The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-03-03
OF A BROKEN HEART
Pathetic Story of an Old Case
Still in Court.
AN OLD WICHITA CITIZEN
Who Died With Divorce Suit
on Records Against Him.

There has been a romance in real life
in Wichita, rivaling some of the pathetic
stories of May Agnes Fleming. 1t oc-
CURED in a home on North Water street
of this city. Very few people of the city
paid any attention TO the simple announce
inent made by the papers of the death
of Charles S. Smith. He lived and toiled
and passed. anyway and from the many
and passed away, quitting life almost
without a murmur of his death in the
business world
He died on the 14th Of January and
was consigned to his last resting place
by his old comrades of the Grand Army
of the Republic, who reverently covered
him over and left him to sleep the sleep
of ages on the hill overlooking the city.
For years Smith was a well-known char
acter upon the streets of this city, driv-
ing bay horse and express wagon. He
was a man Of very few words, but strictly
honest, temperate in all his habits and
honorable in his dealings. The court rec
ords. Of Sedgwick county throw some light
upon his last days, as shown by case No.
20S44, in the district court of Sedgwick
county, Kansas.
For some months previous to his death
Smith and his wife had trouble in the
family. Lawyers were called into the
case, Judge Wall representing the plain
tiff, and Senator Bentley representing
Smith. Various negotiations opened look
ing to the settlement of the differences be-
tween the husband and wife. Even the
lawyers made an effort to heal the breach
and keep the family together. The fam
lily consisted of husband and wife and five
children, ranging from Is years of age
to seven years. For twenty-five years
this family lived on North Water street
The efforts of the lawyers were of no
avail, and the trouble finally eliminated
in the case OF Matilda Smith, plaintiff
against Charles s. Smith defendant This
case was filed January 8, 1900, but no SER
vice was had upon the defendant until
Saturday, the 18th at which time he was
served with summons in the case. He
told his attorney that he was like an old
horse, worn out, and that the home in
volved in the alimony part of the divorce
case was the accumulation OF lifetime
The petition demanded the home as ALI
mony and custody of children. The d.
vorce proceeding and service of summons
gave him mortal blow, from which he
never recovered. On Saturday evening he
went home, took to heart disease, and the
next day he was dead. The doctors said
that he died of heart disease, and those
familiar with the facts know that he did
die literally of disease of the heart His
heart was broken. He was Y years old,
and drew a pension of SIG a month. having
been a veteran in the union army.
The case of Matilda Smith against
Charles S. Smith still remains on the
records of Sedgwick county, but the de-
PENDANT has taken his side of the case
and all the equities therein contained TO
higher court, to- court which never
granted a divorce.
The old comrades who assisted at the
funeral noted with extreme sadness the
woe and misery of the WIFE, who was the
chief mourner at the funeral Smith died
in the room where he had lived so long
and 10 the making of which he had de-
voted life and soul.
The pathetic side of this story is that
his last moments were saddened by the
fact that the wife he had lived with so
long and the mother of his children was
dissatisfied with him as a husband. and
his efforts to support her and the chill
dren.