The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1897-07-02
Court.
Court convened on Tuesday. The
principal case to be tried this session is


principal case to be tried this session is
the Lynn divorce case. A decision Of
much interest to this county in the con-
test case Of BrypS;olfson VS.: Miller for the
states attorneyship was given in favor Of
Miller. A number of persons who were
out on bail for various offences were
brought before the court, arraigned and
bonds fixed for appearance at the crimin-
al term to be held in October.
The Lynn case was hotly contested with
]. d. Stack for the lady plaintiff and ]. H.
Bosard for the husband Mr.. w. j.
Kneeshaw also came in to assist Mr..
Stack. The legal sparring in the pre-
linlinary proceedings was pretty brisk
and his honor was in it himself to some
degree, and it took some quite arbitrary
rulings OH his part to bring the case to
trial at this time. The parties were mar
ried in Ontario about 1880 and removed
to St. Thomas in 1882. Mr.. Lynn is a
blacksmith by trade but has been farm
ing i'll the vicinity of St. Thomas and has
been quite successful and is supposed to
be worth at this time about S25, ,onn. The
complaint alleges desertion and cruelty.
On the stand on Wednesday morning
Mrs. Lynn testified to various acts of
violence from the beginning of their life
i'll North Dakota up to year or more
ago when he left her altogether. Most
| of these acts were in the nature of chok-
ing her, generally because he wanted her
to give him money. The lady witness
testified that she had 81, 900 when she
married, all of which she gave Mr.. Lynn,
while he had only $50 when married.
Mrs. Lynn has only her neice, who lived
with the couple for some time, to corrob-
crate her testimony. On the other hand
Mr.. Lynn had a large number of neigh
bors here for the purpose of proving that
the acts of violence were on the part of
his wife and not his acts. Mrs. Lynn
was brought to Pembina several years
ago for examination for sanity. She
claims this was an act of persecution and
cruelty on the part other husband. The
evidence of MIS-. Lynn was corroborated,
or rather duplicated by Miss Lodema
Sheldon her neice.
On the side of the defence, large
number of neighbors testified that as far
as their observation went, Mr.. Lynn had
always been good provider, had made
arrangements by which Mrs. Lynn was
to be provided with the necessar1es of
life even after the separation, that he had
always appeared kind, that in some of
the cases where Mrs. Lynn had said he
choked her that Lynn was simply hold
ing her to prevent her from injuring her
self or others, and that she was periodi-
cally subject to fits Of temper or excite
ment during which she appeared to be
irresponsible and irrational. Two or
three cases of unprovoked assault on
others were proven; one occurring in
church, and another on Rev. Mr.. Love
during call at her residence. The
case was continued until later hour on
Wednesday night in order that the court
and witnesses might be able to return
home on Thursday. The court took the
case under advisement and will render a
decision later.
The decision in the Brywolfson-Miller
case, as dictated by Judge Sauter. was
quite lengthy taking nearly a half hour
in delivery, and was largely explanatory.
The Judge seemed to think that this
election had been carelessly if not fraud
ulently conducted in Neche, and at least
in a manner subversive of good govern
ment, and yet he said it was All open
election and members of both parties
were present to prevent fraud and illegal
voting, but still by tacit agreement did
not seem to care for anything except to
get in votes. The Judge also admitted
that the evidence showed that there was
but little colonization, and that nearly all
the voters were shown to be atleast tenn
pory residents, but large percentage
were of mixed and foreign blood liv-
ing in huts on the outskirts ofthe village,
and that the disability ofmany of the
voters was the lack of second papers
though they had been voting for years
in the village. The court also mention
ed that according to the evidence, Vos-
per. one of the judges, knew of at least
one illegal vote that he did not challenge,
while Mr.. Armstrong and Mr.. Baker. the
other judges, seemed to be all right.
The Judge stated that if it had appeared
that MI. Miller had had any active agents
working for him on election day at
Neche, he would have thrown out the
whole precinct for fraud. However the
Judge finally decided that while Neche
I got close to the line OF fraudulent elec-
ton, it was not quite sufficient to throw
out the whole vote. On the question OF
individual fraudulent votes his honor
said; ''by Mr.. Bangs brief, the extreme