Honolulu Record, September 9, 1948, vol. 1 no. 6, p. 1

Mother and Child Jailed ; In Old $7.50 Debt Dispute; W. K. Richardson Involved

In Case Of Mrs. Lorenzo

Though debtor's prison is supposedly only a bad memory of the semi-feudalistic past, a Honolulu woman recently went to jail with her 1-month-old baby as a result of $7.50 debt allegedly contracted by her dead husband. The woman is Mrs. Lydia Lorenzo, 1340 Linapuni St., the mother of 10 children. Here is what happened: W. K. Richardson, a bill collector, of 900 Nuuanu Avenue, sued Mrs. Lorenzo for $7.50. It was a bill, assumed at the time by her husband, for the ambulance which took Mrs. Lorenzo (then Mrs. Somera) to the hospital at the birth of one of her children. Mr. Somera died more than a year ago.

Richardson filed suit, against Mrs. Lorenzo and she appeared in court to explain that her husband was dead and that she had no money.

Nevertheless, the court entered judgment against her for the $7.50 plus court-costs and interests, ma­king the total $10.50.

The Richardson Agency next got an order from the court for the examination of Mrs. Lorenzo as a judgment debtor. But Mrs. Lorenzo could not appear in court at the appointed time because she was in the hospital having another baby, so the Richardson Agency then swore out contempt proceedings against her.

It was as a result of the contempt proceedings that Mrs. Lorenzo was arrested and jailed until a neighbor could be found who put up $10.00 bail for her.

The validity of the Richardson claim against Mrs. Lorenzo was quickly disposed of August 30 when Harriet Bouslog, attorney, of Bouslog and Symonds, appeared, and got the case dismissed.

Although Mrs. Lorenzo and her children have been relieved of the threat of jail, she still has plenty of troubles. With the size of her family I making it impossible for her to take an outside job, she must feed and clothe her children on the wages of her present husband, a longshoreman, and her circumstances are submarginal.