Holden v. Smith

100 So. 27, 135 Miss. 322, 1924 Miss. LEXIS 46
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedMay 12, 1924
DocketNo. 24130
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 100 So. 27 (Holden v. Smith) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Holden v. Smith, 100 So. 27, 135 Miss. 322, 1924 Miss. LEXIS 46 (Mich. 1924).

Opinion

Ethridge, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

On April 23, 1923, L. S. Smith, the grandfather of Susan, Smith, a minor twelve years of age, filed a petition with the circuit judge of the district in which Pearl River county is situated, alleging that Monroe Smith is the father of Susie Smith, now twelve years of age, and that he had been for five or six years a widower, charged with the support of this little girl and her younger sister, ten years of age; that, when Monroe Smith was left a widower, he placed the child Susie in care of his sister, Mrs. Mitchell, and that he had furnished her with necessaries as far as he was able to do so, but that said child [326]*326is now left abandoned and destitute, for the reason that the said Mrs. Mitchell is seriously, and perhaps fatally ill, and is confined to a hospital at Gulfport, Miss., and the said little girl is left without a home, unguarded, and is likely to develop into criminal practices or be subjected to inhuman treatment or conduct; that the father, Monroe Smith, was physically disabled while in service with the overseas forces during the World War, and has been under treatment of the government physicians for about two years, and on this account he is physically unable to provide the necessary support for his two children, especially the said Susie', as he has no other relative who will give her a suitable home; that she is therefore abandoned, destitute, and subjected to immoral circumstances, and petitioner prayed for an order commanding Monroe Smith to appear before the court and answer the petition as to why the child should not be committed to the said institution; that he also bring before the court the said minor; and that, after a full hearing, the court will commit the said child to the said Mississippi Industrial Training School.

Mrs. M. J. Holden, the mother of the child and former wife of Monroe Smith, was at the time of the filing of the petition living with her husband, M. J. Holden, in the town of Picayune in Pearl River county. She was not made a party to the petition nor given any notice thereof ; neither does the record show that Susie Smith, minor, was served with any process. The court at the April, 1923, term of the circuit court of Pearl River county signed an order reciting that the “defendants having waived the issuance of process of service on them, and having agreed in writing that the said petition be heard this day by the court, and the parties being present in open court, and the court, having heard and considered the said petition and the evidence in support thereof, doth find that the minor defendant, Susie Smith, is delinquent and incorrigible, and should be committed to the Mississippi Industrial and Training School, and the [327]*327court finds that all necessary parties have been made defendants to the petition,” and ordered said minor committed to said institution.

Thereafter Mrs. M. J. Holden, the mother of the said child, went to . the home of the sister-in-law, Mrs. Mitchell, who formerly had the child in her possession, and secured possession of the child, and took it to her home in-Picayune; and, subsequently learning of the ■order of the court committing said child to the Industrial Training School, filed a petition with the circuit court, praying that said order be set aside and revoked or modified to the extent that said child should not be committed to the said school, and a vacation order made and she be not committed until the application of the mother could be heard. The judge thereupon signed an order reciting that all parties were not ready for the reinvestigation of said cause and the trial of same; that said girl was being properly cared for; and that the hearing of the matter was postponed until some day during the November term of the circuit-.court, the particular date of the hearing to be fixed by the court after it was assembled on the first Monday in November; that all parties interested in said matter. acknowledged notice of said hearing", and agreed to be present and present their respective contentions.

At the November term of the court the court heard the evidence on behalf of all the parties, and refused to vacate the original" order made in April by him, and ordered the child committed to the said institution.

It appeared upon the hearing on the part of Mrs. M. J. Holden that she married her present husband in the year 1920; that for more than two years prior to the hearing they had been living in the town of -Picayune, and that the said child attended the public schools at that place, and- had never been convicted of violating any municipal or state law; and that said child was a good, obedient child, and was being properly cared for by Mr. and Mrs. Holden. The superintendent of the said school [328]*328testified that she had never violated any of the school regulations, and was an average child; that he saw no evidence of maltreatment or evil character. The town marshal testified that the child had never violated any law, had never been convicted of violating any law, or charged with violating the law, and that Mr. and Mrs. Holden were apparently kind and considerate of the child, and enjoyed the reputation for peace and order and industry, and that he had never seen any evidence of maltreatment of the child. The Holdens’ family physician testified to like effect.

It was shown that Mr. Holden lived in his own home, and was earning upwards of one hundred twenty-five dollars per month, and had only his wife, the child in. question, and a child of his own to care for.

He testified that he desired the child to live with them, and had treated and would treat it as though it were his own child. The petitioner’s testimony, or the testimony of the Smiths who filed the original petition, failed to disclose any act of moral turpitude, or any of .delinquency on the part of the child, or that it had ever violated any law of the state or municipality.

Monroe Smith, father of the child and former husband of the appellant, testified that, after his return from the army, he found his wife and Holden living in adulterous relations on a certain plantation in the county, and that his wife proposed that, if he would give her a divorce, she would let him take the child, Susan, which he did, and placed it with his sister, as above stated. It is further shown that in August, 1919, the appellant obtained a divorce from Monroe Smith, and married M. J. Holden, in January, 1920; that since this marriage there is no charge or act proven showing any immoral act or delinquency on the part of the appellant. On the contrary, the proof shows that she is living a proper life with her present husband.

Treating the case as being pending before the court properly at the November term, and conceding for the [329]*329purpose of this opinion that the court had the right to hear the original petition, and that all parties were before him .so as to give him full and complete jurisdiction, we still think the proof fails to make out a case warranting the order of commitment. The original act (Laws of 1916, chapter 111), creating the Industrial Training School, and providing for admission of children therein, provides* in section 4969 of Hemingway’s Code (section 6, chapter 111, Laws of 1916), that—

“ Any child less than eighteen years of age, residing or being at the time in the state of Mississippi.

“(a) Who violates any municipal ordinances or state laws, when the violation involves for the purposes of this act, shall be known as a delinquent child.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

In the Interest of Slay
147 So. 2d 299 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1962)
Wheeler v. Shoemake
57 So. 2d 267 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1952)
State Ex Rel. Croker v. Chillingworth
143 So. 346 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1932)
Bryant v. Brown
118 So. 184 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1928)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
100 So. 27, 135 Miss. 322, 1924 Miss. LEXIS 46, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/holden-v-smith-miss-1924.