The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1895-07-27
THE DIVORCE MECCA.
OKLAHOMA LAWYERS DOING A VERY
RUSHING BUSINESS.

One Law Firm That Expects 20 Collect
$4,000 In Fees From Divorce Clients
This Year-Only Four Weeks Necessary
For the Painless Operation.
A man with a ticket to Arkansas
City, Kan, and q cosmopolitan air
alighted from the train from the east
and after breakfast sauntered to the
Office Of the ticket seller and asked for
a ticket to Oklahoma. In reply to the
question what particular part Of the
land Of the bandits and %sandstorms he
desired to visit. he replied that it made
no particular difference to him and re-
marked to the ticket seller:
Il am from New York, seeking a di,
vorce, one Of the while-you-wait-and-
without-pain kind, SO you will please
ticket me to some quiet point where the
divorce mill always grinds and never
tires, and I will try to do the rest"
The j~ourneyings of divorce seekers to
Oklahoma are simply astonishing. On
the through trains are to be found
numerous passengers who are silent and
Indifferent to all local surroundings.
A member Of a legal firm, having one
member in each Of the three largest
towns in the territory, informed the
correspondent that his firm would at the
present rate collect $25, 900 this year
from divorce clients alone. In Guthrie
there is a large hotel which makes a
speciality of this class Of patrons, and
its guests are designated as the divorce
colony. Special hotel rates are secured
by the lawyers for their clients for the
four weeks necessary to the quick and
painless operation Of divorce. Many of
these visitors are registered under as
sumed names and are credited to almost
any other city than the one where they
reside.
b romances resulting from a four
weeks ~sojourn in this colony are almost
as varied as they are numerous. One of
the most exciting shooting incidents in
Oklahoma City in recent months was
between a Buffalo sporting man and the
lawyer who had just assisted his wife to
procure a divorce. While attending some
Of the early spring races the man from
Buffalo learned that his wife was visit
ing Oklahoma City. Thinking that it
was about time she returned home, he
suddenly landed in that wild and woolly
town. He quickly le;.ned that not only
had his wife secured an absolute divorce
from him, but, further, that she and the
lawyer were to be married on the fol-
lowing day. The Buffalo man went gun
ming and is now in the hospital, where
he is rapidly recovering from q danger
Gus bullet wound, while the newly mar
ried couple are lowering about the Gold
en- Gate.
The law under which the territorial
courts are organized is both peculiar and
practical. The probate judge issues all
licenses to marry and also superintends
the divorce mill, signing all DEGREES of
divorce. In some counties, notably at
the territorial capital, the probate jpdge
purchases his marriage license blanks by
the hundred and his blank divorces by
the thousand. This particular judge has
several times made the mistake when
applied to for a marriage permit Of ask
ing the applicant whether he had yet
consulted a lawyer as to the specific
grounds ON which he made his applica-
tion.-New York Sun.