The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1901-04-10
RELIGION CAUSED
DIVORCE:
Robert bod Married a Jew
ess and Wouldn't
Join Her Church.
THEN SHE LEFT Him
Vice Chancellor Says Her
Conduct Showed No
Regard for Her
Husband.

Differene in religion was the foundation
fer divorce suit which was disposed of
| by Vice Chancellor Stevens in the Court
| Of Chanoery this morning. Robert bod,
OF iobolxen, sued his wife, Bertha, for a
divorce on the ground of wilful desertion
Bertha Freed was a pretty Hebrew and
l1od was Christian when they were mar
rled by Justice of the Peace in this city
June s. 1887. The girls parents objected
to bod as a suitor for her hand, and as
she persisted in receiving his attentions
they practically drove her from the house
Then Dod's mother took her in and day
or two afterward they We're married. She
lived in Woodbridge, Bergen county, and
then went to live in Brooklyn. The wife
was never at ease over their religious
dinerences and continually urged her
husband to accept the Hebrew faith so
that both could be saved He refused and
they frequently quarrelled over the sub
ject. The husband claims that in Novem-
ber of that year his wife wilfully deserted
him and although he has frequently asked
her to return to him she has persistently
refused to live with him again.
In her answer the wife denies this, but
declares that her husbands conduct was
~ u uCl tlidt Sic WAS ODISGu 10 leave
him, and that she agreed to return to
him but he declined to take her.
Three times the wife had the husband
arrested in New York for abandonment,
and he was discharged. During the pen
dency of the suit Mrs. Dod applied TO
Vice-Chancellor Pitney for alimony and
counsel fee, but the application was de-
-iied the Vice Chancellor saying that her
affidavits were not sufficient
At the trial this morning the defendant
lid not appear ana her counsel, Abe ].
David of Elizabeth, offered no testimony
IN her behalf
The complainant was the first witness
ana he testified to his marriage and the
subsequent events up to the resertion. He
denied any acts of cruelty toward her and
said that he had always treated his wife
with great consideration and kindness. On
the morning Of November 5, 1897 he and
his wife had a quarrel. His wife became
very angry and excited and struck him
on the head behind the left ear and kicked
him. He grasper her arms in an endeav-
Of to restrain her from further violence
and in her. struggles she may have struck
ner face against him. He told of ms re-
peated efforts to get her TO return to him
and her refusals. He also told of the oc-
casioaS when she mad him arrested on
abandonment proceedings in New York,
and how he was always discharged upoa
expressing his Willingness to live with
her. He said that he went to Mantanzas,
CUBA, with his regiment, the 18th, N. G.
n. y, and renamed there until March,
1899. When he visited his wife at her par
ents home and tried to persuade her to
return to him he was told that it would
be all right if he would change his re-
hgion and submit to the Hebrew rites.
Mrs. Elizabeth Dod, mother of the com
plainant, corroborated her sons testimony
concerning the marriage, desertion and
his efforts to induce his wife to return
to him. She told how, at her sons. re-
quest, she had called upon the defendant
and urged her to return to her son,
and how the defendant refused.
Ralph Skinner, counsel for Dod, read
the deposition of Kate r. Lille, who lived
in the same house with bod and his wife
in Brooklyn She saw the quarrel in
November, 1897, which preceded the separ-
alton of Mr.. and Mrs. Dod. She said she
not to be too hasty about going away.
The witness said she never saw bod
strike his wife, and Mrs. bod never told
her that he had. Nor did she say she
ever had quarrel with her husband.
After Bertha had left Robert, the wit
ness met her and she told her she would
never return to Robert unless he changed
his religion and subitted to the rites of
her church She was a JewesS, she said,
and she knew she was acting for the best.
The case was submitted without argu-
ment and the Vice Chancellor disposed of
1t at once. He said there was enough
evidence in the case to establish the de-
sertion The abandonment proceedings in
New York showed that the wife enter
band, an dit was evident they were only
instituted to obtain money. from him and
force him to contribute to her support.
ANY woman who would do that con-
tinued the Vice Chancellor, has no re-
gard for her husband. / will advise de-
cree for divorce.