Show MODERN PORTIA SCORES SOCIAL SYSTEM I GIRLS C CRIME IME WAS RESU RESULT T OF NEGLECT By HORTENSE SAUNDERS SAUNDERS' NEA Service Writer EV YORK Jan 13 13 society's s 's Indictment with a coon coun- ter indIctment o ot socIety a mothers mother's case wIth an eloquent argument argument for mothers mothers' pensions pensions- that Is a modern Portia's defense of ofa ofa a girl who shot her betrayer Dorothy Doroth Frooks the woman attorney attorney at- at torney who volunteered to defend year old Catherine de NInno charged with manslaughter se sees s through the tragedy or of this one girls girl's life a revelation ot of what countless others In a a similar environment environment en- en may encounter This case resolves Hse Into a ahome ahome home problem declares Miss Frooks Had this gIrl been surrounded surrounded sur- sur rounded In her childhood with ordinarily I favorable home conditions this tragedy would have been averted NO MORAL PROTECTION Catherine de Ninno was never a nor child She was one of oC eIght children of a widowed wid- wid owe owed mother who spent her days away from home working at manual manual man man- ual tasks To add to the Inadequate Income the mother took a roomer Into the already overcrowded house How could she protect her chIldren morally when she was taxed beyond her strength bY providing physical necessities necessities' V Had this mother been receiving a modest widows widow's pension from the city or state she could have provided provided pro pro- vided a real home for tor her chIldren Her daughter did dIel not commit her act against socIety until socIety had driven her Into an unbearable position position tion because of neglect Briefly stated the de Ninno case Is this Catherine at the age ag or 12 was attacked by Louis Fino She became the thc mother ot of his child which was given out for adoptIon at the time of Its birth and the secret was known only by a few Catherine went hack back to school In Inthe inthe the fall and at I 1 G C tell fell In love with ith 5 r L i l 11 5 DOROTHY FROOKS Rocco de Ninno whom she married Fino threatened to tell her husband husband hus- hus band ot of the past and Catherine paid hIm to be silent as long as she could When she stopped he made good his threat and de Ninno put her out ot of his home Catherine twice betra betrayed ed laid for Fino fired three shots Into him was seized by bya a policeman before she could take her own life It Is society's fa fault that this murder mur- mur der was committed sa says s 's Miss Frooks The attorney obtained the permission ot of the court to have Sophie Irene Loeb president ot of the Child Welfare Committee of AmerIca America Amer- Amer Ica speak as amicus curiae friend ot of the court This is the first time In America that a woman has appeared as amicus curiae in defense of another woman In a manslaughter trial The legal procedure pro pro- Itself itsel was almost obsolete This gave gae Miss Loeb an advocate of widows widow's pensions the chance to point out that a pension might have prevented the occurrence of four years ago which culminated in a murder also to analyze the tragedy in Its broader social aspects from the standpoint ot of the general public The case letters of sympathy sympathy sym sym- sym sym- pathy and otters offers ot of aid every corner of the United States Slates Miss Frooks says There have been requests requests re- re quests from dozens ot of women women- strangers to CatherIne to be allOwed al- al l lOwed wed to testify for herThe her The people who actually knew her are few Tier Her teachers almost had forgotten her and her friends were all children too themselves young to make maim good character wit wit- nesses TRINITY OF YOUTH Miss Frooks though still in he has had a varied and eventful career She is the youngest woman woman wo- wo man member of the United States supreme court bar and has been attorney attorney at- at torney for the Salvation Army for Cor some time where she became particularlY par par- interested In the problems of the poor Her first appearance In public was at the age ot of 11 11 when she toured this country as the bab baby suffragette DurIng the war she gained fame as a yeoman when she I was credited with recruiting men and with the personal sale of ofa a million ml dollars dollars' worth ot of Liberty bonds An interesting feature ot of this tIe de Ninno Inno trial besides the youth ot of the defendant and her lawyer Is that the judge James M. M Barrett Is in his lOs and Is the youngest Jurist In the higher courts of New l' York City |