The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-01-30
BERRY DIVORCE
SUIT is DROPPED
Preacher and Wife Are Said
to Be Recon
ciled.

What promised to be one of the most
sensational divorce cases tried in the
st. Paul courts in years came to naught
yesterday, when the case of Fannie M.
Berry against the Rev. James F. Berry
was dismissed by Judge Jaggard be-
cause of the non-appearance of the
principal parties to the action.
The Rev. James F. Berry is a Pres
byterian minister, who formerly lived
with his wife at 332 Sherburne avenue,
in this city. In the complaint filed by
Mrs. Berry, last October, many sensa-
tonal allegations are made, and in the
answer which the minister filed the
charges are not less interesting. When
Rev. Mr.. Berry filed his answer to the
charges made by the plaintiff, it was
announced that a prominent Presby-
terrain minister of Chicago, to whom
Mrs. Berry is said to have written
letters, would be summoned as a wit
ness.
The complaint Of Mrs. Berry charges
her husband with cruel and inhuman
treatment, and numerous specific in
stances are cited. While the Berrys
were living at Plover, Iowa, where Mr..
Berry was pastor of the Presbyterian
church, the plaintiff says that one night
when church social was being held
at their home her husband struck her
in the face and knocked her down, and
an unusual thing. Mrs. Berry also
charged her husband with threatening
to shoot both her and himself, and says
his trips through the slums of San
Francisco, OStenSibly for the purpose of
securing material for a lecture, were
for altogether different purposes. Ac-
cording to the plaintiff, the minister
was in the habit of cursing her and ap-
plying vile epithets to her, and he is
also charged with circulating false re-
ports regarding her character and san
ity.
The plaintiff charged her husband
with infidelity, and alleged that his
daily visits to the public library in st.
Paul were inspired by young woman
more than by his desire to gain knowl-
edge
Ali of these charges and many more
were denied by the husband who filed
a notice that he would contest the suit.
He admitted having struck his wife
upon several occasions, but said there
had been sufficient proVocation for such
action.
In the cross bill filed by Rev. Mr..
Berry, he charges his wife with cor
responding with prominent Presby-
terrain minister in Chicago, and says
the letters, which~often alluded to their
anticipated marriage, contained many
endearing terms. He excuses himself
for striking his wife on the night of
the church social in the Iowa town by
saying that when the house was filed
with members of the church, his wife
irrftated him by following him from
room to room, nagging him constantly
On another occasion, since they had
been living in ST. Paul, he asked his
wife if a cup of coffee which she Of
fered him contained poison, whereupon,
he says, she attempted to throw a pan
of hot muSh in his face, and, when re-
strained, she secured a broom, and
would have struck him with it had he
not protected himself by taking 1t
away from her.
A year ago Rev. Mr.. Berry says he
went to California, where he had been
offered a pulpit in the Presbyterian
church in the town of Mendocino. He
had decided to accept the call, and for
| the purpose of surprising his wife he
| purchased for her in San Francisco a
| silk dress. 1t was when he returned
home from this trip that he was served
| with the notice that his wife had COM
menced divorce proceedings.
| The allegations made by both the
wife and the husband created some
| what of a sensation among the menu