BUFFALO, NY, August 8, 1954

Justice Hamilton Ward will decide Thursday which of two estranged parents will be given custody of their two blond-haired children now the center of a dispute in a Supreme Court custody action.

The jurist said yesterday he will reserve decision until that time to give the parents time to reach a possible agreement.
Mrs. Martha Ann Atkinson, of Little Rock, Ark,. is asking custody of the two children in a writ of habeas corpus directed at her husband, Robert J. Atkinson, 138 Bidwell Pky.
The children, Dennis, 4, and James Edward, 2, are in the care of Mrs. Atkinson’s mother, Mrs. Marietta Fairchild, 894 W. Ferry St., pending the judge’s decision.
Mrs. Atkinson testified she went to Little Rock to establish residence for the beginning of a divorce action against her husband. Married June 20, 1940, in Cumberland, Md., the couple separated July 27, 1951.
The mother, who took the children with her to Arkansas, charges her husband took them without authority from a nursery where she had placed them.
Justice Ward said the court would award the mother custody if the father had the opportunity to visit the children. But such visitation would be impractical were the two boys taken to Little Rock, the judge pointed out.
Justice Ward stated he would give Mrs. Atkinson custody if she would agree to return to Buffalo to care for them. Attny. George J. Trimper, counsel for the father, said he would not object to that.
Mrs. Atkinson, under questioning by her attorney, Jerome C. Rosenthal, told the court she has been promised a $35-a-week job as a dance instructress in Little Rock.
Atkinson said he would take up residence in a furnished apartment if he were given custody of his two children.
Justice Ward emphasized that testimony revealed both parents could be given custody of the children.

Buffalo Courier-Express, August 8, 1954