The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-11-30
SAYS HE'S AN ADULTERER
INCREASES THE AMOUNT OF
THE ALIMoNY AWARDED.
Mrs. Griffin Can Take the Child Har-
vey Out of the State Without Crit
fms Consent-Justices Do not
Spare Griffin In Their Language
Text of the Opinion.

celebrated Griffin divorce case, and de-
clares it erred when it held that Griffin
was not guilty of adultery with Cora 4.
Berkman. The supreme court also in
creases the alimony awarded Mrs. Crit
nm and makes other changes in the
hnding of Judge Hiles, before whom
the case was tried.
Griffin was plaintiff in the case and
sued his wife for a divorce on the
ground that she was an habitual drunk
ard and as such was unfit to- be the
custodian of their child, Harvey, aged
years.
Mrs. Griffin filed an answer and a
cross-complaint in which she alleged
that Griffin was guilty of adultery with
Cora e. Berkman and that he was
guilty of acts of cruelty toward her.
having caused her TO be beaten by one
james Heating, who attempted to take
the child from her at the school build
ing.
Then Griffin amended his complaint
and alleged adultery on the part of the
wife, naming w. T. Wore and J. L.
Stahl as correspondents. He also al
legged she was guilty of visiting opium
dens and such like places.
AS part of the judgment, Mrs. Crit
I'm asked that certain sums be awarded
her, alleging that defendant was the
recipient of $4,000 per year
The trial of the action consumed
nearly two weeks of the time of the
court, during which Judge Hiles found
Griffin not guilty of adultery, but per-
mitted her to amend her complaint and
granted the divorce on the ground of
ueSertlon. He also gave her the Gus
tody OF the child, until it attains the
age of Il years, at which time it should
elect which parent it would live with
The decree also provided the boy
should not be taken outside the state
without first obtaining the consent of
Griffin thereto, and gave him the right
to visit the boy at all times, and to
take him out with him, providing the
chld should always be returned to his
mother before nightfall. Mrs. Griffin
was given her home on Eleventh East,
as alimony, horse and cart and the
sum of 81, 440 to be paid in equal quar-
terly instruments of $50 per quarter. to-
gether with $3.50 attorneys fees and
costs OF court.
Mrs. Griffin appealed from the de-
clslon On the point that Griffin was not
guilty of adultery, on her not being
permitted to take the child out of the
state without the consent of its father
and on the further ground that the ALI
mony was not sufficient.
OPINION PER CURTAIN.
The opinion rendered yesterday is by
the court 1t is very lengthy opinion
and the language used is plain and UNI
mlstakable. 1t recites the fact that the
plaintiff, a married man, met Miss
Berkman, who was a stranger to him.
on railway train, and went to Los
Angeles with her and afterwards fol-
lowed her to Pasadena, and there
called on her several times, how many
does not appear; took her out driving
IN carriage and on horseback and
that she was at the railway station at
the former city to bid him goodbye
! when he started for home This con-
quot, the court says, is very unusual
on the part of a well-meaning mar
11eu man, and especially so when the
strange woman has been divorced from
her husband and is young and attrac-
tive. Such actions cast a shadow upon
their associations, intercourse and in
tentions
The court comments at some length
upon the conduct of the pair in this
city, stating that when she stopped
here before going to st. Paul and on
her return, Griffin paid her marked
attention, going so far as to send her
clothes 10 the laundry with his, bearing
the same mark; that he occupied rooms
next to her with an unfastened door
between; that they were seen together
in compromising positions. and that
she made statements concerning her
condition which would indicate there
had been Illicit relations
The fact that Griffin and Miss Berk-
man both denied these allegations on
the stand does not count for much in
the eyes of the court, which holds that
their evidence must be weighed in the
light Of their motives to prevent dis
grace and defeat in a lawsuit. and to
eXculpate them of a crime which might
subject the plaintiff in the case to con-
finement in the penitentiary for the
term Of three years, he at the time be-
ing married. and the woman to con-
tinement in the county Jail for the term
Of six months, she being an unmarried
woman. The statement of the plaintiff.
with the Denitentiary before him and
those Of Miss Berkman, face to face
with the county jail, and both with i'm
pending humiliation and disaster. in
case Of defeat hanging over them.
their denials can be given but little
weight, in the judgment of the court.
~ The court declares it fails to find
EroIn the evidence any sufficient motive
to induce the witnesses, who testified to
the most damaging facts, any motive
for false swearing, and in the light
of all the evidence, their statements do
not apoear TO be unreasonable.
Then the court proceeds to hammer a
few nails into the legal coffin of Mr..
Griffin, by the following statement:
GUILTY OF ADULTERY.
therefore.
court below erred in finding the plain
tiff was not guilty of adultery with
Cora Z. Berkman, as alleged in defend
ants crosses complaint"
Inasmuch as the defendant has not
appealed from the finding that the
plaintiff was guilty OF cruel treatment,
though it is assigned as error the court
declares it will not discuss that phase,
except as proper to notice it in decid-
ing other issues.
The finding of the lower court on the
question of alimony is then taken up
The court recites Bishop On Marriage.
Divorce and Separation as follows:
The dissolution of marriage by di-
vorce is analogous to its dissolution by
death. A judicial separation from bed
and board is partly So In a sort of
general way, with variations after
Which it is not needful here to inquire
the common law gives, on the death
of the husband, cne-third of the estate
to The widow. So that, looking at this
sort of analogy, If one-third of the
husbands income will leave the wife
on divorce as well off pecuniarily as
though the cohabitation continued,
with something in compensation for
her injury, such, when not reduced by
a separate income of her own may well
be regarded as a sort of common, mat
J ter-of-course proportion.
INCREASE OF ALIMONY.
Conceding the admission of the plain
tiff that he is worth $4,000 (Which, in
view of the evidence, the court thinks
is q low estimate), according to the rule
$4,666 should have been awarded the
defendant on the basis of q gross sum;
or, on the basis of the plaintiffs net
income, fixed by. himself at $1,000