The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1889-09-27
A DIVORCE CASE.
RandnIph County Has a Sensational
Case in Court.

IEd cor. Greensboro Workman.l
| A very novel case came before the court
in Ashooro this afternoon. There was
not simply one woman at the bottom of
1t, hut two women. The action was to
apnu' The marriage of Sallie Albright to
DIR. }. X. Lee, on the ground that Lee had
another wife still living. more sensa-
! ;lonal affair has not occurred since the
days of Bowling and Branrock, which
some people in Guilford have not forgot
ten ihe story is as follows:
DR. Lee, native of Mississippi,
and graduate of the Medical College of
Louisiana, came to Caswell county and af-
ter a time removed to Randolph county,
where, in 1882, he married Alice Vestal,
a pretty young girl, who does not even
now appear to be over % years of age.
Dr. Lee became very popular as a physi
clan, and drew around him large num-
Der of friends. Meanwhile, however,
there seems to have been secret trouble
brewing which at last emitted sparks and
then grew to a flame, although for the
ten months during which the doctor and
his young bride lived together she is said
to have represented his treatment of her
as exceptionally kind and good when
speaking of him to their neighbors. Lee,
however, went to Illinois in 1887 for the
purpose of procuring a divorce from his
recalcitrant wife, and when, according to
his Illinois attorney, the legal period had
expired, Lee returned to Randolph and
adv rtised in one of the newspapers that
he had been duly discharged from his
wife here and was free to marry again.
About this time, as the story goes, DR..
Lee was thrown into the company of Miss
Salie Albright, daughter of Rev. II. A.
Albright, of Randolph county, and Miss
Albright, on the strength OF the Illinois
divorce proceedings, accepted DR.. Lee,
and they Were married.
Not long after these things some inter
ested person instituted inquiry in the di
vOrce court of Illinois and discovered that
Lee had not remained in that State long
enough to make the divorce legal. Steps
were then taken against Lee here and he
Was prosecuted for bigamy, and bound
over to court in the sum of $500. He
fled the country, leaving his securities to
foot the bill. The case is now in pecu-
liar shape, and to day the court house
presented a strange scene when the two
young women made their appearance and
sat down.
1t might be supposed that there would
have been degree of rivalry between the
two women, but none whatever could be
discovered, and they chatted together and
exchanged smiles in the most pleasant
manner. When the application to annul
the second marriage was read both the
beauties were called to the stand, and
wife No. l, whose divorce had been found
a nullity, was witness in behalf of wife
No. 2, whose petition the court granted.
What was calculated to shock the sens-
bilities of the better portion of the attend
ants was the evident lightheartedness of
the two young women, who wore their
L. l.. !
two crickets on the hearth. What effect the
appearance of DR.. Lee would have had
upon the scene can only be imagined, and
it was good for him, no doubt, that he
was out of the way. Possibly-we do not
know the prospect which each Of the
young women had Of marrying to better
purpose at some future time, may have
inspired them with hilarious feelings on
the occasion.