The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1914-08-18
Son Given to Father.

Bristling with sensations for "a hour
! the sensational alleged kidnapping cas-
. against Mrs. r. c. Johnson, Harrisbur,
Pa, daughter of Isaac w. Budd, {
Pemberton, eliminated Saturday 9
Nashville, Tennessee, in Circuit Judg
t. E. Matthews awarding 7-year-ol
Robert Johnson to his father, r. c. Johr
son, travelling man. and former res
dent of Philadelphia.
The award was under habeas corpu
proceedings instituted by the father
after Mrs. Johnson had been overtakel
at Gallatin, Tenn, and brought bacl
after sensational auto flight with tn
child and Virgil o. Whip, a Chicag,
lawyer, who admitted coming to assis
the wife to gain the child.
After Mrs. Johnson and Whipp haC
been placed in Jail, state warrant wa
issued for them, charging kidnapping, /;
felony under the laws of Tennessee, bu
this went by the way when the habea'
corpus was won by the father, the latter,
lawyer pleading for settlement of tina
grave issue on account of the future O
the child.
The son was grabbed from the street
almost under the eyes of the father, Fri
day evening, by the mother, heavily
yelled, who dashed away in company
with a stranger and the child. They
were chased by the father to Gallatin, 30
miles north, but managed to elude cap
ture until well up into the day, though
searched after by several hundred resi-
dents of Sumner county.
1t was found that the mother, child
and Whipp had spent the night in the
open, eluding tsearchers by taking aban-
doned lots. Worn and excited, the woman
and companion were taken to Nashville
to face the laws process. In the habeas
corpus proceedings Mrs. Johnson admit
ted that she had tired of companionship
with her husband after she had become
possessed of fortune, inherited from
her grandfather, iTheodore Budd.
She admitted having met NJ. t. Kern,
a girlhood friend, at Waukegan, Deca-
tur, and Chicago, ILL.,, and at I'LL East
Fifty-fifth street, in the latter city,
where she employed attorney Whip to
help her get possession of the child, a
thing that Kern had been assisting in.
Kern, she said, registered at the same
hotels with her in Illinois towns, part of
the time as NJ. T. Kent. She said she
to marry him after separation
from her husband. He is the son of
state attorney.
Mrs. Johnson said she had not been in
Illinois long enough to apply for di-
vorce, but had filed action of maintess
nance to secure possession of the child
in the Superior Court of Cook county.
Virgil Whip made damaging admis-
sions in regard to helping the mother
spirit the child away that caused Judge
Matthews to warn him it was dangerous
for the kidnapping case to be tried later
He finally declined to answer questions
under warning of the court.
Judge Matthews, from the bench, said
that the case was distressing, a home
broken up by the conduct of the mother,
and he therefore awarded the son to the
iather.
1t was through the kindness of heart
Of X. I. McKonnico, counsel for Mr.
Johnson, that the kidnapping proceed
ngs were withdrawn upon promise of
Whip to leave the state at once. The
attorneyladvised also that the parents
De reconciled on the child's account.