Baby Race

On Oct. 31, 1926 Charles Vance Millar, Toronto attorney, died. He had accumulated a fortune at the bar, at racetracks and in breweries. A bachelor, he bequeathed $500,000 of his estate to the Toronto woman who bore the most children within the ten-year period following his death. Last week in Toronto each of the two leading contenders for the prize money bore a child. Mrs. Frances Lillian Kenny, 31, gave birth to a girl, her eleventh child since the race began. Mrs. Grace Bagnato, 41, gave birth to a boy, her ninth child in the race.

Mrs. Bagnato and her husband, Joseph, are industrious Italians. She adds to the family income by acting as interpreter in Toronto courts. Only when labor is full upon her does she leave her work. In their 28 years of marriage the Bagnatos have had 23 children, of whom 13 are alive.

Mrs. Kenny, who last week had what looked like an unbeatable lead for the Millar money, is a French-Canadian. She and her husband, Matthew, are now on public relief. In twelve years of marriage they have had 14 children, including three sets of twins. Only five children are living. There should be six. The poverty-stricken Kennys occupy a rat-infested house. Last year a rat killed their yearling son Patrick.

Mothers Kenny and Bagnato, with 22 months of competition ahead of them, last week both vowed they would have more babies in an effort to win the $500,000.

Said Mrs. Bagnato: "I'm strong and in the best of health. I've been disappointed in many things during my life. But this time I think Mrs. Kenny will be disap pointed. I'll get the $500,000."Mrs. Kenny: "I am determined to beat that Bagnato woman, if nothing else. She's ten years older than me, and I'll go right on having children every year. I'll probably have twins before 1936. But anyway I'll beat that Bagnato woman. You see if I don't."

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