The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-05-05
HOW DIVORCES ARE FIXED.
An Attorney FONTS Out the Kinks in
the Law.
From the Chicago Mail

the divorce businessm This question was
addressed to Attorney w. Fenimore Cooper,
as he sat in bis Office the other day.
well, said the attorney, pensively, as
he contracted his brow and careessly
knocked away the ashes from cigar, Il
suppose it is a part of Chicago's general
character. She wants to lead the world in
everything and is determined not to be be-
hind in the divorce industry. Legally,
| however, there doesn't seem to be any very
| good reason why divorces should be OBJ
| tanned more easily in Illinois than in many
other States of the Union. Indeed, in some
! other States, Pennsylvania for instance, the
! proceedings in divorce cases are less public
| and the grounds necessary to obtain dis
| solution of the marriage tie about the same
as here. There it is usual to appoint com
missioner TO take the testimony and sub
init his report to the Judge. who, if sat
| istied with the report grants the decree.
There is no publicity, unless the case is con
| tested aud one Of the parties demands trial
by jury"
| May not the summary manner in which
| divorce cases are disposed of by the Cook
county courts account i'll a measure, for
| the popularity of Chicagos divorce tribun-
| alsW
mo doubt that is true. There is no class
suing for divorce. They are, as a rule,
reckless Of costs, If only the case can be put
| through rapidly. In many States it takes
| about year before a divorce can grind
| regularly through the mills of the court,
even when not contested. Here clear
case may be disposed of in ten minutes.
Not long ago in my own practice a decree
| for divorce was granted on the ground that
| the husband had been convicted of felony
| There was no question in the case what
| ever, and it took really less time to unite
| the nuptial knot than il had taken to tie it
| in the first place. The case was heralded
| all over the country as something very I'M
usual. Most divorce cases in the
| Cook county courts are eX-parte
proceedings. The defendant fails to APP
pear. The court hears really only one side.
If that side makes out case, and there is no
| ground for Suspecting cOlluslon the Judge
| can not well do otherwise than grant the
decree. The court has no means Of COM
polling the defendant to appear. The com
| plainant swears there is no prcarranged
| agreement that the defendant shall stay
away. There may be such an agreement
and no doubt there is in thouands of cases,
but who can prove itl Aud even if it were
Lcapablc of proof, whose business is it
fwhether the party applying for divorce is
| guilty of perjury or notg While perjury is
one of the highest offenses known TO the law
and punishable by long term of imprison-
ment, it is an offense extremely difficult to
prove and one that no one undertakes to
prove against another unless impelled by
the strongest motive of self-interest. Per
jury in divorce proceedings will never be
abolished until the law provides in some
| way that the people be represented in these
proceedings The Judge in one way does
represent the people. He can question the
parties on trial and draw out az much testi-
mony as he can. But no provision is made
whereby the court in an ex- parte proceeding
can look up and prepare evidence for the
defense. If the States attorney had such
power it is likely that many divorce cases
would utterly fail.
| There is one point in the law that tends
to facilitate divorce proceedings in this State.
That is the matter Of residence. The statute
provides that the party applying for di-
vorce shall have resided in this State one
whole year Immediately preceding the filing
of the bill, unless the offense or injury com
planned of was committed within this State,
or while one or both of the parties resided
within this State. The unsupported oath of
the petitioner is enough to establish the
fact of residence. 1t is notorious that di-
vOrces are obtained in Chicago by people
who never had a bona fide residence in the
State at ALL
They swear that they have resided in
| y
that particular provision of the statute,
and if any one takes exception to the oath,
they simply say: You cannot prove other
wise and what are you going to do about
it. Then the second provision of the stat
ute makes it easy for strangers to obtain
divorces i'll Chicago. Suppose man and
his wife, residents of New York or of Lon
don for the matter of that, on their way
to San Francisco stop in Chicago, and one
of them commits such an offense or injury
as will entitle the other TO a divorce, the
Chicago courts have immediate jurisdiction
and the divorce is obtained without de-
lay, and in a city where the parties are
total strangers and hence reckless of public
opinion.
"You ask what are the principal methods
by which divorces are obtained In Chicago
Any one who has watched carefully the di-
vorce courts can readily divine that the
crooked method usually resorted to is &c
simply swear to lie. This may be as to
the fact of residence or as to any material
fact in the case. Many come to Chicago
and get a fictitious residence simply fol-
the purpose of getting a divorce. They
come here and rent a room or an office
and hold out the city as their place of resi-
dence, when, as a matter of fact, their real
residence and place of business is somewhere
else
This is particularly true of theatrical
ana other travelling people. Their residence
is so indefinite that they can fix it in one
city about as well as in another. A great
many unsuspecting people are hoodwinked
into the belief that they have been legally
divorced when the proceedings have been
out and out a fiction. Some enigmatcal
paper is furnished them by a man whom
they sec fit to call lawyer, purposing to be
a decree i'll divorce or something of that
sort, but which Is in reality a mere tumble OF
words of no legal force whatever
"A case of that kind occurred in Chicago
just recently. A young couple concluded
to get divorce. The wife intrusted the
matter to her husband. He went TO some
coupselor aud paid good round fee for
what he thought was divorce. BY a mere
accident in a subsequent litigation between
the man and wife the secret of the false di-
vorce leaked out.
ut not unfrequently happens that IA party
applying for divorce Is engaged at the
same time TO be married to somebody else AS
soon as the divorce is granted. But people
had better be sure that they are divorced
before they marry again. Here is a case in
point. Not long ago Chicago woman APP
piled for divorce on the ground OF her
husbands infdelity. The case came up on
Saturday. The Judge was not quite salts
fled with the evidence and held the case un-
der advisement. But the sunday papers
announced that decree had been granted.
The next day the woman was married, and
although the decree WIS coniirme about
i IL