Evening star., 1953-11-07
Mrs. Tenant
Awaits Term
In Child Death
Nursery Head
Guilty of FutuI Blows;
Con Get 10 Years


Mrs. Arleen DAISY" Tenant
today is awaiting sentence for in
flicting blows that caused the
death of a 7-month-old boy
placed in her Prince Georges
County nursery.
The child, James Cecil Hender-
son, jr., son of an estranged Dis
trict couple, was pronounced dead
last April "a at the Prince Georges
General Hospital. Six days be-
fore his death, his mother had
taken him to Mrs. Tenants
home in the 400 block Of Sixty
fifth avenue, Maryland Park.
Judges John B. Gray. jr.. and
Charles C. Marbury yesterday
convicted Mrs. Tenant of man
slaughter after hearing the case
without a jury in Upper Marl-
borough Circuit Court.
The two jurists conferred on
the bench about five minutes be-
fore agreeing on the verdict.
Sentence in Two Weeks.
Judge Marbury said, in an
nouncing the courts decision.
that the 47-year-old defendant
will be sentenced within two
weeks. He indicated the penalty
will depend upon the courts de-
termination of the motive in
volved. Her $1,000 bond was
continued.
States Attorney Carlyle j.
Lancaster, whose web of circum-
stantial evidence brought about
the conviction, said she faces up
to 10 years Imprisonment.
Mrs. Tenant appeared almost
In tears when the verdict was
announced. but quickly recov-
cred the compoSure she main
tained throughout the day-long
trial.
Both she and her husband,
Flonnie M. Tennant, testified in
her defense,
Denies Striking Him
Mrs. Tenant denied striking
the child. She testified that she
found the boy unconscious in his
crib on the morning of April "a
and that she tried to revive him
by lightly slapping his cheeks
and shaking his head with her
hands.
She said she did not know
exactly how the child's injuries
were sustained, but that she
believed the boy hit his head
against his crib. She said the
child cried often while in her
care and acted as though he
were in pain. The boy had a
habit of crawling from one end
of the crib to the other, she
said, and frequently hit his head
against the crib.
Mrs. Tenant said she was
alone in the house at the time
except for the children in her
care.
The tiny baby's mother.
dressed in black, broke down
on the witness stand when she
carefully related how she took
the child to the nursery on April
18 and never saw him alive
again. Authorities said they did
not know where the father is.
DR.. James 1. Boyd, Prince
Georges deputy medical exam
iner, said the Henderson child
died of hemorrhages caused by
multiple blows to the face and
head. He testified yesterday the
boys injuries could not have
resulted from the child's strik-
ing his head against his wooden
crib.
His testimony was supported
by Dr.. John T. Maloney. another
county medical examiner, and by
DR.. Russell S. Fisher, chief State
medical examiner.
Only One Possibility.
Judge Marbury said in review
ing evidence that while there
were no eye witnesses the court
had concluded that mo other
hypothesis can be accepted, ex-
cept one that refutes Mrs. Ten
nant'S testimony.
THE evidence indicates" he
said that the child could not
have received these injuries ex-
cept from a force greater than
a 7-months-old child could ex-
ert."
Pointing out that no other
adults were in the nursery at
the time. Judge Marbury said
mo other conclusion can be
reached but that the child's in
juries were caused by Mrs. Ten
nant."
Judge Marbury said the blows
may have been delivered while
the child was ''in a SpaSm, or
something of that nature" or
might have resulted from her
evaporation with crying baby"
Either motive" he said,
amounts to manslaughter, but
which one prevailed may in
f1uence the penalty to be i'm
posed"