Evening star., 1944-03-17
|Ldngan IsGiven
Full Custody Of
Joan in Ruling
No Provision Made
For Mother to See
11-Yeur-OId Girl
BY NORMAN KAHL.

John Langan was awarded
custody of his II year old
daughter Joan in a decision re-
turned by Justice T. Alan Colds
borough in District Court today.
No provision was made to permit
Joan Manners, former Hollywood
actress and mother of the girl, to
visit the child or share her custody
part of the year.
The court cannot take the re-
sponsibility of turning the custody
over to one whose mental operations
appear so insecure" Judge Colds
borough said
Although the court recognized
that Mr.. Langans conduct in living
with Miss Manners before they were
married was "reprehensible," he
said: 1T appears the respondent
(Mr. Langam is now living a nor
NAL and ordinary life, and that his
wife, the child's stepmother, is not
only devoted to the child, but is ap-
parently interested only in the ca
reer of an American mother, which
the court regards, when the circum-
stances permit, as the highest calling
of an American mother"
Courtroom Almost Empty.
The decision was delivered to at
torneys for both parties in a COURT
room that was almost empty, in
contrast to the crowds which have
attended the habeas corpus hearing
for the past three weeks. Neither
Mr.. Langan nor Miss Manners was
present.
While attorneys waited in the
courtroom the judges secretary
brought copies of the decision and
distributed them. There was no
demonstration as counsel qdietly
accepted the courts ruling.
Walter Green and jeff Lichten-
berg, attorneys for Miss Manners,
did not say whether they would ap-
peal the decision.
Mothers Allegations Rejected.
Justice Goldsborough refused to
believe the allegations of Miss Man
ners that a man by the name Of
John L. Manners" was the real
father of the child.
"The testimony involving the, al
legged John L. Manners is, in the
opinion of the court, indefinite and
removed from probability to justify
the courts serious consideration"
Justice Goldsborough said.
"The court is also of the opinion
| that for the respondent to have
taken an interest in the child, Joan
Langan, which all the testimony
shows that he has taken for so many
1years, unless he had reason to bes
lieve the child was his, is entirely
contrary to human experience"
Two Big Factors Considered.
| The decision pointed out the court
had considered two outstanding
factors.
"The petitioner, apparently with
out any reason except an attempt to
secure a favorable decision in this
case, first takes the position that a
John L. Manners, to whom she does
not claim to have been married, is
the father of the child, and, then,
fearing that the weight of the evi-
dence would be against this conten-
| ton, claims that the marriage to the
respondent Ito the validity of which
she had previously testiled) was, in
fact, invalid as a marriage" the
decision said.
"The only reasonable conclusion
apparent to the court is that she is
willing to stigmatize her child as il
legitimate in the attempt, as indi-
Gated above, to prevail in this con-
troversy." ..es ,-.
The jurist pointed cut that his
decision was contrary to that hand
ed down by a three-judge Circuit
Court in Montgomery County be-
cause of new developments which
were brought out in the District
hearing.
Justice Goldsborough said that al
though the constitutional clause
which provides that full faith and
credit" be given orders of tribunals
in other States ordinarily has less
bearing in custodial cases, the rule
would nevertheless have been fol-
lowed except for very unusual fac
tors" appearing in the case here
(See LANGAN. Page A-5.)