Newland, David - kidnaps his child - Montgomery InGenWeb Project

The case against David Newland, Zeph Newland, and Will Newland, all of Smartsburg, was up for trial before Mayor Bandel this morning. George D. Hurley defended the accused.

The trouble arose over a four year old boy of David Newland and Mrs. Michael Lourie, who live near Darlington. Mrs. Lourie was formerly the wife of David Newland, and on June 21, 1893, Newland and Michael Lourie signed a contract, drawn up by S. S. Martin, of Darlington, Ind., that Newland could take the child and keep it and he would not molest him in anyway. On July 11, 1894, Mrs. Lourie went to Mrs. Zeph Newland’s, her sister, and got the boy and took him home. Then that night the three Newlands went up and recaptured the boy and this is what caused the trial.

Mrs. Lourie testified that she got the child because her sister had said she hated him and did not want to have him around. That same night the three Newlands came to her house, forced open the window with a hatchet crawled in and demanded the boy. That Zeph Newland had held her on the bed and choked her, while David Newland, her former husband, had forcibly taken the child from her. That when the men were in the house, they took the lamp, carrying a revolver, and searched for her husband, who they said they were going to kill. Her husband, however, had fled out the back door and thus escaped injury. She said that the child said he had not been fed enough and was always hungry. The testimony of her husband was about the same.

The prosecutor here called John Newland, who said he had not been summoned, and did not want to testify. But he was brought forward and denied telling the prosecutor and Mrs. Nettie Rhoades, that David Newland had told him that he entered the house through a window. Mrs. Rhoades then testified that John Newland had said this before her and prosecutor Moffett since he had entered the mayor’s office.

The defendants testified that Mrs. Lourie had taken the child from them and that they went up there after him the same night; that they knocked at the door and Mrs. Lourie opened the door. The David stepped inside and demanded his child. Mrs. Lourie went to the bed and gathered the lad in her arms and did not want to give him up, but he took the child from her. That she said her husband was in the back room, and that they had no revolvers. They all deny breaking in the house.

At the conclusion of the evidence and the speeches of the attorneys, the mayor fined David and Zeph Newland $5 each, with costs in each case of $17. The case against Will was dismissed. Zeph was taken to jail until he pays or furnishes a bond.

During the progress of the case, the little boy would go to his mother and ask for something to eat, or a drink, and she would go out and attend to his wants. She also had a child about a year old. Mrs. Lourie said that she always did want the boy and had nothing to do with the agreement. She has stolen him twice in the last year.