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Show I, ;' WOULD SHIRK SHAME i i I i ' I ! Latest Move Made by Atter- , ; ni y Arthur Brown. 1 -! I LAW ON REGISTERING BIRTHS i T I 1 1 Helds That Parents Hav Ne ; Right in the Matter. County Attorney Westervelt Rules o , Against the Amended Report , of Mrs. Bradley. mmW 1 Wm The parentage of the latest child r born to Mrs. Anna M. Bradley socms to have been troubling Arthur Brown 1 j more than he should have cared to Hl .have ltr and he has 'endeavored to pre- UC1 vent his name appearing on the ofllclal K ' " l1rth records as the father of the boy. H'i The baby was born to Mrs. Bradley Hjj last October and Its birth was reported H l' -Dr. "Whitney, the attending physl- H, clan. The doctor, in his report, left mmMMr1 blank the space where the fathers Hrj i name should be given. A t'hort time H I'j Inter Mrs. Bradley filed an amended H report of the child's birth, as well as H that of the older boy, Arthur, in both H !' of which she named Arthur Brown as H the father of the children and swore to H'i the truth of the reports before a notary H Brown learned through the press of fl j 1 the,, amended reports filed by Mrs. Hk Bradley and tried to bluff the County Hr Clerk Into the idea that he would be Hjj guilty of a felony to enter the reports HIJ . upon the ofliciul records kept in his of- j 1 fice. County Clerk James asked him to H j' slate his contention in writing, and on H December 7. 1903, received one of the H man's characteristic lettcts, in which 1 ti he held that a birth could not be re- H (' ported by a parent where a physician , or midwife was In attendance at the H.H; Mr. James then referred the whole K matter to the County Attorney and H asked for advice in the case. County Hl J1 Attorney Westervelt looked into the (..vjj law on the questions raised and Mr. (ft James has Just received Ills opinion on H f? the matter. Hlar '-flie letter of Arthur Brown to the iU f'ounty Clerk, in which he attempts to f shift the responsibility of the child s HPf) fatherhood, is as follows: H'H BROWN'S LETTER. Hijf In pursuance of your request to put In H . writing what I thought about the regls- H tr.itloii of births, I take plcasuro in nn- I swcrlng you, repeating what I said vcr- H j ' bully; l-M Section of the revised statutes of J 1S3S provides who slinll register births. It S reads as follows: "All physicians and H professional mklwlves must keen n regls- ij tor of the time of each birth at which thev H H nsRlst professionally, the jjcx, raco and H 7i color of tho child, and the names and rcs- 1 i Idenco of the arontB." 1 I Section 2030 iirovldes: "Parents to re- Hli.V port If m any birth no physician mummi fk or njldwife attends, the parents must H ;T make the report." H V' In others words, you will soo that the H ' pj parents have no authority to report except . U In the contingency that no physician or ; $ midwife attended Any report from a pa- Hi rent In the event of sucli attendance la I unauthorized and void. The object of this ; ' Is manifest: to protect the public against liv vicious and Improper claims of parentage, Hl f Section 2332 provides that the reports in 11 ji cities like ourn ahalj be made to tho Board l ji of Public Health and the Board of Public HL Health shall make a report to you. tho j f Clerk 1 p Section 2033 provides a.nonc other things k , 7i3 follows: "The County Clerk must , w carefully examine each report and regie- f. ter the samo birth or death but once, al- vi though it may be reported by different I -u persons." And you will further see that , ?J after an attending physician hat? regls-'cred regls-'cred a birth It is utterly beyond the pow vj rrs for :uiy person to change that report I 41 for th6 reason I have above stated. Hh I may add that there Is a further reason M. j about it. These public registers are for a h highly benellclal purpose. They are not , i Intended nor should bo permitted to be the H ( J medium of a libelous and 1clous state- , L merit on the part of anyone, whether the fV- statements are true or false. In the mat- I U ter I referred you to, the statement Is , U very clearly libelous and malicious, and i 4 to encumber the register of births with H m -such flltlr is to degrade tho noble purpose P of this statute. Hl' n I also wlbh to call your attention to the i n statute which Is applicable on the clerk of l 3 tho Board of Health, but 1 apprehend to my custodian of any record, etc., who .shall be guilty of wilfully destroying, mu-; mu-; lilatlng, altering or falsifying the whole or , my part of such record of who permits ' is an' other person to do bo is guilty or f f felony, j. After the record of a birth Is made to 4 make another record of It is altering, jd I call your attention to theec things In T pursuance of your request and in advance j that your office may not make a double 1 I record. Yours truly, , tk ARTHUR BROWN. u Where failure of the attonding physician B ?l to act, or properly record, does not au-yt au-yt thorite tho parent to report. If he attends r- the parent lias no authority, j The last paragraph was added to the abo'e letter after it had been type-A type-A written and was inscribed with pen and U lulc. P. This letter was written by Mr. James 1 1 to the County Attorney on January ! - f JAMES PASSES IT ALONG. H.rLV4 In reP'' to yours of the 13th let me sav VriT that lhe facta of the case, In which I wish 4 to be advised us to my duties, as I under, -j - stand them, arc ns follows: W On November 3, 1003, there was filed with j me by the clerk of the City Board of 1 n Health and now appears on record, the JJ.f following birth notice: "No. lis, male. H A. white, American, date of birth, October 2. uM 1003. Father's name not given; mother's ! ji) nane, Annie Maddlson (Rradlov.) Parent's -jh (mother's) residence, CI South Second rju. West; physician, K. XV. Whitney." jn On Januair 11, 1SOI. there was nicd with jdmo by the same official another report alJ"? roat3lnK 03 follows: "No. ?,, male, white, ty A American r date of birth, October 21. 1M3 A a. l'lacc t birth. 51 South Second West." H' V3 Father's name, Arthur Brown. Mother's I'ij-t-. name, Annie Maddlson. Parent's real-Hl real-Hl rt"-lcncc, 51 South Second West. Attonding Hl Physician, Dr. E, W Whitney. Reported M"7 bv Annie M Brndlcy " Hl'ql After having received the first report, 1 ,c,Ci Arthur Brown of this city, served notice jUti upon me stating In substanco that the- AN Ai.:ing und rcjpOrdlng of the-necond report I vJ i1 wol,l(1 make me guilty of felonv, and In SI, support of his contention quotes section I'll J''19 of tnc rov'sed statutes. An X After quoting at length the same sec-Ifitlons sec-Ifitlons and chapters of the Revised I t'Statutes as referred to by the Sonator, H j TMjCounty Clerk James continues ns fol-i fol-i jiVIowb: fe- 'J'he position taken 'by the Senator is that si ew4'irentB have no authority to report except f--Mi. the. contingency that no physician or A midwife attended. Ho holds that the ob ject of this is .to protect thcvpubllc. against vicious and improper claims oClpanlagW After quoting section. -2033', . County Clerk James says: Now, what 1 wish to know is, would I bo strictly in tho lino of my duty to Ille and record this notico of. January 11, 1S0I, or by so doing would this office bo making a double record? County Attorney Westervelt, in answer an-swer to the above letter, wrote the following:: fol-lowing:: COUNTY ATTORNEY'S OPINION. In reply to yours of January IGlh, T would say that tho contention, on tho part of your Illustrious correspondent to tllo effect that (ho Illlng und recording of the second report would uake you guilty of a felony, is a llttlo too absurd to merit any serious consideration at nil, also the contention con-tention that parents have no authority to report except in the contingency that no physician or midwife attended. In my opinion there Is absolutely no merit or senso In cither of such contentions. The provisions of section 2033. howovcr; that the clerk must register tho same birth but once though It may be reported by different dif-ferent persons, would, I think, precludo you from recording this second report received re-ceived on January 11, 1901. I think, however, how-ever, It Is your duty to lllo It with the other reports that you hove received, without with-out registering the samo upon the birth register. |