Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 92, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 April 1911 — Grandmas Quote Spirits in Suit [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Grandmas Quote Spirits in Suit

DES MOINES, LA..—ln the remarkable suit just tried here for the custody of little Jeanette Edwards between her rival grandmothers, In which testimony purporting to be the wishes of the child’s father and mother, both of whom are dead, conveyed by means of a spiritualistic medium was offered. Judge Ransler awarded her to the temporary care of the child’s mother’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. W.. H. Robinson, and assessed the costs of the action against Mr. and Mrs. L. H. Edwards, the parents of her dead father. Mrs. L. H. Edwards of Cedar Falls, sister of Secretary of Agricuture “Tama Jim” Wilson, and Mrs. W. H. Robinson, a physician of Denver, were the litigants for the possession of Jeanette, who is eight years old. Theopposing grandmothers are spiritualists, each marshaling what she believed to be a formidable line of ghostly evidence in support of her cause.

The evidence, aside from testimony showing good character of the litigants and their ability to provide for the girl, deals almost exclusively with matters spiritual, so that Judge Ransier was put In a position where be must act as umpire between two disputatious spooks. The principal oral witnesses were the grandmothers, but a lot of documentary evidence was submitted, all purporting to have emanated from the spirit world. Mrs. Edwards testified that she was able to get Into communication with her son, Bart, father of of Jeanette, more satisfactory when she had the child with her and he was far happier under such circumstances than when his child was with her maternal grandmother. Mrs. Robinson gave precisely similar testimony with respect to the spirit of her daughter, and gave thi» as the principal cause of action. On cross-examination she admitted she was not fully Informed on all the Ins and outs of spiritualism and was not entirely clear as to whether she actually talked to her daughter or whether It was only her “subconscious self" with whom Bhe conversed, but she was sure the Influence of her daughter was directing her In the suit