The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1913-06-23
RY ". Ill. ALRURN,

"WOOdrow Wilson" was, a little
Tennessee waif that found two
mothers. One of them loved him
so much that she was broken
heatred, and the other has been
ever since.
One night last September peo-
Pile at the corner of Ruff and
Brewer streets were awakened by
an infants walls. So they inves-
tigated and found beautiful
three-weeks-old boy, tidily Dress
ed, neatly tucked i'm basket, on
n doorstep. There was nothing
to show whose baby it was.
When the kindly neighbor wom-
en- had warmed bottle OF milk
and fed it, they had "a problem on
their hands. There is no found
ling asylum in Paris, Tenn. Next
day they decided to turn the child
over to Sheriff II. II. Compton.
Hello, Snookums! said the
sheriff. What's your name?"
The baby Kept on smiling.
well" said the sheriff, who is
a staunch democrat, you look like
winner l guess We'll call you
Woodrow Wilson,"
Two days later Mrs. John
Crouch was clearing away the
supper things in the Crouch home
at Springville, between the sand
hills and the Big Sandy river.
John Crouch, a prosperous mer-
chant and tobacco planter, was
reading.
1T says in the paper,' he re-
marked, that Sheriff Compton
over in Paris has a founding on
his hands, and don't know what
to do with it,"
The eyes of husband and wife
met. They were childless. And
in the wife's eyes there was the
yearning he had seen there often
when she was thinking OF the chill
dren who had never come.
Couldn't we go to town to-
morrow" asked Mrs. Crouch.
Il reckon We could" said John.
Mrs. Crouch, at her first
glimpse of little Woodrow Will
son, caught him to her breast
with cry of pent-up mother
love.
Give him to us!" said John,
eagerly.
They signed adoption papers
on the spot, naming the baby
Woodrow Wilson Crouch, and
took him back with them.
Meanwhile there was sadness
in the home of Mr.. and Mrs.
Landrum Arnold at Wingo, Ky.
When they were married, in the
spring of 1912, nobody knew that
the bride was in the shadow of a
crisis. They went away to Ben
ton county, Tenn, and there
August 13, their baby was born.
They could not endure the
confession of a shame so tardily
rectified. So ARNOLD suggested
that they leave the infant some-
where for a while and claim it
later The bride-mother protest.
ed frantically, but at last yielded.
The baby was placed on the Paris
doorstep.
Mr.. and Mrs. Crouch were very
happy. But across the Kentucky
line the real mother sorrowed un-
til she fell i'll.
Her husband feared she would
die. But one thing, it seemed,
would save her. She must have
her baby back.
A lawyer was sent to investi-
gate. He went to see the Crouches
and told them of the mother wor-
rying her life away. But they
thought mother who had aban-
doned her baby could not he sin
cere and they refused to part with
Woodrow.
Mrs. Arnold became worse. She
wept constantly for her child.
And finally the lawyer advised her
and her husband to bring habeas
corpus proceedings.
The court room as crowded.
Mrs. Crouch appeared, with little
woodrow in her arms. Mrs. Ar
mold tottered when she saw them
But she went on the stand and
confessed her sin.
s'It broke my heart when they
took him away from me-" she sob
bed. ~ thought 1t would only be
for q little WHILE.
But Judge Jones decided that
the Arnolds had sacrificed their
right to the child, and Woodrow
belonged to Mr.. and Mrs. Crouch.
Back in their Springville home
the Crouches loved the little boy
more than ever. But they we're
not SO happy. Always, day and
night. they saw the male youno