Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1898-02-25
BULLET PROOF
But Could Not Stand the Infelicities
Of Married Life So Asked
Divorce. (
Supreme Court Will Pass Upon an
Interesting Appealed Divorce
Case From Jamestown.

Case From Jamestown.
Plaintiff is a Clerk in Washington, and
Was the Worst Shot Man in
the War.
The records of the supreme court of
North Dakota contain a voluminous
document comprising the proceedings
had in the district court of Stutsman
county, in the District Of Columbia, and
in other judicial subdivisions, relative
to the divorce case of Charles H. Smith,
a clerk in the treasury department at
Washington, where he has been engaged
continuously since 1871, against his wife
Malvina w. Smith, the two having been
residents of East Worcester, Otsego
county, New York, where they were
married in 1868. Smith secured a di-
vorce from his wife in Stutsman county,
North Dakota, in. December, 1896.
From the decision of that court grant
ing the decree, the wife appeals, and the
case will be tried anew by the supreme
court at the April term. 4
The plaintiff in the case, Charles H.
Smith, is a veteran of the civil war, and
enjoys the distinction of having
survived more numerous and ordinarily
fatal wounds than any soldier who
served during the civil war. For these
he receives from the general govern
ment, under a special act of congress, a
pension of s72 monthly. it. having been
granted after an elaborate investigation
of his case in 1883. The committee on
invalid PENSIONS, to whom the appl;ca-
ton for pension was reported, pro-
nounced the case of Smith the most re-
markable in the, annals of the war. SEN
ators, representatives, and physicians
who investigated the record of the case
stated without hesitation that Smiths
recovery from his wounds was miracu-
lous, and that he was deserving of the
greatest pension that could be granted
by the government, His case was cited
by physicians and in medical journals
throughout the country as one of the
instances of the possibilities of recovery
from injury which was little less than
miraculous. But having survived all
these wounds, Smith appears to- be un-
able to survive his early matrimonial
experience, he having been married
when only Is years of age, and at a time
When his sutferings from his injuries
were most intense.
The findings Of fact by the lower court
in the case show that Smith enlisted as
q soldier at Cherry Valley, N. Y, Oct.
IA, 1861. He served until the battle of
Gettysburg, and there he received
wounds which are described by the
cocrt as follows, from the evidence of
the pensi' n examining department, all
of which is a part of the record: One
ball passing through his left thigh, a
second ball entering the left groin,
passing through the body, and coming
out of thearight hip, a third ball passing
through the left hip, taking a. course
throughlt the body and fracturing the
spinal column, his injuries being capped
by the explosion Of a she'll, which tore
off nearly the entire flesh from the feshy
part OF the left mates. And yet, the
court findsthat "this defendant the
wife) who was several years older than
the plaintiff persuaded this cripple and
sick soldier to marry her December 7,
1861" his condition from his wounds at
the time being such as to be offensive to
himself and to others
The best statement of the case OF
Smith is obtained from the report of
DR.. G. w. Pope of Washington, D. c.,
who made an examination of Smith and
reported his case shortly after the death
OF President Garfield, as a contribution
to the controversy then in progress as
to the character of the wound from
which the president died. Dr.. Pope
said: "Mr. G. H. Smith, a non. commisr
stoned officer in the S%eventy-sixth Reg.
iment, New York volunteers, at the
battle of Gettysburg, July l, 1868, re-
ceived the following wounds: The first
bullet passed clear through his left
thigh, close to the body. The second
entered the left groin, through what is
called Poupart's ligament, grazing the
blood vessels and nerves, traversed
the pelvis, passing directly through the
bladder and hip bones, and came out a
little behind the right hip joint. The
third entered the body:just above crest
the left ileum, traVersed obliquely
the abdominal cavity, passed through
the large intestines, and came out close
by the spine, partially shattering the
bodies of the lumbar vertebrae. All
these wounds were received within Is
minutes, and finally as the crash of
battle on that part of the field rolled