Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-02-08
DupHcatlonsof South Case
In Households Throughout
Country Considered Likely

line SENSATIONAL, anu III Ildny ways
pathetic, series Of complications that
have arisen since the disclosure that
eleven children supposedly born"
into the home Of Mr.. and Mrs. F.
E. A. South, of % Weyman avenue
during the IA years, were actually
secretly adopted by. Mrs. South
without her husbands knowledge,
might be duplicated in households II
various parts of the country, 1t de-
veloped Saturday from statement
made by Mrs. M; T. Mitchell, VINO
maternity home, at % Windsor
street, where Mrs. South secured the
children. ,
Mrs. Mitchell indicated that there
have been several occasions When
home pick out little babies and take
them home to be reared as their own
offspring, neither the husband nor
anv of the relatives or frie Ids being
the wiser for the transaction. 80
"Such cases are not frequent, ~
course" said Mrs. M1tcheil, ouo
am pretty sure that there nave peea
ins+ances where a wife would get a
hahv from this hospital and pass II
off as her own child, keeping Inc
secret Of it's birth even from hef
husband. .oos onlv the
husband and wife know that the pany
secured at the hospital is aoopLei!u:
Their friends and the general puollc
are never told of the circumstances
of the child's birth. aisonss
Mrs. Mitchell was loath 70 olsS ,aro
+tis nbase Of the case. she opeI-
o ates the The maternity home as busl-
neSs enterprise and naturally is ann-
ioms tn maintain it's status. she kSe 20
1 records. of course, and knows Wnet1
every baby goes when II Is auo ge IF
She also knows the true ps1l The fos-
t ~ narents pretty accurate lniolltd
tion as to what may be eHp peIar-
er o the child in the way Oh lhheA
tied characteristics. oanaee to
.sHow, does a woman 1nan en-
keen secret the fact thae ea ~ was
passes off as her own aq o D maternity
5a, oro@S Mrs. Mitchell was asked.
iio .Wa1l1. I can only draw my con-
c ,l;+s, s,7ch cases" she replied. some
ti1,ons wife whose huspano "a
enxious for children in the nome, anu
Who herself dearly loves cnilole ~
hut has been deprived OF the Joy
motherhood, will come TO me seen
ing a baby for adoption. N aIlnoI ~
averv instance I have ever known IL
ene eve, o woman from some city at a
distance from Atlanta. 1t Woulo pe
varv difficult to put such a. plan
ovar if she was a resident OIL AZ
1anta However, Mrs. South manaseu
to do it, although I don't know nov:
srWhen the out-of-town woman
leaves home she lets it be known
she will be gone for an extenoeo
visit. Then she comes to AtlahCa
and from some maternity home Sc
h hopY1 Jeff there
for adoption. AS I have SAID, IN
most cases her husband knows all
about what she intends to do ana IS
entirly agreeable, but sometimes II
has happened that even the husoano
was kept in ignorance.
"After she has stayed away from
home for several months, she goes
back with new baby ard nopouy
ever questions her when she proud
ly displays the child as her own OIL IL
spring. It is not so difficult TO
manage, after all, unless woman
is trying to keep her husband in the
dark and then 1 should think it
would be pretty risky"
The babies, taken from the ST.
Mary's hospital by Mrs. South were
struggled into the South home, ac-
cording to Mrs. Mitchell. They were
taker from the maternity home in a
taxicab after nightfall, Mrs. South
designating "a time when her husband
would net be there. Just how Mrs.
South managed to fool her husband
prior to the actual arrival of the
babies probably will never be known
unless she volunteers information on
that pointfi for thus far, she has
steadfastly refused to vouchsafe any
hints, even to Mrs. Mitchell, from
whom she secured the children.
q
tai blunder was in allowing the news
papers to publish pictures of herself
and the 'triplets' when they arrived
at the South home on January l."
said Mrs. Mitchell. II would have
kept her secret forever and nobody
the transaction, but, Of course, I
must keep my. records straight here
at the hospital, and when an inves-
tigation is begun that might get me
into trouble if tried to conceal the
facts, I am obliged to tell the truth.
"As a matter of fact, the birth GER
tificates of the three babies taken by
Mrs. South were filed with the board
of health at the time they were actu-
ally born on December 5, December
Is and December rs, respectively.
There wasNno need of any more GER
tificates being filed by anybody, but
of course the board of health did not
know that and were wondering why
Mrs. South did not file a certificate
after she had received so much pub
licity when she announced the arriv-
al of the 'triplets.'
Mrs. South begged and begged me
to let her have the three babies. I
didn't want to let her take them, be-
cause I knew she had about as many
little children as she could take care
Of She had already got a set of
twins from the home about two
years ago, and she told me she had
four others. 1 doubted whether the
Souths were financially able to take
care of so many children and hest
Z i a.