The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1874-02-20
Uoadcys of TIedIocA,.
MATRIMONIAL COMPLICATIONS.


/ would be secuted as eXtravagantly lmprac-
ticaUle in fiction, and the peculiarly facilc
genius of social and legal institutions in
the United States seem notably favorable
to the development of such curIosItles.
I Thus, jury in Portland, Me, has recent
Iy disagreed, and thereby necessitated a
new trial, in a case of alleged mistaken
identity, the parties TO which are gentle
! man who claims another persons wife as
his own, and the lady, who firmly and in
dignantly denies that she ever saw the
claimant before. Mrs. Waite, wife of
highly respectable citizen of that name,
is the lady i'll question, and the claimant
of her marital allegiance, who Is from an
other part of the country, persists that he
! once married and was deserted by her, and
brings letters and witnesses in proof there
. of. 81 e. on the contrary is sustained by
her husband children. old friends and &C
quaintances, in utterly denying all knowl-
e0ge of the man and, as the disagreement
of the Jury shows, the evidence or both
sides is so strong as to battle the average of
human sagacity to decide the astounding
problem.
But yet more surprising are the anoma-
lous legal complications in case in San
Benardino, California, Of which the fol-
lowing are the chief facts: In 1872, an Eng
lishman named OadeS came thither from
Auttralia and purchased farm in Temes-
@
perienced bitter domestic bereavement and
pecuuiary loss in the land whence he came,
and exhibiting great dependency of spirit
( in consequence. III January of the fol-
lowing year he wooed and won highly re-
/ spectacle widow of San Bernardiuo named
Foreland but not without giving her the
tragic history of his past errors. About
six years before he had been n thrifty
farmer in Wellington county, New Zeal
{ and on the frontiers of the seditious Ma
ori county. During his absence from home
one day, on a short journey Of business,
while his wife and children were alone in
/ the house, q band of savage Maoris devas-
tated the place, and left the buildings in
smoking ruins. Upon his return he found
only heaps of smouldering cmbers and
ashes in the place where the homestead
had stood and the charred human frag
ments in the dreadful wreck left him no
hope but that his whole family had been
butchered by the pitiless destroyers. 1t
seemed, indeed, barely possible at first that
some of the victims had been carried off
captive but weeks, months, and even
years of pitiful waiting and inquiring never
sustained the possibility.
A last the inconsulable man had gath
cred together what little worldly substance
vas left to him, and enigrated to Califor-
mia, and now .old the story of his ca!ami-
ties TO ber whom he beSought to be his
: StCOiiu nllc. nus HlIH pItldthi KNEW
what Oades had suffered before she gave
him her hand in wedlock, and needed no
fun ther information from him, when, in a
year after the marriage-Or only a few
weeks ago-the first Mrs. Oades and three
children arrived at the farm in search of
her husband and parent The woman
and the little ones had been made prison.
ers, instead of killed by the Maoris the
human remains found in the smoking ruins
3 fhnSR of who slain hy
each other in q fight for the spoils and
after a captivity of years, the hapleSs Mrs.
Osdes and her children had finally been
released, and followed their natul al pro-
tector to California.
Upon hearing the piteous tale from the
! poor wanderers, Oades and his second wife
were Of one mind about what to do in the
matter They would not relinquish their
own union, for it had been entered into in
perfect good faith on both sides. and was
justified by the mutual devotion it had de-
veloped but the desOlate new corners must
be received into the house as legitimate
members of the family, and receive all the
amends that could possibly be made for
their anamolous condition. Not so. though,
decided the good people Of San Bernardo
no, who, on being frankly told of the do
mestic situation, insisted that there must
be divorce to accommodate affairs to q
civilized form. AS neither OaGeS nQr e.
ther of the Mrs. Oades would move in the
matter, the public prosecuting attorney
was constrained to institute legal proceed
I ings. And then began the judicial per
pleXities of the problem. According to
the Los Angeles Erpress, the husband was
first sued for retaining the woman from
Australia under his roof He proved that
she was his lawful wife, and the suit was
abandoned. A suit was then brought
against him for unlawfully living with
wife number two. He was acquitted un-
der the law, which declares that 1.-The mar
iiage of a person having husband or wife
living is void, unless such former wife or
husband, living was absent and not known
to such person to be living for five years
/ Immediately preceding such subsequent
marriage-in which case the subsequent
marriage is void only from the time its
nullity is adjudged by proper tribunal
He was then prosecuted for bigamy but
the law provides that mo person shall lie
held guilty of bigamy whose husband or
wife has been absen: for five successive
years without being known to such per
SON as being living So he again escaped
| \ fourth suit was finally brought to dis
/ solve the second marriage. That failed
because not brought by one of the inter
est,d parties. They were appealed to, but
/ refused to take action. At public meet
/ ing of the now fairly frantic citizens, it
L
! pass special act dissolving Oade's last
marriage. But Oades, who was present,
/ Immediately arose to address the meeting,
! and told them that that was no go, for by
! the twentieth section of the fourth article
! of the Constitution of California it is ex-
+ pressly provided that ''po divorce shall be
granted by the Legislature" AS Oades
! produced the book itself, this argument
! was unanswerable. 1t was then proposed
that the Legislature should be petitioned
/ TO call constitutional convention for the
purpose of annulling one or the other Of
4 Oades marriages but Oades produced the
Constitution of the United States and read
I the tenth section of the first al ticle, which
( expressly provides that ''No State = = \
shall pass any law = impairing the OBJ
legation of contracts" land marriages ;,
he said was well settled to be n contract
and therefore 10 earthly power could de-
/ prive him Of his vested right ia his two
wives
/ And thus the case stands at present
one of the most remarkable examples of