The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-10-27
KEAM DIVORCE CASE.
Judge keIIy's Kind Offices Were Not
Accepted.

Judge Kelly tried in gently diplomatic
way yesterday to settle divorce case with
out having to settle it afterwards but failed
1t was the case of DR.. Alfred p Keam
against Addie L. Keam. One had told the
story OF alleged desertion, the other had told
the other side of it. and the doctor had said
that he had not invited his wife to return to
live with him since she left in 1892
Now, DOCTOR" said Judge Kelly, "you say
you nave never asked Mrs. Keam to return
since she left, and she has not said she
would not have done so had she been asked.
Do you not think you could come to some
understanding now?'
No, your honor, do not think so,'' he
replied, 1T is pretty difficult to live with a
woman who has no love or affection for you
except to have you pay her bills.''
Mrs. Keam had shown a few minutes be-
that she might also have declined as did her
husband, for in answer to a question of Dr.
keams attorney, ]. ]. McCafferty, she re-
piled to question, in reference to DR..
Your client"
Whom do you mean?" inquired Mr.. Nc
Cafferty.
THE gentleman behind YOU" was the re-
ply.
You mean Dr. Keam, your husband?"
Eyes"
s.Well why don't YOU saw SO? Are Won
ashamed to call him husband?"
She wasn't ashamed, but preferred the for
mality of an acquaintance.
The case is one brought by DR.. Keam, who
simply charges his wife with desertion in
March, 1892. The plaintiff is a practicing
physician and lives at the Aberdeen. His
wife lives with her relatives in Big Rapids
Mich. When the doctor took the stand he
explained that his wife had owned in her
own right considerable property, and one day.
when she was recovering from fit of ill
ness and was nervous and exhausted, she
had told him that she wished to convey her
property to her brother, Of Big Rapids, Mich.
Why do you wish to do that?" asked the
doctor. Because, If I die, you will have
one-third interest in all my property in Min
nesota, and wish the property to go to the
family from which it came" was the explain
alton youchsafed by the wife.
AS long you my wife," the doctor
had said, the property will remain in your
hands; you can do what you please with it:
dispose of It,, or lose 1t in any manner, but
while l am your husband it shall remain in
your name
He would not consent to the conveyance
to the brother in Michigan, and declared yes
terday morning that Mrs. Kean never gave
him any other reason for deserving him.
after she had left me-" said the doctor,
s'she lived at the Ryan hotel, and used to
invite to dinner representatives of the famil-
les who retained me as their physician and
prejudiced them against me, and. as | thought
she would ruin my practice, had an agree
ment drawn with her, under which ! was
to relinouish all right in her property If she
would abandon that mode of attack
Asked what families she had dined and
prejudced, the witness mentioned Roussou-
polos and Crowell and said there were others.
Under advice from his attorney he had not
signed the agreement
Telling his story further, the doctor said
he had been very i'll at St. Josephs hospital
with an attack of typhoid fever. and thought
his case was hopeless. He had been very
i'll and had called in Dr. Abbott and DIR.
Wheaton.
He had left an insurance policy made for
the benefit Of his wife and had sent for her
to ask her to have the policy changed SC that
the amount might, in of his death. be
paid to an executor for the payment OF the
expenses of his illness and for his funeral
expenses. She had come to see him and had
declined to acceed to his request. She had
said she would be willing to bear the ex-
penses of his funeral.
She had remarked that there had been a
time when she would not have been willing
to leave him in that condition. but she did
leave me- the doctor added. She had been
in the habit of living high at the Ryan and Of
filing the ears of her guests with tales
prejudicial to him, and he had been anxious to
have that practice stopped.
F. A. Murray and Capt. Doherty corrob-
grated part Of DR.. Keam's testimony.
Mrs. Keam, a good-looking little. woman
dressed in black took the stand in the after
noon. She told of leaving her husband while
he was sick in the hospital, and expressing
regret at having to leave him sick. She asked
him to write IL he needed anything and ex-
planned that circumstances necessitated her
going when she did. She said the doctor had
never expressed desire for a reunion. Mrs
Keam testified as TO the various pieces Of
real estate in st. Paul which she owned, and
then Judge Kelly took the case under con-
sideration.