St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-01-08
The DIVORCE SNARL.
Senator Kyle Lays Out an I'm
usually Important Piece
Of Work.
1t Is no Less Than an Amend
ment to the United States
Constitution.
He Would Make Marriage and
Divorce Laws Of the COun-
try Uniform.
Brutal Murder at Briee, a
Station on the Omaha
Railway.

Special to the GLOBE.
SIOUX FALLS, 5. D., Jan. Senator
Kyle, of South Dakota, has gone back
10 Washington with a measure in his
pocket which WILL eXcIte-more comment
than anything introduced in congress in
many sessions.
1t Is 4 Joint resolution asking for an
amendment to the constitution of the
United States giving to congress the
power TO regulate the laws Of regarding
marriage and divorce.
The matter attracted the attention of
the new senator during the summer
when he visited Sioux Falls and got an
inside view of the divorce Colony"
the abuses which grew out of it
and the laws which made such
abuses possible. The senator looked into
the situation in Sioux Falls and i'll other
places in South Dakota. He found in
Sioux Falls some 200 inhabitants of
other states Who had come to secure
divorce, and who were willing to COM
nit perjury and practice fraud of any
Kind TO secure their desired release. He
found his state heralded all over the
Country as an asylum for the unhappily
married, and lie then began to study the
subject. The result OF INSTRUMENTATION
will be the introduction of the reSolu-
ton referred to above.
Referring TO the matrimonial tangIe
OF the several states, Senator Kyle said:
The practical result of conflicting
laws Is that divorces granted i'll one
state are valid there, but invalid else
where. For example, in South Caro-
lima the courts refuse TO recognize a
divorce granted by the courts of any
other state even in cases where both
parties resided at the time OF the suit
IN the state granting the divorce, pro-
vlded the marriage contract was made
In South Carolina. There are several
reported cases where the courts of
South Carolina hold that the second
marriage of parties so divorced is in
valid, ard their children iliegitimate
I'm New York the courts have held
that While divorce may be valid in
the state where it was granted. and
While the second marriage may be valid
IN Such state, 1t is not recognized in
New York, the result being, under the
New York decisions, that a man or
woman may legally have any number of
wives or husbands. thus practically es-
tablishing system of poivgamy IN the
largest state in the union"
In other states the courts held valid
divorce granted to person who was
eltlZen OF another state by a state in
winch he has citizenship, but hold in
valid divorce granted in state where
simply residence and not an actual
citizenship is acquired. In some states
the courts have held that the domicile
of wife is that of her husband. and
that a divorce granted to the wife in
another state, no matter as to the length
at az III
IN Illinois L am personally acquainted
with a case where citizen of the
kingdom of Nurtemberg came to
Illinois. married, resided there for thirty
years and accumulated properly. He
returned to Nuremberg. leaving his
wife in Illinois. He had always re-
manned citizen of Wurtemberg and
subject of the king. Reaching his old
nome, he secured an annulment of the
marriage under an old law that no cit1-
zen OF y Nuremberg could marry in
foreign country without the kings con-
sent. He remarked in Wurtemberg.
and after his death the widows went
into litigation for the property. The
supreme court of Illinois awarded the
property to the second wife, holding
the Iirst marriage invalid, and the su-
preme court of the United States sus-
tanned the deciSiOn.''
Senator Kyle calls attention to other
matters in point. He says: in New
York and in South Dakota, when a d. |
vorce is granted for adultery. the guilty |
party cannot remarry, but he can slip |
across the line into New Jersey, or Min |
neSota, be remarked. and in both cases |
the states recognize the marriage as |
good. In some states it is held that a |
person getting a divorce in foreign !
state where personal service cannot be |
made. the plaintiff can marry in the
state where the divorce is obtained and
she marriage is valid, but is liable TO
prosecution for bigamy or adultery in
the state where he formerly resided"