The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-01-23
WORSE AND monn OF FIT.

The great divorce case has not ceased to
produce great sensationahsm. The applica-
tion of Sarah Althea's counsel for SI5O.OOO
CO unffees and of Sarah AIthea for $4,000
per month alimony, to date back an in
definite number of months, was met by a
solemn denial by Sharon of the authenticity
of the marriage contract and the Dear Wife
letters, q confession by Nellie Bracket,
substantisted by a Chinese servant, of the
process by which the Dear Wife letters were
manufactured, and finally by the production
Of an alleged agreement between Tyler and
Gumpel, by which Gumpel wss to receive
$25, 700 out of the result of the suit, in case
the plaintiff should win, for testifying to the
validity of the contract and the Dear Wife
letters. The conf ession of Nellie Bracket
contains the Pitiful story of girl of seven
teen seduced from her parents and led grad
ually by the power of a stronger nature into
participation in villainy and crime. Il
bears evidences of sincerity, and will i'm
press every candid mind.
The affidavit of the defendant recites his
advanced age of 81, his condition of health,
and the probable shortness of his life, and
proceeds to state with great dignity and
solemnity, the falsity of the alleged mar
riage and to denounce the suit as bare and
fraudulent conspiracy on the part of the
plaintiff and her confederates, against his per-
son and estate.
The denouement with reference to the Ty-
Ier-Gumpel contract was the most surprising.
The contract as it appeared on its face was
a corrupt one between the expert of the de-
PENDANT and the attorney of the plaintiff by
the terms of which Gumpel was to swear the
plaintiffs case through. 1t was undoubtedly
in the handwriting of Mr. Tyler and con-
tanned his signature and the apparent sigma
ture of Gumpel sworn to and identified as
his by one familiar with his handwriting.
The astonished silence caused by its produc-
ton was broken by Mr.. Tyler's explanation
that the whole thing was trick gotten up to
deceive General Barnes, and with a view to
obtain money under false pretenses, that
with this view Mr.. I yler had drawn it up and
had got Mr. Gumpel to show him how to i'm
itate his, GumpeIs, signature, and that after
an hours practice he succeeded so admirably
that the genuine and counterfeit could hardly
be distinguished, that he then wrote Gumpers
name to the document and handed it to his
clerk to be sold to Barnes as a genuine docu.
ment.
explanation and defence of a most question
able transaction remains to be seen. But
assuming Judge Tyler's stale explanation to
be true it demonstrates capacity and tai
ent for forgery in the distinguished counsel
for which he has hardly been credited among
his other accomplishments. One would think
that so practical an illustration of the ease
of forgery as was afforded in this case by
counsel not especially expert in handwriting,
in the imitation of the difficult signature of
an expert, would throw a cloud of suspicion
upon the authenticity of the documents put in
evidence by the plaintiff, and which bear SO
many suspicious evidences of fraud and decep-
ton. Truly, this is wonderful case. Gumpel,
an expert, said to be able to initiate the sigma
ture of any man SO perfectly as to defy de-
lection. Tyler, the counsel, by his own con
fessions, able to perfectly initiate after an
hours practice Gumpers signature, and,
finally Sarah Althea, the plaintiff, charged
by Nellie Bracket and other evidence, with
the forgery of Sharon's name and the fabri-
cation of written documents, and convicted by
the Judge of one forgery and fabrication in a
document certified to by Cushman, Sharon's
clerk, as containing his signature, and finally
conveniently lost so as to prevent its produc
ton as evidence. Truly, this is a memorable
case.