkind to her. In Febru-
ary of last year, after separation
of three months, Mr.. and Mrs B. R.
Tillman, Jr., began living together
again, and this was supposed to De
happy ending of the quarrel.
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 GONZALES
cence he came to the apartments and
asked to take the two children to see
their grandmother. The wife assent
ed, but the children protested and
had to be forced to go to their grand
mother. This was on December 3,
and Mrs. Tillman has not seen her
babies since that hour. In the after
noon Tillman came back without
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 informed by attor-
news for Senator Tillman that the
father of the children had made and
recorded a regular deed in which the
custody of the children is given to
the grandparents until the little girls
become of age. The deed on file with
the clerk of court at Edgefield shows
that young Tillman, after alleging
that his wife's inability and insult
ability 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 law
ers have been getting afidavits from
the best citizens of Edgefeld to show
that she is a loving and patnstaking
mother and that she is financially re-
sponsible having a plantation which
brings an annual rental of over ST.
600. The affidavits will declare that
raise the children than their grand
parents, who are away from home
half the time.
Mrs. Tillman is named for her
grandmother, Lucy Holcombe Pick
ems, the belle of the Virginia fashion
able summer resorts before the war.
Her husband was war governor and
in her honor there was fitted out a
troop known through the war as the
Holcombe 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. M. c.
Butler was an uncle of Mrs. Tillman,