The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-15
GOODNOW DIVORCE CASE PROMIS-
ES TO BE A STUBBORNLY
FOUGHT ONE.
BEHIND FAST, CLOSED DOORS.
JUDGE ORDERS THAT EVERY WIT
NESS SHALL BE EXCLUDED
UNTIL WANTED.
MISSIONARY WORKERS, ANNUAL.
Important State Convention I'm Ses-
sion at the Park Avenue Con-
EregatiOnaI.

lie 0OOQnOW UlNOTC0 case, III WnlCH
Flora E. Powers-Goodnow formerly
and at present Of st. Paul, sues for
an absolute separation from John H.
GoodnoW, the Minneapolis wood and
coal merchant and base ball magnate
came up for trial before Judge Russell
in the Hennepin county district court
yesterday afternoon. The case has
been pending in the courts for several
weeks and has been continued from
time to time owing to the inability Of
the plaintiff to secure the presence Of
her witnesses in court. 1t was finally
called for TO o'clock yesterday morn
ing, but on account of the heavy GRIM
inal calendar was not reached until
late IN the afternoon.
The defendant, Mr.. Goodnow, was
represented by Victor ]. WEIGH and
H. ]. Gjertson, and the attorneys fer
Mrs. Goodnow were W. H Williams
and B. H. Schriber, of St. Paul
After some little argument between
the attorneys as to whether the case
should be tried by a jury or the court
alone, Attorney WEIGH made a formal
demand for a jury trial In the sele c.
ton of jurors twenty of the regular
panel were examined before the jury
was completed. Six of these We're OK
cused by the consent of both parties,
and the other two were challenged by
the attorneys for the plaintiff and sus-
tanned by Judge Russell. Of these two
one had had business relations with
Attorney GjertsOn and stated that he
looked upon him as his attorney. AID
he ho6 L
edge of the case and had formed an
opinion which would require evidence
to overcome. During the examination
OF the jurors as to their qualifications
tC sit in the case each one was asked
by the attorneys for the plaintiff if he
was member of any political organi-
cation in Minneapolis. or if he had
ever had any dealings with Mr.. Good
now in a political way, and two or
three were excused on these grounds
After the jury had been completed
and sworn in Attorney WEIGH request
Ell that in the trying of the case and
the examination of the witnesses only
the one on the stand be allowed to be
present in the room.
This was seriously objected to by the
attorneys for the plaintiff, who asked
that the jury be excused from the room
before the objections were made pub
lie. Attorney Schriber then stated to
the court that it was a notorious fact
that the plaintiff had encountered the
greatest difficulty all through the past
few weeks in securing her witnesses
ana IN Keeping them after they had
been secured. He objected to the re-
quest on the grounds that all the wit
neSSes for the plaintiff We're closely
connected and he wanted them all in
the room during the progress of the
trial for purposes Of Identification. He
went on to say that in connection with
the first statement that he had made
he did not feel al all certain that some
OF his witnesses would be present to
respond to their names when called
unless they were where he could keep
them in sight at all times After some
further argument between the attor-
neys Judge Russell stated that he
would grant the request and that ar
rangements would be made to place
the witnesses in vacant jury rooms and
keep them there until called to the
witness stand.
Attorney Schriber said that that ar
rangement would be satisfactory, but
that he must insist that the witnesses
for the plaintiff and those for the de-
fendant be cared for in separate rooms
and this was agreed to by Judge Rus
sell
Just before the court adjourned the
attorneys for the defendant requested
that counsel for the plaintiff be or
dered to file a list of their witnesses
stating that they would do likewise
Mrs. GoodnOw's attorneys strongly OBJ
jected to such an order and were sus-
tanned for the time being by Judge
Russell, who said that he would an
nounce his decision in the matter this