The Washington times., 1922-10-15
COURT TOTEsT
.PARENTAGE OF
DETROIT BABY
Foundllng Used to Deceive Man
Claiming Fatherhood, .
ls' Charge.
''MoTHER" IN DISCLAIMER
Dr. AbrahaSn's Method May Be
Tried to EstabIlsb Facts
In the Case. g

W I0o Ca8os
DETROIT, Oct. lis it hu-
manly possible for the law or
science to determine unerringly,
or even beyond reasonable doubt,
the paternity Of any child.
This question Is facing the
courts Of many States today, and
after consideration for more than
. year has remained unanswered.
Some Noted Cases.
The etillrnan case in New York,
the Tternan-Poulin problem in In
diana, the Rich controversy in New
Jersey are only q few Of many law
suits now pending In which an inno-
cent child n the central figure.
One Of the most remarkable Of all
IL the strange case Of Bonnie Jean
Drake. q dainty three-year-old child
IN Detroit, concerning whom the ls.
sue Of maternity as well as paternity
has just been raised in court.
Jean II at present in the custody
e. Mr. and Mrs. William Reid. TO
whom she was given by Mrs. Mabel
Drake, now dead. who was the IRE
UUInpIIN0 LnOtucT Vi tN0 puoCs Shdt tCo
r. Drake, her husband, believed Jean
70 be their child. He has since re.
married and in an effort to obtain
possession Of the baby he brought
habeas corpus proceedings. The pre-.
sent Mrs. Drake. who IL his third
wife, came to court with him.
A Secret Revealed.
Confronting him in court, Mrs.
Reid refused to give up the child,
and declared:
the child OF your second wife. Mrs.
Nabel Drake obtained her from a
maternity home during your alb
sence and deceived you into believing
that the babe was yours and hers"
Tho supposed father was stunned
by the statement, but when his pre-
sent wife was called to the stand an
even greater surprise developed.
Judge Jayne asked Mrs. Drake II
she would care for the child Il Jean
was given to her. s......
The Second Surprise.
=. Mrs. Drake hesitated, then said:
.if she In my husbands child. I
Win be glad to do 30. Otherwise, 1
Do not think I would be equal to the
task, of rearing herr .
"Is there any doubt in your mind
that Jean IL your husbands baby!'
aslked Judge Jayne, and Mrs. Drake
responded; ,, ,.,. -, .,,.
city told me that this child had been
taken from q hospital by my hus-
band's former wife. Mrs. Payne
said she knew that to be true, be-
cause she herself went to the hos
pital and obtained the baby for the
second Mrs. Drake"
Then to cap the revelations 80 sud
denly sprung on the merchant, they
called to the stand Myron Winny.
the SON Of the second Mrs. Drake
by q former marriage. and he said,
too, that his mother had told him
that the child was born out OF the
family.
mother said that Mr.. Drake
wanted an heir" explained the
young man. eat first she told me
that the child was hers and his. but
later she said that she obtained 1t
from q maternity hospital. You see,
mother was eleven years older than
Mr.. Drake thought her. She had
deceived him about her. age. He be-
lisyed that she was forty-seven when
ne was fifty-eight. After she told
me that the baby came from a hos
pital, shs charged me never to re-
veal the secret and never have.
until now"
Mystery Woman vanishes.
yudee Jane Immediately issued a
subpoena calling for Mrs. Nettie
Payne to appear and tell what she
knew Of the baby's appearance In
the Drake family. The woman could
not be found. The court announced
that if Mrs. Payne did not appear
within the week that he would
direct that a blood test be made to
eofabiish the parentage OF the child,
% ifar a. possible.
ne said that he would ask DIR.
Albert Abrams, now In New York. to
come to Detroit. or II the blood spe'
= ADVERTISEMENT.