River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1879-04-17
FORGED DIVORCES.

FORGED DIVORCES.
HoO They fire Made by Ne,c York La,cyers.
The reporter of the New York World, for
whom New York divorce lawyer procured
divorce from a wife who never existed, the
document being signed "John L. Went
worth, judge of the circuit court of Wal
worth county, Wisconsin, proceeded to
/ Wisconsin to investigate the matter. He
reports to the World:
The circuit court of Walworth county I
| found to be in EIkhorn, which is about at a
triangle when its two sides are shaped to-
ward Elkhorn from Chicago northwesterIy,
and from Milwaukee southwesterly. /
found Elkhorn to be a beautiful little
| town where the inhabitants seemed
too happy to care for divorces
among each other and too cautious to deal
divorces out literally to strangers. Soon
after my arrival / went into the court house,
and there | asked to see the court calendars.
/ discovered at once that MIR. Monro Adams
had made blunder in dating his decree in
March, because there was jury term only
in February and law term only in June
Also that rule 6 OF the court read thus:
All actions for divorce must be put the
calendar and tried in open court and refer
ences TO take testimony will not be ordered,
nor the cases heard on testimony taken out of
court, except go far as the same may be taken
by deposition, or on commission in the cases
provided for by law. No action for divorce
not on the calendar will be tried.
| next inspected the calendar. l found
upon it the cases of Henry G. Rue vs. Cora
A. Rue, 9. @. Dickerson VS.. Alice l.. Dicker-
son, Alice M. Chesebro VS.. Azen S. Cheese
bro, Lizzie Annandale VS.. VIM. j. AMMAN
dale, Warren Jenkins vs. Elenor M. Jenkins,
Ebert FL. Pixley VS.. Emily Pixley, Elizabeth
Smith vs.. Alexander Smith, Hannah L..
Doane vs.. Jesse Doane and Elymas Brooks
VS.. Emma Brooks. This was certainly fair
list in town of fifteen hundred inhabitants.
But then it represented an entire county,
and might indeed, represent whole State.
| Under the head of Mr.. Munroe Adams it
represented whole union. But there was
no entry of Bowes VS.. Bowes
| My western attorney, Henry G. Colt-who
was named in the decree-nust of course
know all about these DEFICIENCIES, aud to him
/ would go.
| ''Colt, Colt said the hotel keeper, 'plenty
of colts growing up behind the bars of the
pastures yonder when the snow goes away,
but no Colt at this bar"
| read over list of thirty attorneys of the
| county-most of whom were regarded as
| honors to the professionally no Colt"
Alas! / had not only been divorced from an
| imaginary wife, but the decree had been, it
now seemed, procured by an imaginary at
| torneyi
The judge, however, was not imaginary.
He was pointed out to me as he walked
through the principal street to the chambers.
substantial, unghoetiy and intellectual
gentleman of digniied presence, and just
the Judge whose decree of divorce it must
L, Ax1
tin box.
first examined the real seal at the court
house, and in comparing it with the inn
preston on the decree, found it precisely of
the size that was impressed upon my de-
cree, and having precisely the same words
running around the rim. But / also found
that whereas the court house seal had JUS
tice-unbandaged- and scales SIN its midst"
my seal had three stars in the center; my
seal was a seal calculated to make even an
undivorced man see stars, and such as | did
see in Judge Wentworth's gray eyes when
told him my story as it had already been
narrated to the World.
eyes, sir,'' said he, as he sat in his cosy
chambers. 'Here is the title of the court on
your decree the attestators as filed in are
upon our blanks; and my signature at the
bottom would read correctly ifz-as Eunsby
Nigh say had signed it.
(which / did not. And this clever forger
for he has used precisely the formula of
divorce-decree that is adopted here, and has
made fair imitation of my signature, which
shows cleverness-made the decree one day
short of the adjournment of my court. The
decree is dated March s, but the court adj
iourned March Z. The whole thing is skill
full forgery. It is one calculated to deceive.
For instance, suppose you had been real
husband. You read the decree and on in
quiry hear that John I. Wentworth is the
Judge out here, and you sec his name
signed to decree. You have no money
to pay for journeying here after inqui-
ries; and perhaps You are SO anx-
ious to remarry that you don't
care to make inquiries. You show the de-
cree to your (divorced) wife or to her friends,
and they--thrown off their guard by the very
look of such decree-acqulesce IN 1t. For
collusive parties such forged decree is per-
fectly useful, so long as they are content to
mutually act upon the decree. | never be-
fore heard of forged divorce DEGREES; but
can imagine there could be o lot of them ex-
listing like this decree and being acted upon
without the forgery coming to hight. You,
it seems, had a special reason for inquiry
but liz how many other cases might it have
Deen Helu III aDeyanee OF tne inquiry never
made? Besides, in Wisconsin the ground of
incompatibility of temper for divorce must
always be coupled with some act of physical
violence. Then there must be residence
for the party applying of one year IN this
State.''
Such is the substance of the interview
had with the judge who purported to have
divorced me, but who could not have
divorced me even if the papers had really
reached him, because I was not married.
| asked Judge Wentworth if he had any
objections to furnishing a written statement
of the falsity or forgery of my decree, and
he not only answered that he would forward
it to your address III New York, but would
come there at any convenient time as wit
ness, in order to establish the forgery of the
decree.