The evening times., 1901-06-05

lie Comes to New York From Can
ada to Avoid Notoriety aud De
ay-LitIcntIoH That Has CauS-
ed n Celebrated Controversy-
NEW YORK June 81 man of medium
stature. hut well proporJioued- whose age
is thirty-oue years. hastily entered the law
Office Of CarIuthers x Guthrie yesterday
afternoon, and slipping card into the
hands of the office boy, exclaimed: y wish
to see Mr.. CaEruthers at once. Ny train
leaves for Baltimore in an hour" on the
card was printed the name Of "Edouard
DeIPit-" The visitor was the plaintiff IN
the Delpit divorce case Of Montreal. which
has plunged the Roman Catholic Church
and the civil courts Of Quebec into d bit
ter controversy as to which IS supreme in
the laws of marriage 4 reporter OBJ
tanned al interview with Mr.. Delpit after
the conference with the lawyer. In ex-
planning his coming 10 this city Mr.. Delpit.
in few minutes he had left before taking
his train. said:
7 have come to the United States for
the relief which despaired of obtaining
in Montreal I have sought your courts to
grant me q divorce without notoriety and
the waste Of years of time The struggle
that ! have had in my own country Of
Quebec has been too widely noised about
Unfortunately. Il involved the Roman
Catholic Church and the civil government
o the province in such 4 struggle for su-
premacy that the primary case was lost
sight of Indeed the antagonism between
these two powers Of society has grown so
bitter that I saw that I could obtain a
final decision in the case on'y after ears
of struggle and noto-iety.
Accordingly. made my home in Bal
inn F7raa mo- he
bring an action for divorce through BIr.
Carruthers, as soon as my year Of resi-
dence is complete I have been in this
city only few days visiting at the home
Of q sister and consulting with my law
yer
Ny wife said Mr.. Delpit, was Miss
Marie Berthe Aurore Jeanne Cote. We
were married on May >, 1898. She was
sixteen years old then and I was twenty
three Although each OF Us had been
brought up IN the Catholic faith we were
married by Unitarian minister. Rev W
S Barnes, OF Montreal. We had three
Chndren-a boy who is now nearly seven
years old, and two daughters. Marie and
Louise
"Our marriage proved unfortunate Ny
wife showed such hatred OF me and to
the children that life became uneudura-
ble. We both sought for a divorce. she
in a civil, I in an ecclesiastical court In
my. contention before the church authori-
ties I argued that marriage between
two Catholics who had not abJured their
religion was cIandestine. and therefore
null, when soIemnized by Protestant
clergyman Ny contention was upheld,
and q decision in my favor was given me
through the Ordinary of Quebec, in July,
1900 and ratified by the Pope on Novem-
Der . last
This judgment was overruIed, howev-
eT, by the civil courts of Quebec in a de-
cision handed down by Justice Archibald,
Of the Superior Court, On March 81 last
An appeal from this decision is now be-
fore the Court Of Appeals OF the province
which although, as believe, VIII over
r,-le Justice Archibald. viii not be final,
as my wife has threatened to carry the
case TO the House Of Lords As I have
little doubt that the House Of Lords viii
sustain Justice Archibald. I have finally
abandoned the Canadian courts for the
courts Of this country. Here I hope my
suit viii be tried with expedition and fair
ness and without notoriety.
= shall base my claim for absolute di-
voTce on grounds Of cruelty, both to me
and my children. IN order to give these
proper protection I sent the boy TO France
TO his grandmother. and then afteTward
had my mother and an aunt come tC
Montreal from France TO take care Of tht
two younger children, also The hatred
that my wife bore to the children can be
seen by this affidavit from Mrs. Cameron
a servant IN our employ She testified as
follows
When the boy returned from France
with his grandparents Mrs. Delpit told
me that she hated him cher own son
enough to Kill him, and that she wished
that the vessel in which they all came
had gone to the bottom Of the sea, and
that all the family had drowned, even tc
her little son
The children are now in this city at tht
home of MT- Delpit's sister with whom
he has been staying Their grandparents
are also here The lawyers Of the wife
who Is Tow in Montreal. a3lege that Mr
DeIPit treated his wife cruelty and often
struck her
AR Delpit is the son Of Antoine Adrian
E.douard Delpit. q novelist who for ma ny
years served under the French Minister
of the Interior Among his novels are
'-Marcienre- Occur de Gu, FleiI
Occur" and la Ravanche de IEnfant-'
The son was born in BeaumOnt-du-Peri
CORD France, and left that country IN ISSi
TO become the secretary Of Lieutenant
Governor Chapleau. AfteTward he be
came the secretary Of the present Lieu
tenant Governor Jette- MI Deipit lef
the last place only a few months ago
Mr. CarrutheFS. his lawyer received
telegram late last night from the OppOS
ing lawyers Mn Taillefer and LafeIr- e
the effect that his proposition to fight the
case out in the Maryland courts was un
der adVisement- and that a reply har
been delayed by the illness Of NJ Taiile
fer The wiIe's counsel contend that tbs
ecclesiastical courts have no right to an
nul marriage for which . license hac
been Obtained