The Sex Side of Life

Mrs. Mary Ware Dennett, 53, a grandmother, sat in a Brooklyn court last week studying the faces of twelve Brooklyn men, middle-aged and elderly, who in turn eyed her. They were a Federal Jury sitting to decide whether she had committed a criminal obscenity by sending through the mails a 24-page pamphlet she had written, entitled The Sex Side of Life. Beside Mrs. Dennett sat her 28-year-old son Carleton (with his wife) and her younger son Devon, aged 24. Near her sat Attorney Morris L. Ernst and Dr. R. L. Dickinson of the N. Y. Academy of Medicine, her supporters. At the other end of the table sat Assistant U. S, Attorney James E. Wilkinson, with John S. Sumner of the New York Society for Suppression of Vice and Canon William Sheafe Chase of the Episcopal Church. On the bench sat Judge Warren B. Burrows of Connecticut.

What the Jury Was Told. It was related, by consent of both parties, that Mrs. Dennett had mailed the pamphlet. The question was on its obscenity. The prosecutor "explained" the case 'to the jury. He read excerpts from Havelock Ellis and Henry Louis Mencken recommending the pamphlet, but later Judge Barrows instructed the jury: "I warn you against giving these the credence of testimony." Then Prosecutor Wilkinson, a fine, bluff man, read the pamphlet aloud while the courtroom, crowded with spectators, listened breathlessly.

The defense placed Mrs. Dennett on the stand. She was allowed to answer three or four minor questions, concerning the fact that she had written the pamphlet 15 years ago for her two sons, then 13 and 9. The attorneys summed up and the prosecutor said: "It may be true that to the pure all things are pure, and that we have to go down to the gutter for our information, but this woman is trying to drag us down into the sewer."

What the Jury Was Not Told. Judge Burrows refused to allow the defense to call any of a large group of witnesses who were at hand to testify as to the reasons why the Medical Review of Reviews had first published the article, or why the Y. M. C. A., the Y. W. C. A., churches, Union Theological Seminary, and various social organizations had distributed thousands of copies of The Sex Side of Life during the past ten years.

What the Pamphlet Told. In her pamphlet Mrs. Dennett advised youths "to understand the wonderful sex organs, that are different in men and women, what each part is for and how it works." She described the male and female genital apparatus in main detail, with illustrations by Dr. Robert Latou Dickinson, gynecologist and eugenist. She told of ovulation. She described insemination. She wrote: "Don't let any one drag you into nasty talk or thought about sex. It is not a nasty subject." She mentioned the two terrible sexual diseases. She concluded with: "The physical side of love is the intensely intimate part of it, and the most critical for happiness. . . ."

What the Jury Did. The jury went into retirement for 42 minutes. John Cowan, one of the jurors, was later interviewed by a reporter. He gave the following account of what took place: the first ballot was 8-4 for conviction, the second 9-3, the third 10-2. At that point a court attendant warned the jurors it was after 5 p. m. A fourth ballot was quickly taken: 12-0. "Guilty." Colloquy between the reporter and the juror:

Reporter: "Where did you get your first sex information?"

Juror: "From my playmates."

Reporter: "Would this book have injured you at eleven?"

Juror: "No, because at that age I knew all about sex."

Sentence. Judge Burrows decreed a fine of $300. Mrs. Dennett said she would go to jail sooner than pay it. Her friends planned to give her pamphlet to President Hoover, asked help.