No record remains of the incident of burglary for which Francis Grim was arrested in 1940—six months after the arrest of his father, Robert, for passing a worthless check—or of the circumstances around his 1937 conviction for adultery, fornication and bastardy, other than the fact that he was ordered to pay the mother of his illegitimate child $2 a week for the care of the baby. He died in 1990, at the age of seventy-eight.
Sources: New Castle News (8 Dec 1937,”True Bills Found Against Defendants”; 29 Dec 1937, “Prisoners Are Before Court”).
Small Town Noir 
amazing, thanks for these posts
Thanks, Alex!
Was it illegal at the time to have a child with a woman to whom one was not married?
Yes, it was. Having it as a crime was, I suppose, intended to be a way of enforcing the man to pay his child support. Here’s another mug shot of a guy convicted of bastardy: https://smalltownnoir.com/2010/08/12/frank-soda-aka-frank-hray-adultery-bastardy/
Francis died in 1990 at age 88, meaning he was born in 1902.
Robert died in 1953 aged 61, so he was born 1892. Therefore Robert was ten when Francis was born. Yet you reger to Robert as Francis’ father – maybe they were brothers?
Very good point! I’ll go back and look through my notes and work out whether the mistake I’ve made is to do with their ages and birth dates or their family relationship. Thanks for pointing it out!
I worked out what I did wrong. I originally wrote that Francis was eighty-eight when he died, but he was actually seventy-eight. I added up the years wrong. I’ve fixed the post now. Thanks again for letting me know!