Los Angeles herald., 1892-09-29
HERE IS A MIXED UP CASE,
Mrs. Lowell Sues Her Sisters
Husband for Damages.
The Plaintiff and Defendant Both of
Mature Years.
Tho Allegations Of the ComrlaInt--Mr.
Parker's Allegations in His An
swsr-some Of the Testimony.
The Case Continued.

uOW "a sAloi bCloAC y uoko v AL Dy ko hu'
jury, in which the plaintiff is a lad,
who has twice been married and is s.
years old, and the defendant has beel
twice married, is 70 years old, and ha
several married children, the eldest
sman 5S years old. In addition to thi
feature Of the case, the plaintiff is th
deceased wife's sister, and the witnesses
against her are her several nephews ant
nieces, while one of the witnesses agains
the defendant is his own niece. On tor
of all the bitter animosities which thi
involved family relationship has en-
tailed, the old man has not made better
friends OF his relatives by marrying an
other woman since the plaintiffs sister
died, and deciding her all his property
To say that the atmosphere was murky
in the court room when the various par
ties to the suit and witnesses Assem- bled
is using very mild epithet to describe
very strained situation. 1t seemed to
be the determined effort of everyone in
the case to ignore everyone else, aud not
to trust to their powers of self-restraint
to contain the pent up emotions which
struggled for expression. In the midst
of the oppressive silence which prevailed,
the aged defendant sat, calm and stoical,
and did not betray any of the feelings
he must have carried in his heart while
witnessing the complications in which
his family has become involved. Still
there was q marked absence in the pro-
ceedingH of any violent ebullitions of ex-
citement. The plaintiff and defendant
had the wisdom of over half q century to
restrain them, and every one of the chill
dren, save the daughter of the plaintiff,
have passed the heyday OF youth, when
the blood runs riot in the veins.
The suit was brought by Mrs. Helen
N. Lowell, OF this city, against Leonard
Parker, OF Anaheim. In her complaint
the elderly plaintiff states that the eld-
erly defendant November 25, 1891, at
Los Angeles, she being then unmarried,
requested her to marry him. Her sister
NOT having been dead very long, she
suggested that they wait awhile, and at
her request her brother-in- law promised
to marry her within q year. Confiding
in his promise she remained unmarried
and was always ready and willing, and
is now ready and willing to marry him.
But afterwards the defendant, contr airy
to his promises to her, married woman
named Wellman. The plaintiff further
alleges that the defendant is possessed
of $50 600 in property, real and personal,
and refuses to marry her, alleging that
he is already married to the other party.
Therefore, Mrs. Lowell thinks she ought
to have damages for hie actions in trif-
ling with her affections.
The defendant in his answer has en-
tered general and specific denial of
the allegations of the complaint, and
even goes 30 far aH to assert that he is
not worth $500. One of the points of
defense set up is angular one, that
Mrs. Lowell is not free to marry as she
alleges, but that she was married by
contract to man in Missouri named
Williams, several years ago, and that
this ia a bar to further marriage.
On her part, however, the plaintiff
claims that this marriage is no mar
riaee, for the reason that she had found
out that, while che did marry the man
by contract and lived with him as his
wife, he at the time had another wife
and children living, and that when she
the fact she left him, and
has never lived with him since.
The testimony on the part OF the
occupied some time. 1t con-
sisted of the narration by Mrs. Lowell OF
the courtship of her brother-in-law. She
did not 60 into all the particulars, which
might have been the case at q younger
period, but described how the defendant
had wished him to marry her, had Of
fered himself to her, and she had ac-
cepted him. She suggested delay as
under the circumstances, and
be had consented to it. She had gone
along with the full belief that she would
marry him, and had seen him only
day or two before he had married Mrs.
Wellman. He had said nothing to her
about his intending to marry the woman,
and had played her false. She insisted
on the truth o. her allegation that the
defendant had explicitly asked her to
marry her, and that she had consented.
She considered herself unmarried, and
was fully prepared to carry out her part
of the agreement.
There were several other witnesses,
among them the plaintiffs young and
pretty daughter, Miss May Lowell, who
sustained the story told by Mrs. Lowell
to the extent OF their knowledge, and
late in the afternoon the defense began
to put in evidence.
The first witness was L. N. Brown OF
this city, who testified as to loan Of
$4,000 which he secured for Mrs. Parker
on some Anaheim property, part OF
which he paid to Miss Lowell, his niece,
at Mr.. Parker's request.
Joel B. Parker, son Of the defendant,
testified that all the property he knew
of his father owning at Anaheim is q
fruit ranch OF about20 acres, the value of
which. he said, is not over $l5 600. He
never had heard his father cay anything
about his engagement to Mrs, Lowell.
Mrs. E. L. Lewis. daughter of the de-
fendant. said her mother was with her
in Los Angeles in 1890 a great deal, more
with her than any of the other daugh-
ters. She only saw Mrs. Lowell, her
aunt, occasionally after her mothers
death and up to the time of her fathers.
marriage to Mrs. Wellman. Her mother
was i'll about year before her death. A
question as to whether she had ever
heard her father speak OF an engage
ment to Mrs. Lowell, was ruled out by
the court.
Mrs. Lydia 7. Wood, Of this city, .
daughter of the defendant, testified that
she had lived at Anaheim three or four
years before her mothers death. She
was there when her mother died. As
far as che knew, Mrs. Lowell was at her
fathers house in Anaheim once or twice,
she did not remember who with. The
same objection was sustained with this
witness as to whether her father had
ever spoken Of an engagement with Mrs.
Lowell.
AT this point Stephen M. White,
counsel for the defendant, announced
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