FULL TEXT: Andrew Gray Carter, the ten-year-old son of
Andrew P. Carter, and his wife, Pauline Gray Carter, was produced in the
Supreme Court yesterday in obedience to a writ of habeas corpus issued by
Justice Leventritt applied for by counsel for the mother, who contended that
her son was being kept from her by the father.
When the boy was brought into court Mrs. Carter asked
permission to talk with him. Permission was granted. As the mother approached
the boy drew away from her and clinched his fist. Mrs. Carter retired to the
rear of the courtroom crying.
In 1901 Mrs. Carter obtained a divorce from her husband in
South Dakota. Under this decree Mr. Carter was permitted to see the child at
stated intervals. It is declared by Mrs. Carter that on one of these occasions
Mr. Carter took the child and removed him to Sweet-water Tenn., where he has
been at a boarding school. Mrs. Carter alleges that it was at the instigation
of her husband that she removed to South Dakota to obtain her divorce. By
advice of counsel she has now begun a suit for divorce in this State, naming
several co-respondents.
As an offset to the new divorce action. Mr. Carter brings a
counter suit for divorce, and names Preston Harrison, brother of the Mayor of
Chicago, and Colonel Albert A. Pope, president of the Pope Manufacturing
Company, as correspondents. Mrs. Carter declares that these two men are old
friends of the family, and their calls were as much on her mother and brothers
as on herself.
Justice Leventritt yesterday derided to appoint a referee to
take testimony. In the mean time the boy is to remain in the custody of the
father. If the parties can agree on an institution where the boy can be sent,
and where they can both see him. The court will make such an order.
In argument yesterday counsel declared that Mr. Carter was
immoral and unfit to have his son. He said Mr. Carter had given the boy a
pistol and told him to kill his mother. Counsel said that the validity of the
South Dakota decree of divorce had been attacked in the Tennessee courts, and
that C. H. Rollins, of Boston, had refused to marry Mrs. Carter after the
decree had been granted for fear it was not good.
Counsel for Mrs. Carter said that the reason the marriage of
Mr. Rollins and Mrs. Carter did not take place was that they agreed to await
the decision of the court in regard to the validity of the South Dakota
divorce. He read a letter which Mr Rollins sent to Mrs. Carter while she was
defending a suit brought by her husband in Tennessee, and in which Mr. Rollins
was to be a witness. The letter says in part:
Now, sweetheart, why not come back to New-York, even if the
case is not settled, instead of staying South, but be sure to send me your
address wherever you are, to keep me posted. And now, darling, the boy is
waiting to take this to the office: you shall have all my prayers for tomorrow,
and you will be, as ever, dearest, in my mind. Be brave – all will come out
well in the end.
In an affidavit Mr. Rollins denies all the charges against
him. When he wrote the letter referred to he was engaged to Mrs. Carter, he
declares. He says tho child never saw him kiss Mrs. Carter. In regard to his
presence at Chattanooga the affidavit explains that for fear that “my name
might be unfavorably dragged in the proceedings,” he determined to be present
to refute any statement that might be made against him.
The affidavit says in ending that as soon as Mr. Rollins was
informed that the validity of the South Dakota divorce was not recognized in
the State of New-York: “I immediately ceased paying my attentions and cancelled
my engagement of marriage to the plaintiff until the issues in this action have
been decided, and when I did call I saw the plaintiff in the presence of her
family or some one of them, as under the circumstances I considered her till
the defendant’s wife, she having been advised by counsel to that effect.”
[“Repulses Mrs. Carter. - Son Clinches Fist Boston Man Tells
of Delaying Marriage.” New York Tribune (N. Y.), Dec. 30, 1904, p. 9]
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