The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-05-19
Public VezO
ofTragedy
Seldom Fair
BY MARTHA LEE

1t is impossible for an incident SO
closely related to various forms of
human tragedy as the rain baby
case was, to go by without some
comment by the public.
There are SO many angles to the
case. so many different kinds of
heartbreak tangled up in the whole
story, that almost every one is
bound to be touched in such way
that a personal opinion is inevitable.
There are those mothers who can
not comprehend any circumstance
forcing mother to abandon her
own child in the way the rain ba-
by's' mother abandoned him.
There are other mothers who be-
ieve such a mother is unfit to care
for the child anyway, and it is
just as well she abandoned him.
There are men and women con-
demning and condoning. Some are
bitter in their remarks about the
young wife, and others are SYM
pathetic.
Judgment Seldom Fair
Our views on tragedy in life usu-
ally are influenced by our own ex-
perience with tragedy. When We
have had little of it to mourn over
we are very apt to fail utterly to
craps the chaos that a mind can
be thrown into by misery.
That is why our judgment of
others reactions to trouble very sell
dom are fair. We sum up the stu
alton, what we know of the circum-
stances surrounding the case, and
invariably disagree with the conclu-
sion. We usually can find thou
sand ways of getting out OF the
t1ngle that would have been inf
nitely superior to the one taken by
the parties involved in the tragedy.
A woman who has thought seri-
ously enough about the rain baby
case to write in to this column says:
To whom it may concern:
So they have arrested the poor little
mother of Robert Eugene. the rain baby.
because she abandoned the child. More
than likely they will make it very uncom-
Portable for her.
What want to know is: Why don't
they arrest the father of that child? !
If he had supported the children he
helped bring into the world more than
likely this woman never would have
thought of abandoning her child, as she
did.
I speak from experience when say that
things become almost uncomfortable at
times. especially If you are on rock bot
tom and cannot see your way out.
Indiana laws are to negligent on the
part of the support of children. The men
can pay If they choose and II they don't
want too. Just try and get it If you have
no money to hire an attorney. Those men
,an leave the state and their wives and
children can starve to death and go naked
and no one can do anything about it.
1t is the children always who suffer most
through divorce. Why doesn't Indiana
have better laws to protect those children
Of divorce? divorced woman, with
must pay an attorney and court
fees to bring her husband to time when
le fails to live up to his bargain as regards
support and then the husband can skip
the state and leave her holding the bag.
This is only part Of my own story and
I know many others who are left in the
same plight. The job of supporting your
self and two children is not an easy one.
It is one a woman sometimes feels like
giving up.
1t is as much the fathers fault. in the
case of that abandoned child. as 1t is
the mother who is in Jail. His sin is
greater than hers. for he refused to sup
port the little fellow. She at least had
as her aim the lettering of living condi-
lions for him. ANOTHER MOTHER.
The appalling thing about the
case is the fact that such con-
ditionS could exist in a civilized,
ell-informed world. Involved in
that case was dire poverty,
ignorance, a broken home, with no
means of support.
We have no fund to take care of
such cases, which is another
situation in country as
advanced in humanity as we set
ouselves up to be.
What do some of you other
mothers think of the incident?
And you fathers?
If nothing else it is a warning
against early marriage, without at
least minimum security financially.
and against it's almost invariable
counterpart, divorce.