The Teen Bride and the Courtroom Cage
A teenage girl is held in the House of the Good Shepherd to prevent her from returning to her husband, despite her desperate pleas to the judge.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Hattie Anspaugh, or Hattie Graham as the law calls her, remains in the House of the Good Shepherd. Her father is unwilling to have her return to the family circle unless she abandons her husband, whom she married against the wishes of her parents just a few days ago. This is the result of Judge Langley’s ruling, made yesterday in denying the writ of habeas corpus sought by Graham for the purpose of stealing his girl-wife from the clutches of the House of the Good Shepherd, where her parents placed her on her return. Hattie herself took the stand, piquant and rosy-cheeked, and answered all questions without hesitation. When the decision was explained to her that she would remain detained, she broke down entirely and sobbed in the most romantic way, and she had to be carried back to the House of the Good Shepherd by two deputy sheriffs.
“What in the world would be the sense in waiting two years, I would like to know?”
This case highlights a era where the state routinely acted as an extension of parental control over women's bodily autonomy and legal status. While 'runaway' laws have evolved, the tension between state-sanctioned 'protection' and the right to self-determination remains a core debate in modern civil rights.
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