Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-09-13
FUCKERS TRIALS.
They Beset Him in the Matri-
moniaI Sea.
THE CHAMPION CASE OF DIVORCE.


Chicago, of Course, Wins the Belt; Time,
Ten Minutes - The Adventures of =
Windy City Man in Search OF Wife
Three Times Married, Twice Divorced
and Wife No. Four Years a Bride
A Curious Experience
CHICAGO, Sept l3-The most remarkable
divorce case in many respects ever tried in
the courts Of Cook county, where remarkable
divorce cases are not by any means rare,
rare, was put through in Judge Tuthill's
court yesterday morning in seven minutes.
Remarkable in the circumstances Of the
story behind it the case is not less extraor-
binary as being one which beats the record
of all previous cases as to time The suit
was that of Edward ID. Tucker against L.
Josephine Tucker
As the clock i'm the clerks Office of the en-
cult court showed 1855 yesterday morning
Attorney Rufus King appeared in great
haste and filed the bill in the case. 1t re-
quired Clerk Bradley less than two minutes
to place the case on file In less than the
same lapse of time Mr. King was on the
next floor above in Judge Tuthill's court.
Here a middle-aged man, an old lady and
second lady of about 40 years were awaiting
him The three persons went on the stand,
one after another, and five minutes after IL
deer divorcing Edward d. Tu cker from
L. Josephine Tucker was mat ter of record.
1t took just ten minutes. For two years the
case of ex-County lmmissioner Cobun,
which took twenty minutes, has stood the
test of all co.npetitors, but it must take sec
snd place now after the performance in the
Tucker case
fuckers Wife Number One.
Edward ID. Tucker is the only son OF Dr.
s. Mills Tucker, an old settler in Chicago
and a Wabash avenue physician of means
and standing. Dec. 10, 1868 he married at
Wayiand, Schuyler county, Ills, L. Jhose-
phine Peterson, the Mrs Tucker who was in
court yesterday morning. They moved
from Wayland to Chicago They had
child, and lived together until Dec 81, 1863
On that day Mrs Tucker, after quarrel
with her husband, left his house in Chicago
and disappeared. lie was two years after
ward before Tucker, then a travelling sales
man for Chicago carriage house, heard
anything of her His information came in a
newspaper notice that Mrs. Tucker had ap-
piled for a divorce from him in some out of
the-way town in Kansas He took pains to
ascertain that the divorce was granted and
then married a second wife.
Wife No. Not n Success
Tucker and wife No. lived together in
Chicago for several years They had one
child, but it died. They quarreled, Tucker
accusing Mrs. Tucker No 2 of fondness for
other men. She retorted in kind, claiming
that he was too much given to affection for
other women The inevitable separation
followed. Tucker deserted wife No , end
went west. He brought up in Utah, and
there, about 1850, he procure1a Utah divorce
from wife No. . He could not stay away
from Chicago, and in year he was back
here again Two marital experiences were
not enough for HIM. Wife No. had got a
divorce in Kansas, and had married again
Her second husband was man named Nor
ris. and they were living happily together
in Kansas Wife No. had not followed her
example. She was living quietly in Chicago,
with no knowledge, so it is said, that Tucker
had Utah divorce Tucker, on the other
| hand, feeling safe in the fact that No had
divorced him in Kansas aud that he had di-
vorced No. in Utah, took to himself third
wife.
In Trouble About Wife No. 3.
After visiting his father in Chicago he
his third matrimonial venture. Wife No .
followed him there, caused his arrest for
bigamy in marrying wife No. 5, and a
lengthy trial followed
fuckers defense was that he was divorced
in Utah, but the Utah divorce was attacked
as void because the statutory time of pub
LEGATION was not observed By one week
Tucker was found guilty and appealed to
the appellate court, which reversed the Kan
kakee court and remanded the case Tucker
took n change of venue to Livingston coun-
ty. The second trial occurred at Pontiac
and resulted in his being found guilty the
second time and sentenced To three years in
the penitentisry and to pay $3.50.
A Startling Development.
While he was incarceratsd wife No pro-
cured legal divorce from him and married
again. The two trials resulted in a probing
of fuckers career back to his marriage to
wife No l, Josephine Peterson, in WayIand,
Ills 1t was discovered that her divorce
like fuckers Utah divorce from wife No. =,
was void. The notary who certified TO the
publication of the suit did not make jurat.
and wife No. rs marriage to Morris in Kan
sas was no marriage at ALL and her five chill
dren were illegitimate
The Tangle UntangIed.
Tucker has just served his term and is a
free man. In his three years Imprisonment
the fact of the iIlegality of his first wfe's di-
vorce, as brought out on his trials, was con-
stantly before him He no sooner got
to Chicago than he sought le-
gal advice His third wife was at
his fathers wal ting for hi m, but it he went
back to her he could be prosecuted owing 70
the informa lily in his first wife's divorces, so
the lawyer told him. The only thing TO be
done WAS to pet wife No 1 hara nn1sprocura
! n valid divorce. Mrs Morris was COM
municated with and the facts laid before
her. She had never heard oSShe trial and
sentence of her husband of twenty wears ago.
and the information was the first she had re-
ceived. 1t was great shock 10 her. She
was so Frustrated by the revelation that she
was a wife in name only that she couldn't
travel for several days. After her testimony
had been given yesterday, Judge Tuthill
said the evidence sufficient, and signed
the decree divorcing n couple whose twenty
years of separation have been fraught with
vicissitudes unexampled before.
Pathos of the Case.
II was small matter to Judge Tuthill.
1t was a small matter TO his gray bearded
clerk, but what a big thing to the shrinking
woman in black who sat with her head
buried in her handkerchief, sobbing hyster-
ically, while the motherly face of Mrs DIR.
Tucker bent over her and the gentle hand of
the mother of the husband the shrinking
form deserted two decades ago pressed back
the hair tinged with gray and bathed the
fevered temples with ice water The di-
vorced husband spoke a few kind, tender
words to the misery stricken woman and
gently helped her out into the hall, away
from the curious gaza Of the score of court