Los Angeles herald., 1892-12-23
JUDGE BRUNSON's STATEMENT,
A Talk With the Defendant
in the Noted Case.
He Asserts That Financial Consider
ations Prompted the Suit.
The Form of the Alleged Desortion of
His wife-A siIken PORTER the
Only Barrier-The Part Played
by Contingent Fees.

Judge BruneOn mas perel5tently 0o
clined to give expression to any utter
ance on the recent affair in which hs
was involved, but yesterday talked
about it to HERALD reporter as fol
lows:
"Judge Brunson. did you see the re-
port in the HERALD of this morning ?''
asked the reporter.
"Yes, sir; I saw that report and read
itfully."
''Is it true?"
Eyes, sir; in the main it is true"
Ibid the plaintiff get divorce from
you upon the ground Of desertion?"
Eyes, sir; did not deny her allega-
tion in her complaint that l had de-
serted her. thought that, under all
the circumstances in the case, my friends
would think more of me If it was found
that I had deserted her than that she
had deserted me-"
but bow did she get divorce upon
that ground?e
"For the simple reason that for the
last five years l had q mother.in-law,
and she has had Witness"
''Did you desert her?"
II suppose did. occupied the room
that we had occupied jointly ever since
its construction, but over two years and
half ago she went into the adjoining
room, which communicated with my
room by a doorway, and had the inn
pudence to hang silk PORTER between
my room and hers at that door, and
which has proved to be an absolute bar
rier between the two rooms. Therefore,
deserted her. Under the evidence, as
introduced on the trial, it was impossi-
BILE for the Judge to render any decision
on the question of desertion, excepting
that that he did give"
Judge, how do you account for this
proceeding against you upon the part OF
the plaintiff for divorce?"
"In the first place. the madam sup
posed that by deeds of conveyance she
was entitled to the house and lot upon
which she and resided. She had been
advised that by bringing an action
against me for divorce upon the ground
of adultery she could probably secure
all OF the personal property to herself.
1t is all part and parcel Of 9 plan
which believe was arranged before my
marriage with the plaintiff to deprive
me Of my entire estate. Thinking that
she had the house and lot, and that by
charges Of adultery she could obtain all
Of my personal property and send me
out on the world without nickle, is the
reason why have been charged with
adultery. Otherwise, the charge would
have been desertion, the facts Of which
I have already stated"
'But why should she want divorce
from you upon any grOundr'
"She could not stand prosperity. Che
papers have sympathized with her q
great deal on the ground of her broken
heartedness, by reason of the gossip
which she herself has been first to in
stigate and last to magnify. This is not
by any means her first experience in the
divorce court. SIZE has already a mus.
band living, Mr.. Chase, from whom
she procured divorce upon the ground
of failure to provide. l provided for
her too we'll, and between the two ex-
tremes of failure and over providing she
sought to take all that / had gained by
my personal efforts for the last 10 years.
She has before her the example OF her
mother-my mother-in-law-w who was
also divorced. from her husband for rea-
sons best known to themselves. I mar
ried her, being twice divorced before,
upon the theory that she, being di-
vorced woman and her mother being
q divorced woman, would make di-
vorces about equal and 1 thought
that all nonsense in that direction was
forever set at rest. But when ] found
that as a private citizen / was being
Swallowed by detectives, working on q
contingent fee and without any reputa-
tion for the last two years. supporting
my wife in luxury from the proceeds Of
my daily attention to the business of
my employers, living with her and her
mother under the came roof, knowing
that every act was recorded cor future
use if found available, / thought that
the sooner this matter was ended the
better. have been made defendant
in divorce proceeding on the grounds
of desertion, cruelty and adultery.
The issues upon the part of desertion 1
have already stated. The issues upon
the ground of cruelty and adultery
have been found absolutely false upon
the part of the plaintiff, and stand
justified today upon each and every of
those issues.i
"rhe Examiner has stated that Mrs.
Brunson, now for the third time Miss
French, refused to bring the action for
divorce against me, thinking that per-
haps a reconciliation was possible; and
yet che knows and l know, and have
known, that for the last two years she
has had an obscure, unprincipled, unre-
liable detective on my track, seeking to
find something upon which to found q
charge OF adultery, by which che could
acquire the balance of my property, not
recognized as community property. So
far az l myself am concerned, care
nothing about these charges. The
world knows that l have not deserted
her; the world knows that have pro.
vided for her as she never was provided
for before. She can neither stand pros
perity nor adversely; therefore this suit.
With reference to the action of the
press, simply say that of the most cold
hearted, ,inexcusable. unjustifiable, libel
ous, ,villainous attacks that have ever been
made upon woman, those of the Ex-
aminer are without precedent. In the
articles appearing in the, Examiner it
was stated, as correspondents report,
that had been ordered out of General
Stoneman's house at the point OF q re-
volver. The correspondent of the Ex-
aminer knew very well when that was
published that told him that l was
probably the last citizen in Los Angeles
who met General Stoneman when he
was leaving California for the east; that
met him as he came out of the dining
Set Him Right.
Geo. Augusta Sala, the we'll known English
writer, on his last Australian trip, wrote as fol