The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1871-05-24
Iniquity of the Western Divorce
System.

From the "social stadies,s in the n. Y.
Werld.l
In the Courier, Of Lafayette, Ind,
there appeared q few days ago, M of
the most effective protests against the
iniquity of the Western divorce sys.
tenn Tor any such system) yet given TO
public print, its form being that of o
letter from q cruetIy forsaken wife
whose husband had placed Indiana
between himself and all that is honor
able in manhood's best estate. The
unhappy lady, in her modest, yet earn
est appeal to public sentiment for the
Justice which she evidently despairs of
receiving from the Indiana courts.
signs her own full name aud present
address to her letter, and gives also
the names of her unworthy husband
and other persons concerned; but as
these are not necessary TO the moral
effect of her story in its general appli.
cation, they may be omitted from the
present condensation. She relates
thst she was married, in 1861, at Nor
r%isiana, just beyond this city. Until
1868 all went well with the family, to
which several children camc in due
order but in that year, while the
wife and mother was yet ill from the
ultimate process of maternity, her huE-
band brought into their home, as
nurse and housekeeper, a woman des-
tined to make it a home no longer
This female traitor on the hearth-a
divorced Rite-after bringing unhap-
piness into the house, pretended to
leave it and its inmates forever in April
of the following year. During tie
ensuing month the husband departed
for the. west on pretext of finding
some favorable neighborhood in that
section wherein TO establish a profes
sional practice for himself and a new
home for his family : and the wife and
children were left here at the east. in
such accommodations as they could
command, after all the lady's personal
property had been sold to fit forth her
treacherous lord for his distant journey.
Returning eastward for a few months
in 1870, he induced his wife to let
him pack all their best household furn-
iture to Lafayette, in Indiana, and
then went thither himself, on preterce
again of preparing a better place there
for herself and their children. From
themes ho wrote home at intervals,
sending a little money Every littIe)
occasionally; but always giving some
excuse for not calling the waiting one
to him. At last, the increasing cool
ness of these letters, added to the sud-
denly realized fact that they came from
Indiana, prompted the wife, though
chiefly through the limitations Of her
more worldly-wise eastern friends, to
fear that the man was playing some
disingenious game with her. BY ad-
vice Of relatives, she commissioned a
liwyer here to ascertain from a lawyer
in Lafayette whether her husbands
name had appeared there in any legai
proceedings. and was almost killed by
the ensuing intelligence that the un-
scrupuious scoundrel had not only OBJ
tanned a divorce from her, but had also
been privately married to their former
nurse and housekeeper. Though liv-
ing but five months in Indiana he had
swore to the requisite one years resi-
dence; the decree bad been granted
Upon an affidavit" which had been
subsequently distracted from the court
files and destroyed, and the cruelty
discarded, robbed, true wife was left
to obtain such reparation as abe could.
Well may the latter use the words
with which her letter begins:
Private scrro1s, especially those Of
a domestic nature, ought perhaps,
with rare exceptions to be privately
borne, rs their publicity too frequent
ly results only in exciting a morbid
curiosity and cu~ltivating and crafty
ing a taste which must exert q demon
a1izing influence on society. But
where laws are SO framed rs to enable,
if not invite, crafty and interruptions
husbands to abandon their innocent
wives and helpless children, and with
heartless cruelty consign them to deg
radiation and the cold charity of the.
world, in which poverty and crime are
too often regarded as synonymous, it
seems that, however unpleasant the
task, it is a Christian duty to make
the facts known, to the end that an
enlightened public sentiment shall de-
mand legislation to protect and pre-
serve the sancity of the family re-
lation.