The morning call., 1894-05-20
A. B. Hotchkiss' Wife in
Los Angeles.
A PECULIAR DIVORCE SUIT.
His Aged Wife Immured in the
Girls Directory.
GAY TIMES WITH THE OLD MAN.
MYSTERIES Connected With the Do
mestic Life OF a Southern Pa
cific Attorney.


times they love too much. and with that
they trust 100 much.
A curious case that has been developing
now for some years past is of an action
for divorce brought in the Superior Court
of this city by Mrs. Sarah II. Hotchkiss
against A. B. HOtchkiss, an attorney we'll
known in many ways throughout this
State.
The superficial history of the case is
simply this: A. b. Hotchkins, himself
migratory soul, was married to his wife,
Tor the present at least, in 1870, or there
abouts. He lived with her in amicable re-
lations until the year 1885, Then the pair
separated. Was there any ostenslbie
reasOnP If so, what?
All that was known by the multitude
was that while the worthy HOtchkiss re-
sided in the southern part of the State.
his wife for some years past lived forlorn
and unloved existence in this city. This,
of course. was subsequent TO the sepaTa-
ton in 1886.
From that time on little or nothing was
read or thought by the numerous people
with whom Hotchkiss man and wife
claimed acquaintance. True, it was whis-
| pered that Lawyer Holchkiss had a fancy
for fast living. and many and queer were
the tales spread about him. But he held
! his Own throughout, and his position in
the Southern Pacific Company's employ
guaranteed him from ali ILL
A. B. Hotchkiss and his wife were mar
ried in 1S70-T1, so says q complaint filed in
| the Superior Court of San Francisco in
| the last month of last year. Married in
| Cleveland. Ohio. the pair seem to have led
fairly happy life until the unfortunate
time which marked the boom in Califor-
MIA. To that land of roses and eternal
spring Mr.. and Mrs. Hotchkiss had
migrated by that time, in accordance with
the eternal fitness OF things. They came
10 San Francisco, thence transferred their
allegiance 10 San Diego, and from that
! bay-bound city they found a home in the
orange-bower, Los Angeles.
Sixteen years did the welded couple re-
side together Sixteen years rolled by,
while their happiness was not yet marred
! by a single cloud. The fatal year 1886
came along in due course. In that year.
unhappily. Mrs. Hotchkiss fell III, accord
ing to her statement, and came to San
Francisco to be cured.
Meanwhile, the otherwise unimpeaeh-
able Hotchkiss does not seem to have lily
! employed his time. The fiowery city of
Los Angeles is replete with flowers of
beauty and of fashion. Rumor hath it,
| and rCmOr upon which dire proceedings in
law were established. that Lawyer Hotch-
kiss passed his time not wisely but too
well. That may or may not have been.
One thing is certain, Mrs. Hotchkiss,
| now an elderly lady of 81, separated from
her husband in 1856. and since that time
has been supported by him in San Fran
cisco, until she now finds herself an inmate
of an orphan asylum known as the Girls
Directory. Thitber she moved 10 Decem-
Der last, until which time her Grant hns-
band supported her in hotels and divers
places, finally placing her as an inmate of
the Croker Old Peoples Home.
To support a person in the Croker
Home costs exactly $40 per month.
No larger subscription is permitted
| by law. And the while Mrs. Sarah
! II. Hotchkiss has enjoyed the luxuries of
! life in that institution. a. 3. HOtchkiss.
attorney in the employ of the Southern
Pacific Company, has, to all intents and
purposes, made life merry in the home or
wher bouts of his early location.
Tales have been told and are now being
told of the munifcent style in which this
LAWYER kept house. Tales have been told
! of a country residence by the sea, near
| Santa Monica. where the mighty man of
law rested from his labors when the dews
of eventide we're on the grOuhd. Tales
have been told showing that not alone did
the unworthy Hotchkiss hold midnight
reyel, and scandal enough was spread in
the City of the Angels to come to the ears
Of the poor, lonely, deserted wife seated
side by side with mendicants at the re-
! fectory table OF the Croker Old Peoples
Home.
| The poor wife must have felt, aye, did
| by her own confession feel we'll nigh
broken hearted. She had not come empty
handed to her husband. Once upon a
time they lived In rose-grown residence
in San Diego. And, from all accounts,
| had IL not been for the wavwardness of
the specializing husband there might still
be peace, with the Income of millions to
soothe the declining years of a happy
couple.
But the separation took place, unhRppily
The roperty In San Diego was sold and
the chance of a lifetime was lost. The
boom came and the land, which may have
proved Of inestimable value to one family,
became rich in the possession Of another.
Tired of her dreary existence, sick of
the monotony of house Of charity, the
old gray haired lady of over threescore
years sought 70 protect herself from life's
vicissitudes.
Knowing her husband to be erratic she
had a mind to provision for her declining
years, SO, in spite of the fact that her hus-
band bad made her meager allowance
from the time of their separation in De-
Gem Der last. she filed suit in the Superior
Court for a divorce.
The words of the complaint told the
poor woman's story. She accused her
husband of infdelty, coupling his name
with that of a notorious woman of Los
Angeles, since dead. No answer was
made TO the suit and time rolled on.
In April last another complaint was
filed-this time an amended complaint for
divorce. In this the previous allegation of
infdelity was stricken from the record.
the charge simply stating that the "ssid
defendant did wilfully, etc. desert said
plaintiff, and has since refused to live with
her," etc.
To this last complaint the defendant
has entered no appearance nor defense.
ana judgmen, may be taken in default,
providing that the facts asserted consti-
tute sufficient cause of action.
Meanwhile what of the deserted wife