BLIND MATERNAL LOVE

NZ Truth, Issue 1195, 25 October 1928, Page 2

BLIND MATERNAL LOVE

Even A Dog Is Allowed To Fight For Its Puppies (From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Wellington Representative.) To. the casual observer who watched Mrs. Cladys Martha Dowse slap a bus traveller m the face at Mornington, Wellington, recently, the assault may have seemed inexplicable, but underlying the action Was the natural yearning of a mother for her child.

ALTHOUGH Mrs. Dowse cannot perhaps be freed from all blame, the maternal instinct which bade her take the child of her flesh from the woman whom she struck, offers, m part, extenuation for her action. The outcome of' this little episode m one of Wellington's suburbs was the appearance m the Magistrate's Court of Mr. and Mrs. Dowse ibefore S.M. Page on a charge of behaving m a disorderly manner, on which count they were both convicted. They were also bound over to keep the peace for a period of twelve months, each being ordered to enter into a bond for £50. The story is a long one. Eight years ago, Mrs. Dowse, then Mrs. Fredericksen, lost her husband during the epidemic. An unkind stroke of fate left her to face the world alone with four young children dependent on her. Distracted by financial worries, Mrs. Fredericksen, m her hour of despair, accepted the offer of a woman friend, a Mrs. Bethell, to take two of the children for- twelve months. Mrs. Bethell was m Wellington at this time, but journeyed to Christchurch, where the widow was then living, and brought the two children back with her. In due course a paper came through the lawyers to Mrs. Fredericksen to sign, and with the flowing of the ink vanished her legal custody to her own child and its change of name to that of Bethell. Mrs. Bethell had ■desired to adopt one of the children and the paper the

widow signed was a consent form. Too late she realized the full import of what she had done — which was. according to

her own story, done unknowingly. The legal process of the law had given her child another name and forever barred her from calling it her own. In due time the other child was returned to her. In 1922 Mrs. Fredericksen married Andrew Jacobsen . Dowse, a picture framer, of Wellington. No children have come to bless this union, but alVays there has remained the yearning for the child which was ibearing another's name. Thrice has Mrs. Dowse invoked the powers that be to have the adoption order cancelled. In the first instance she placed her application before Magistrate Hunt, who dismissed it, with a suggestion that some other method be adopted to get over the difficulty. .--■. A little later Mrs. Dowse sought Magistrate .Riddell. to revoke the order that kept . :her;''from v .heifc : .ch.iiai again without success. Then m 1926, she petitioned Parliament, but her appeal fell on deaf ears. Rightly, or wrongly, the law apparently decided that m the interests of the child, it was better with the adoptive parents. "In the frenzy of her desire to again claim her child, Mrs. Dowse has made several ineffectual attempts to take it by force. Once she did do so and took her to Christchurch, but' Mrs. Bethell set the machinery of the law m mdtlon and ' detectives brought Elvira back to Wellington. Bitter hatred has -been born of this continuous warfare between the natural and the adoptive mother of the girl. The charge of disorderly .behaviour which Mr. and Mrs. Dowse found levelled at them m the Magistrate's Court last week was a direct result of the feud between the parties, Mrs.

Dowse having assaulted Mrs. Bethell as she stepped from the Mornington bUs recently while returning

home. In the witness-box, guided by her counsel, Lawyer J. F. B. Stevenson, Mrs: Pethell related the trying experiences shg had gone through during the six years since she had adopted the girl, Elvira. . On one occasion when she and her husband were going down to the wharf to embark on a journey to England, Mr. and^Mrs. liowse stopped the car arid attempted to. take the child. On this occasion Mrs. Dowse had thrown a 'bottle at her. Once, when the child, how 12 yedrs of age, was coming home from the. Brooklyn school, the natural mother had waylaid the child, who rajri away through the gorse, getting her legs torn. Other incidents of a like nature were also related for the benefit, of the court. At this Juncture the bench wanted to know how old the girl Elvira was, and the counsel asked that the child be brought into court. Whether It was the sudden* appearance of the daughter she had been fighting so hard to regain, or whether it was the trying ordeal of the moment that caused it, v Mra. Dowse broke down and wept, having to be escorted from the court. Proceedings had to be held up until women present composed her sufficiently to Ibe brought m again. When dealing with the recent affair at Mornington, Mrs. Bethell said Mrs. Dowse struck her on the face when, she alighted from the bus, knocking her hat off and pulling her hair. Defendant had demanded to see the girl Elvira, but witness fefused to discuss the matter with her, telling her to go arid see Bethell. Dowse 'was present at the time arid remarked to 1 his wife: "Lay it on while you have the chance."

Mother's Yearning

Sermons In Stone — ; ; „

Dowse also picked up a stone m each hand, but never attempted to throw them. This phase of the incident caused quite a ripple of merriment when Dowse, who was not represented by counsel, questioned- the various witnesses. Dowse was apparently very sanguinary about the veracity of the various witnesses and when a reply he received didn't quite tally with his own idea would say: "Speak the truth and be a man," or "speak the truth and be a lady," as the case may be. Dowse continually diverged from the matter m question and shot off at a tangent on the old grievance of his wife's concerning the adoption, and had to be brought up by the magistrate. ! In the witness-box, Mrs. Dowse admitted giving Mrs. Bethell just a gentle slap on the head, but she hadn't knocked her hat off or pulled her hair down. "You had no hairpins m it," she said, glaring at her enemy. She had gone out to see her child, she said. Mrs. Bethell was talking m confidence with the bus driver and this naturally agitated her. "I was going to tear her hat up as I was m a paddy, ibut my husband told me hot to; it wasn't worth much, anyhow." "While she's got my child I'm not going to abide by the law," said Mrs. Dowse m a burst of vehemence. "I did not apply for ah adoption order. I signed a paper to let her have them for twelve months. That was all." Lawyer Stevenson: When Mrs. Bethell was going to England you

threw sometmng at her? — Probably I did. J When Dowse stepped into the box, the court, as if by magic, began to

nil with onlookers, his loud Voice attracting the attention of all, passers-by. Witness started to run off the track, and was pulled up when Magistrate Page asked him why he didn't have counsel. "I thought I would iget justice without one," said Dowse. "All I want is justice for the wife." And then, with a flourish of the j Bible he shouted: "Christ is above all laws of man. Hasn't she a right to see her awn child? Law or no law the wife will see her child." To Lawyer Stevenson, Dowse admitted having 'previously been fined £3, but that was "another hoax again," he said. "You were once before Mr. OrrWalker," asked counsel. "Yes," said witness, "Mr. Orr-Walk* er is the only one I got justice from. He is the only gentleman I met." ..... Referring to the occasion when Mrs. Bethell was on her way to England,, counsel wanted to know exactly when this was. "Think," he said. Dowse: "Give me time to think. I've got to think; not you. Don't you think you can .bully me." . Counsel: Did you and Mrs. Dowse seize the child m Adelaide Road m 1925?— N0, the mother and I did. , You petitioned Parliament m 192?? — Look here, don't say I did. Well, then, you and Mrs. Dowse?— No. Mrs. Dowse and I. (Laughter.) ' Aren't •yon and your wife continually putting offensive notes under stones round Brooklyn and 'Mornington? — No (vehemently). Mrs. Dowse has been writing the truth about her child. Dowses diatribe against Mrs. Bethell was cut short by the bench, who said it seemed clear even on the accused's own admissions, that their behavior had been disorderly. He there -

fore, proposed to convict them. The sureties for the peace were based on the assault and aiso on past

history. Two applications to have the adoption cancelled had been refused by magistrates and also by Parliament. Both Mr. and Mrs. Dowse seemed determined to go on mdlesting the mother and the child m this way. On . the first count they would be convicted and ordered to come up for sentence if called upon within two years. Also, within the next seven ; days, each must enter into a bond of £50 to be of good behavior towards Mrs. Bethell and the child for twelve months. They must also pay counsel and witnesses' expenses. Dowse (to the bench): "When did I misbehave?" The Bench: "It is not my practise to discuss a finding?, 'but as you are not represented by counsel I will explain," and with meticulous care and phraseology, Magistrate Page propounded to the bewildered Dowse what constituted ."behaving m a disorderly manner." The crowded court soon emptied, but Mrs. Dowse was the last to leave. Resignation and signs of her recent emotional stress were still clearly marked on her cbuntenance. "No one," she said to "Truth," "will, so long as I live, make me believe I consented to my child's adoption. Why, even a dog is allowed to fight for its pups."