St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-08-13

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! ing Company, Columbus. Ohio.
will be never. l hope this will
| teach YOU the folly or foollng
with Methodism. When you want to
get married next time try Baptist min
| lister, who will know the difference be-
i tween tombstone and boundary
! mark There were too many SInlths,
| and they were too well armed to be rea-
I soned with successfully, so that the
! upshot was that Melinda went home
with her family and Josiah and the par
son went to see lawyer.
1.-The next day Josiah brought suit
for divorce against Melinda. 1t was a
| friendly suit, you understand, and his
only object was to test the question of
the validity of his marriage, for, OF
course, no man can get divorce unless
he first proves that he is married. Ola
man Smith conducted the case on MS
side, and lawyer named StarkWeather,
! who is now member OF the Illinois
Legislature, appeared for Josiah
! Wilson. Col. Smith argued that
while the parSon who conducted the al
legged marriage ceremony could un-
oubtedly have married couple III the
! state of Indiana. he could not marry a
! woman in Indiana to man in Illinois.
f,,r. . ,or tl,at IA and fhR
man could not be in the same place
while they were in two differ
ent commonwealth. and that heLce
Josiah and Melinda had not
legally appeared together before the
officiating minister. Furthermore, he
argued that the minister at the time OF
the pretended marriage was standing
! neither in Indiana nor in Illinois. but
on the boundary line; that the statute
defined the boundary line as IAN imagin-
airy line running from such and such a
point to such and such point, and that
a minister who stands in purely I'm
| aglnary locality stands nowhere, and
hence cannot perform any function OF
his calling.
ION the other hand, Josiah's lawyer
| claimed that the minister had married
| Melinda Smith in the state of Indiana
that consequently she must have been
! married TO somebody, and that that
somebody was unquestionably Josiah
| Wilson. As to the point that the min
lister stood on in an imaginary locality,
| because, as alleged, he stood on
| the boundary line, the lawyer main
/ tanned that it was physical lmpcSSl-
| bility that a minister weighing 25O
pounds could stand in purely imag-
NATIVE place. Moreover. he was pre-
| pared to prove that, while performing
| the ceremony, at least one OF the minis
ter'S feet was in the state OF Indiana.
which was sufficient to make him le-
gally present in that state.
THE arguments lasted three days,
and the court before which it was tried.
consisting of three judges, took all the
| third day to deliver its verdict. 1t de-
! cided that Melinda Smith was legally
| married to some person unknown.
! though not to Josiah Wilson, and that
| Josiah Wilson was also married to some
J unknown woman, who was not Melinda
Smith, whoever else she might be; that
10 marriage between the plaintiff and
the defendant had ever taken place, and
that no divorce could be granted, but
that if either of them married any one
else, he or she would be guilty OF big
amy.
1.-The Smiths, with the exception of
| Melinda, were delighted with the decis-
| ion. for it made it reasonably certain
| that Josiah could never be recognized
| cast down about it, for, like every other
| Indiana girl, she had looked forward to
! being married and divorced as the nat
| ural lot of woman. Now, it appeared
| that she was married, but in such an
| unsatisfactory way, that she could never
have husband, and never be divorced
from any one. As for josiah. lie was
| furious; but there was no help for 1t,
| the law was against it, and, as law
! abiding man, he was obliged 10 respect
! it, especially as he could not hope to
! kill off all four of the Smiths. If he de-
| cided 10 make family feud of 1t; he
himself having no family whatever and
no one to help him keep up his end OF
! the feud.
For the next fifteen years Josiah
| lived single man except in name, and
| Melinda mourned her hard fate and kept
house for her father and brothers; but
| one day Josiah's lawyer, who was by
| this time in the legislature, came to him
and offered to have his marriage tc
Melin da made legal in all respects fol
$500. The lawyer was so certain that he
could do this that he was willing to wait
for his pay until after he had gained
verdict, and Josiah, after little bar
gaining, such as every self-respectlne
man would have made in his place
| consented to the lawyers terms.
1T seems that the lawyer mad acci
dentally discovered that there had beer
a mistake in the survey of part of the
boundary line between Indiana aHC
| Illinois, and at the very place where
Josiah and Melinda were married. A
rectiication of this mistake would move
the line ten feet west and so place tht
spot where the pair stood during theil
wedding entirely within the state of In
diana. The proper steps to obtain the
rectitication of the boundary were takel
| and it was rectified.
"Then Melinda, in her turn, began
suit for divorce against Josiah, and haC
no difficulty in proving the marriag,
and III obtaining a decree. Josiah pait
the lawyer $500, and was OverjOyed a
being finally able to call his Melinda hi
OVID. But he met with little disap
tanned her divorce, she thought tina
she might as well live up to it and mar
ry fresh husband. So she married tn,
Methodist minister, who had just los
his third wife, and lived happily eve
afterward.
1T was just after this that Josiah
being perhaps made little reckless b,
his disappointment, became involved
in the affair that was going to tell yol
about when you interrupted me, ant
wanted to hear about his marriage
Matrimony is mighty curious thing
and you cen never tell precisely how i
is going to turn out. That is one reason
! why l was never married but once
though spent ten years of my life il
Chicago, and had friends at bar VIII
stood ready to obtain divorces for me a
any moment and without dollar OF ex