The weekly Elko independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1872-1887, 1876-07-23
THE DIVORCE LAWYER.
IErcA Ihc New York if.,as,.I

tue new 1OTk IfcTdId.!
Tho murder Of House, the divorce
lawyer lE his vito, draws attention to
tho sinister means by which he nmasscd
q fortune. His wasMol Tho business BY!
which tho ordinary divorce, with good
apd sufficient cause, was obtrined IN
the usual manner. lie stool us the
trap into which wives or husbands
could fall who, ut tho first Quarrel,
found an INSCRIPTIONS wretch ready,
by n jrGslery Of the laws Of ccrtrin
States, to. gets nnn and wife parted on
short notice'and ut low rates. The fol-
lowing >ciso, which ralnp Ito light in
1871, willillustrnte one Of this rulfian's
favoritc modes Of obtaining II divorce:
4 muh named Randolph, who left Qlis
first wife i'll st. Louis anil litter 'cn con-
cerved passion for another woman in
Now Jersey, sought tho services OF
House to. obtain Il divorce. The lob
was dono for hundred dollars. Con
necticut was chcsenNs the State whose
indin-rubbpr divorce Inv was to DO taken
advantage Of. On II certain day in De-
ecmbcr, 1870, two men, accompanied
by local lawyer Of indifferent 'fepute,
appeared before Judge Minor in New
Haven. One Of tho men sxora he VAS
Randolph, that he resided in the State,
and that hc wanted divorce. Tho
other man testified to immoral conduct
Oh the part Of the first Mrs. Randolph
i'll Brooklyn. phc divorce was granted,
and tho case would have ended like
hundred of others had not there been
some money in tho case. Randolph,
on tho strength of tho bogus divorce,
married his inamorutn, and her step
father obtained nm injunction against
tho brides fortune, and after n short
time the gay LOlhurio found himself q
prisoner, charged with bigamy. House
was arrested i'll this city and taken 20
New Haven, where he WAS charged with
subornntion of perjury. lie put the
amount Of bail demanded in grcenbacks
i'll tho District Attorneys hands, was re-
leased and gaily returned TO New York
to continue his old course of obtaining
divorces ''with secrecy and dispatch"
by - system Of agents, chosen from the
'shysters" OF tho legal profession, he
is enabled to procure DEGREES of divorce
Ill Indiana, Illinois and Connecticut,
the New York courts being too open and
costly for his ncfariOus system. That
out Of all the cases in which hr abused
the laws Of the different States, lie WIS
arrested but once, and then, MS We have
seen, Slipped through the fingers Of
justice quite easily, may DO accounted
for by the fact that the State officials
ctrca but little SO they got their fees;
that tho pctjurcrs he hired left the
nciShborhOod OF thGr ciI1no dsrecipi-
tatoly, and, hbsvc all, thgongh tho
shnmcfacedncss which counHelcd wo1
men to submit TO private wrong rather
than fight mn imputation on their
chastity i'll the courts. His career calls
attention TO the necessity for uniform tli-
vorcc laws through the States, with
publicity for I'll cases, md something
more than tho oaths of Two unknown
parties being required 10 sever tho bond
CT marriage. The amonnt OF wro:g
which this man wrought, the Number Of
first quarrcls which his dcSilish feadi-
ness extended into lifelong miscsics,
the number OF gross creatures whose
cnrn.l appctitcs he ministcrcd TO, w0nld
cause shuclder TO society i! they could
DO rccOunted, and thrt the bullet which
ended his miserable life was fred 10y
tho hand Of II woman he had picked up
i'll his loathsome business will GOT cause
n wide regret.