A Father Snatches His Baby on Main Street, and a Judge Orders the Child Returned
A Saturday afternoon chase in Olympia ended in court when a logger grabbed his infant son from his estranged wife, prompting a habeas corpus writ.
"Police! Police! He's stolen my baby! He's stolen my baby!" were the cries that pierced the air as an elderly woman gave chase to a man carrying a child in his arms, as he shot across to the alley near the First National Bank this afternoon.
The woman's cries brought everybody to the sidewalk, and Customs Inspector John McClelland gave chase, heading the man off as he ran in the direction of Columbia street. The man was S. E. Jackson, a logger at Mud Bay, and the woman who gave chase was his mother-in-law.
Crowds soon collected and Main street became black with people discussing the affair on all sides. Jackson repaired immediately to the office of Eddy Gordon, taking the child with him, while the man's wife and her mother went to the office of Justice McReynolds.
Jackson is a logger and left his wife about ten days ago. She took her infant, a boy about 11 months old, and went to her mother's home at Oyster Bay. Today they drove in town for provisions and the mother and child were sitting in the wagon when Jackson appeared and seized the child. The mother-in-law followed after him on a quick run.
It is said that Jackson had ordered a buggy at Drewry's stable, and the stableman took it to the corner of Main and Sixth street, but as Jackson failed to appear, he returned with it. Mrs. Jackson has engaged Attorney Moore, of the firm of Moore & Allen, and will commence proceedings for a writ of habeas corpus. The affair was the sensation of the afternoon.
Late this afternoon Judge Robinson granted the application for a writ of habeas corpus for the return of the child to its mother.
“Police! Police! He's stolen my baby! He's stolen my baby!”
Custody disputes still spill into public view, and the desperation of a parent can turn an ordinary street into a scene. The 1892 case shows how quickly private family turmoil became public spectacle—and how a judge’s writ decided the child’s immediate fate.
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