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The day book. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1911-1917, April 30, 1915, NOON EDITION, Image 30

Image and text provided by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL

Persistent link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045487/1915-04-30/ed-1/seq-30/

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SOCIAL WORKERS PACK COURTROOM AT THE
INSANITY TRIAL OF MRS. BROCKtNGTON
A gasp of indignation ran through
the well-dressed social workers and
their friends who have crowded the
county court in the hearing of Mrs.
Marion Brockington on an insanity
petition when it was revealed that in
vestigation had not been made alone
of Mrs. Brockington, but that the di
vorce record of Mrs Gertrude Howe
Britton, member of the Board of Ed
ucation and ex-former head of the
Juvenile Protective ass'n, had been
looked up.
William H. Dunn, a manufacturer,
who has spent nine years fighting the
juvenile court laws and the Juvenile
Protective ass'n, stated he had em
ployed Mrs. Bropkington two years
ago to investigate the record of Mrs.
Britton.
He declared his reason for doing
this had been that Mrs. Britton
caused to be thrown into jail and kept
there 16 months Florian Afton, who
had distributed circulars for Dunn
announcing his lectures against the
juvenile law. He admitted the
charge against Afton had been a
serious one, but said that the su
preme court had set him free and
thus vindicated him.
Dunn said he also employed Mrs.
Brockington to investigate juvenile
court records of one hundred cases
and a case which took her into the
county court social service depart
ment. In the attempt to prove Mrs.
Brockington's insanity the most
prominent social workers in the city
have given testimony. Juvenile
court investigators, juvenile protec
tive sleuths and social workers and
city detectives have testified.
It is their claim that she misrep
resented herself as a social worker
and as such acted as a runner for
lawyers, but by their own evidence
she was permitted to woik in the
courts and even assigned cases until
there was a concerted effort to ban
ish her.
Oh behalf of Marion Brockington'a
work as a social service investigator,
Mrs. Ella Kirby, a frail, nervous little
woman, testified that after she had
failed through the court of domestic
relations to have her husband forced
to support her, four years ago, Mrs.
Brockington found her crying in the
court, sympathized with her and was
assigned to her case by one of the
workers then in the court. That
through Mrs. Brockington she not
only was able to obtain support from
her husband so long as he was in the
city, but that when she was quar
antined with her children with scarlet
fever for six weeks Mrs. Brockington
gave her money to help her out.
She also declared that she never
gave Mrs. Brockington any money,
but that a juvenile court worker in
the court of domestic relations had
called on her over a year ago to find
out if she hadn't given money to Mrs,
Brockington.
Mrs. Mary J. Zollman, a Blaine
school teacher, summoned by the
state, directly contradicted the testi
mony of Officer Luc, who conducted t
investigations for the Juvenile Pro
tective ass'n. Luce had declared Mrs.
Brockington when arrested and pull
ed in from the fire escape had said
she wanted to kill herself. Mrs. Zoll
man said she heard Mrs. Brockington
say she had no intention of killing
herself, but wanted to reach the office
on the floor below to escape being,
sent back to the detention hospital,,
from which she had been released onr
a habeas corpus by Judge Cooper. ,
Mrs. Mary Burke, 3135 W. Monroe
st., also testified that .she owed a,
great many kindnesses to Marion,
Brockington and that Mrs. Brock-'
ington had not taken money from.
her. i2
Lewis Anderson, ex-assistantC
state's attorney of the county court,-

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