Commonwealth ex rel. Bendrick v. White

Opinion by

Mr. Justice Benjamin B. Jones,

This appeal attacks the propriety and validity of an orphans’ court decree1 which awarded the custody *57of a 16 months old child, over the objections of the natural father but with the acquiescence of the natural mother, to a married couple wholly unrelated to the child.

A marriage, short in duration but long in unhappiness, is the background of this litigation. On September 27, 1956, after a two weeks’ courtship, Charles Bendrick, 38 years old, and Lillian Kish, 21 years old, were married. From that date until they were divorced on March 4, 1960 — three…