Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1920-01-13
Mother Defes
Courts; FTees
With Her Boy
Mrs. Helen CappeL Disappears
in City-FriendS Fear She
Has Gone to Canada.
specinI to The Times.


NOBLESVILLE, Ind, Jan. 1S-Mrs.
Helen Worley Cuppel, taking the law in
her own hands, has fed with her 12
year-old son Donald to prevent the courts
from taking the boy from her, it became
known today.
She believes there is a higher law
than the courts, which gives to a mother
the right to rear her child. Sae fed
with the child, while her parents, Mr..
and Mrs. Julius Worley of Cicero, were
under orders to produce the boy in the
court of Circuit Judge Ernest CIoe within
the near future.
Her fight is the elimination of a do
mestic tangle which had it's beginning
in Cincinnati, where she lived last Feb
ruary. Her husband. Philip Cappel filed
suit for divorce in Cincinnati. He won
and the court gave him their two chill
dren, Philip, IA. and Donald, II.
FLED CINCINNATI WITH
THE BOY LAST SPRING.
Last spring, while the case still was
pending in court, Mrs. Worley. fearing
that she would lose the younger son,
whom she said her husband had agreed
she should have. picked up the boy on
the street and left Cincinnati with him.
Her trail, it is said, led through several
states.
Several weeks ago she sent the boy to
her parents. The husband, learning OF
the whereabouts Of the boy, began
habeas corpus proceedings in the circuit
court here. Mr.. and Mrs. Worley We're
ordered to produce the boy in court
This they did and the case was contin-
ued.
Helen Worley came to her home shortly
after Christmas Where she came from
she never said publicly. Last Saturday
she and her mother and the boy went
to indianapolis on a shopping trip. They
boarded a crowded interurban car on
their return The elder Mrs. Worley
found a seat forward, while the daugh-
ter and her son remained at the rear.
DROPPED OFF CAR
WHILE STILL IN CITY.
The conductor came to collect the fare
of the elder Mrs Wcrley. did the lady
sitting in the rear with little boy pay
my fare?" she asked the conductor.
"No, madam the conductor replied,
'She got off at Massachusetts avenue and
New York street.
MY God" uttered Mrs. Worley.
Reaching Noblesville Mrs Worley no
tffied Judge Cloe that her daughter had
fled. Today nothing had been heard
from the woman. Relatives fear she has
taken the boy to Canada in an effort
to keep him.
Helen Worley, it is said by those who
know her, is obsessed with the Idea
that she shall keep the boy. She is
about 81 years of age, dresses with taste.
has worked in stores in Cincinnati ano
is said to be an exceedingly resourcefnl
and daring woman.
ROMANCE BEGINS IN
LITTLE TOWN OF CICERO.
ch uri%
Cappel began in the little town OF Ci-
cero where about 1900 people dwell.
during the days When the town doomed
with natural gas and glass factories =
Philip Cappel went to Cicero from
Cincinnati to work. Big money was paid
by the factories in those days He mar
ried Helen Cappel, it is said, against
her parents wishes Her father for
twenty five years was agent for the Lake
Erie railroad in Cicero and owned
farm on the outskirts Of the little town.
Her married life never was happy, her
friends say, who blame Cappel. The
father, they assert, went to Cincinnati
many times to care for her when he
found her without food or fuel In the
house. This Cappel denied in his di-
vorce suit. Mrs. Cappel worked in de-
partment stores to aid in making
living, her friends say.
ATTEMPT TO END
HER LIFE FAILS.
Troubled by her domestic strife, she
tried to take her life in Cincinnati last
year, by injecting a poison into her
body with a hypodermic needle. i For
weeks she lay between life and death,
but recovered.
When the husband filed suit for di-
vorce in the common pleas court In Gin
cinnati he alleged cruel and inhuman
treatment The suit was filed In Febru-
ary. 1919 but it was not until October
that a decree was entered, giving the
husband custody of both boys over the
wife's protest that the husband had
agreed she should have the younger child.
Mrs. Worley's attorneys contested the
decision on technical grounds, appealing
the case. 1t still is pending on appeal
Whether the mother will return ana
resist the habeas corpus proceedings in
the local court is a matter of conjecture.
Her friends believe she has gone for good
and will take no chance that any court
will depriye her of the bow