The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-04-08

After Living with Man for Eighteen
Years as His Wife Mrs. Mary Meyers of
Chicago Discovers She Was Duped by ~
False Wedding-Destruction of the Al
legged Certificate of Marriage by the Hus-
band in wife's Presence.
Chicago, April S.-Mrs. Mary Meyers
of 1856 West Sixty-third street, who is
suing for divorce before Judge Burke,
is the victim of a mock marriage, II
the story she tells is true. For eight
cen years she lived with Needham Cor
don Meyers, now an inspector for the
city water department, and believed,
she says, that she was bound to him
by the strongest matrimonial bonds
which the state Of Iowa could furnish
only TO discover that the ceremony
was a farce when she brought her life
under the scrutiny of the court
This condition of affairs is being set
forth ip the final argument which AS
sistant Corporation Counsel J. r. Cor
rigan is making. The case will soon
be concluded and the woman will know
whether the social ties which bind her
to the man will be severed.
Was Dashing Young Fellow.
In the story she told on the witness
stand Mrs. Meyers said that i'm 1882 she
met her present husband, then dash
ing young fellow with sporting procliv-
tiles, in Sioux City. Her name was then
Mary Hennessey. Her two brothers
are now proprietors of one of the large
grocery stores on the west side. She
was the guest Of friends when she met
Meyers. The courtship was brief
Bright, attractive, Is, and inexperi-
enced, she heard the proffer OF mar
riage with favor, and promptly the al
legged ceremony was performed.
"One evening" she told Judge Burke,
Mr.. Meyers and I, with two of his
friends, went before a justice Of the
peace in Sioux City. I do not know his
name; ! do not even know where his
office was, except that it was near the
postoffice. He was an old man, with
white, flowing beard and sat on a plat
form at the end of dark room. He
joined us in marriage. There were some
papers signed and we let"
She Trusted the Elan.
How did you know this man was a
justice of the peace?" demanded the
lawyer for the defense.
my husband told me so, and I be-
lieved him. answered the woman
quietly
THAT was the only ground for your
belief?"
Yes. considered that enough.
trusted him."
Continuing her story the witness
said: I'VE came to Chicago soon after
and have lived here ever since as man
and wife. My husband kept the GER
tificate of a marriage, or whatever this
paper was, in his possession. In 1886
he tore ii up before my eyes. saying
angrily: I will destroy all proofs of
our marriage"
And If the woman's story is true all
proofs of ceremony, real or farcical,
were destroyed with that paper.
No Marriage License Issued.
When last fall she applied for d.
vorce on the ground of cruelty she
sought for evidence of her marriage
The clerk of Woodbury. county. Ia,
wrote, to her CONSERVATION. that no
such marriage license ever had been
issued. There was not a line on the !
record to show that the woman was le- |
gally Meyers wife. The two witness
es, almost unknown to the woman.
were traced through two states. but
could not be found. In court the hus- |
band denied his wife's whole story.
Jealousy is at the bottom of the di- |
vorce. although the ground set up in |
the bill is cruelty. Mrs. Meyers threw J
carbolic acid in the face of her hus-
band last December. Since then she |
has threatened to blind him with Wit |
riol it is charged. Meyers is said to |
ha