New Britain herald., 1930-07-28
Watkins Authorizes Attor- ney to Sue Hospital and Seek Habeas Corpus Writ-Authorities Differ On Mothers Ability to Recognize Child.

Chicago. July 28 R-The Wat kins- Bamberger baby tangle which has been bounced from the laws of obstetriceans department of health, finger print experts, bone, blood and baby specialists, maternal mass meeting and even the law, lay cradled today in the bassinet of the church. Still it did not rest
 The infant in the possession of the Charles Bambergers was bap- tized George Edward Bamberger at the Church of Our Lady of Solace yesterday.
 Watkins Seek Advice
 The William Watkins, who are Presbyterians and who believe the baby baptized Bamberger is really their own offspring, today sought the advice of a clergyman of their own faith with a view of having the child in their possession baptized without application of a name.
 The Watkins attorney, Barratt O'Hara. was getting ready to ask a wtit of habeas corpus to compel the Bambergers to produce their baby in court and show cause why they should not surrender it. In such an action, it was explained, the matter would be placed before the court which would make final de- cision as to whom the infant be- longs.
 The attorney also was instructed to bring suit for s100,000 damages against the Englewood hospital where the Bamberger and Watkins babies were born June 30. Bam- berger, on the other hand. has an- nounced that everything is settled, that he IS satisfied. He now has his own infant and that no legal action of any kind is contempl plated.
 Show No Concern On Religion
 Mf. and Mrs. Watkins expressed no concern over the fact that the baby they believe to be their own Was christened a Bamberger.
 When we get the baby trade ar ranged, we'll have him re-baptized into our faith" they said.
 Representative of leading hospi- tals and several prominent baby spe- Cialists were asked yesterday if in their opinion a mother would recog- nize her new born babe. The re- plies, with one exception, were in the affirmative: that mother could recognize her baby unmistakably after having seen it once or twice.
 Dr. C. D. Paddock and Dr. H. H. oIe+ u, d. l Hadden of Oak Park hospital, all agreed she could. But Miss J. F. Christie. superintendent of Chicago Lying-In hospital, said she would not care to say a mother would know her child on second or third en- counter.
 Dr. Paddock said the mother at once sees features resembling her family's or her husbands. Thus the child to her has it's fathers eyes, its maternal grandmother's nose or it's ears may set on the head at the angle of Uncle Bob's. To it's father, other relatives and outsiders it may look like just another baby"
 Cant Fool a Mother
 You can't fool a mother after she, has seen her baby a few times" Dr. Haddon said. Tn fun I have made tests to see. I have asked mothers 10 select their children from among several brought in from the hos pital nursery and they did so cor rectly."
 Miss Amelia Maggoirana, head nurse at the Presbyterian hospital, sided with the doctors, and C. C. Turin, superintendent of St. Luke's hospital. declared that if a m mother did "t know her own offspring after the first introduction he would think there was something wrong with her eyesight.
 And then this proposition was put to Dr. Gibson.
 Granted that a mother can rec ognize a child on a second encount- CT as the one given her at first, sup pose she were given the wrong baby, in the beginning, would her moth CTS instinct detect the error!'
 Hmm, hardly, ne replied.
 And there is one of the knots in the tangled Bamberger- Watkins case.
 Editors Note: - In view of the wide interest among parents and scients by the Watkins Bamberger mixed baby case, the United Press asked Dr. Maxmilian Kern, endo- crinologist and consultant of Oak Park hospital to prepare a dispatch outlining the scientific possibilities of settling parentage disputes of this kind.
 [. BY MAXMIIIAN KERN NJ D.