Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1884-09-09
NOTES FROM SHERMAN.
The District Court Opens with -Four
Hundred and Twenty-Four
Cases on the Docket.
Ninety,Phree Petitions for Divorce from
GAysOn County A Court
House Fight

SHERMAN, TEN, Sept, S.-The fall
ERIN OF our district court opened this
afternoon at 1850 O'clock, Judge Rich
'rd Maltbie on the bench. The Judge
arrived nom his home in Mckinney
IN the li;io train but did not con
yene the court until after dinner.
The docket shows a vast amount OF
business for the present term. There
are Se4 civil cases, of which 1914 are al,-
pearanees, l0l jury cases and ninety I
nine on the judges docket. Added 10 .
these are thirty criminal cases con
unued from the last term. This gives /
us l24 cases to be tried during the 1
term without counting the I
bills Of indictment yet 20
be found by the present |
grand jury. The work already on the /.
docket amounts TO q fraction less than
four and q half cases to be tried each I
working day of the term, and the true
bills will doubtless Increase this mum.
Der at least one for every day the court
sits between now and Christmas. The
business is behind and no power can
help II so long as our terms are limited
10y law as at present, The only remedy
is TO have this great county with its
teeming population, made into
separate district with power
TO run the court perpetually
and II will be the duty of our next leg
islature to 40 create IL into q judicial
district. In the foregoing number OF
cases 1t pains me TO say that there are
ninety-three petitions for divorce, for
weight of which allege residence in
Denison. All these petitions aver
that the plaintiffs are citizens of Gray
son county, and have been for the six
months next preceding the suits, but
II IS an open secret that many of them
have come TO Texas for the sole pur-
pose of taking advantage OF our
liberal divorce laws, To free themselves
from the CALLING chains that bind them
10 uncongenial companions in the
matrimonial harness, Both men aud
women desert their homes in other
states, reside the necessary six months
in Texas and then plead desertion,
failure to provide for the household,
habitual drunkenness, cruel and in.
human treatment, or iniidelity 10 the
marriage vow, one or all of which, II
proven, entities the petitioner 10 relief
under Texas laws, and the court is left
WIN AAAAlN NlHNltAAhli III lNllhNAlAlk AlAt
decree.
In our experience we only remem-
/ Der one solitary suit for divorce in the
| past six years where objection was
raised and the decree contested, aud
/ in this case the fight came from a
/ division of property and not from any
I objection 10 having the marriage bonds
/ dissolved. The great moral question
lot 4 saN Iaf a 49,
! the ancient theory that the matii
! monial compact is "a religious rite,
revocable only by death, or the on,
single biblical ground for divorce, ha'
long since been settled bv the legisla
lures of the states Of this Union and
far more latitudinous code has beei
established. The churches may pro
test, and do, but the most devou
churchman is as little 10th 10 plead In
compatibility of temper, harsh ant
inhnman treatment, etc, as the un
godly, when he or she finds the connu
bal yoke il chatting neck unwilling
TO wear il longer. The question
whether II is better for society b
have contentious couples set free, OF
force them 10 endure the evils of in
compatible or autithetical marriage
has been wisely settled by Texas il
favor of the former course. To thi
can doubtless be ascribed the fact tina
wife murder IL almost unknown to us
nor have we ever TO chronicle tn
poisoning OF husband as II
lief to abused womanhOod.
The first proceeding was the heaI
ing of the habeas corpus case of Pa
Carroll of Bells, now in durance o
the charge of assault TO rape con
mitted on the person of Mrs Jone
The defense set M is that the prisonC
was too drunk mt the time 10 kno
: what he was about, and TIL,
! therefore he Is not respOnsib
in the eyes of the law
The habeas corpus was denied and Il
defendant remanded TO jail 20 ava
the action Of the grand jury.
The following We're then calle'
d tried and sworn 10 serve as gran
r Jurors for the term: ] V. Bemusdafle
4 foreman; r A. Chapman Il. A. Sull
: van, sam Hanna, $. =. Hart, Hi Del
: mis-, A. NJ. Bryant, A. j. Jernegai
l. William Shackelford, r., Y. Aston,
e A. Mansfield, NJ Davis. The con
= then adjourned Io9 o'clock to-morro
A good deal of cotton was on u
: market to-day, and sold at nine and
, half to ten cents.
y Citizens from all parts of the count
! in attendance on the court report Il
y crop suffering for want of rain.
!, Joe Cobb and j. b. Cox, attorneys
/, u this bar, had little difficulty in u
: courthouse this afternoon about son
|" private matter. Cobb called Cox d
.e uglier name than he liked, and Il
y offended Individual proceeded to sht
e the Cobb with his staff He garpish'
his head with bloody blow, but b
ISLANDERS lnterfered and suppress
hostilities before any serious damal
WAS done.
N The game Of base ball set TO come (
here Yesterday failed because the Rio
ardson team did not come 10 tin
.e The Clippers now propose TO challen
!, the Fort Worth nine and have gar
: In which all Texas will take AN int
eat. The Sherman club Is composed
lie some of the most athletic young ms
v In the city aud vicinity, and THU
+ with little more practice they @
. core with the best In all the land.
=, Eco. Hudson Of Colllnsville was
~ the city to-day and filed his report
e q for I'm Haa !