The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-08-03
STIRS up The MUD
Tsggart Divorce Case Promises
to Shock Army Circles.
A Young Filipino Woman an Inn
pOrtant Witness.
is CLAIMED BY BOTH.
Her Testimony Will Appear in a
Deposition.
Major Charges DesertiOn, Inf
deity and IntOxicatiOn.
is CLAIMED BY BOTH.

Wooster, O., Aug. 3.-On a Filipino
maid will depend much of the testimony
which will decide the divorce suit of
Major Elmer E. Taggart against his
wife, who is a Chicago woman, daugh-
ter of the late Mr.. and Mrs. Charles
Culver of that city.
What this girl is alleged to know fur
nishes aid and comfort to both sides
IN the most sensational marital litiga-
tion of generation, which has opened
In this placid town.
Augustine Du La Cruz will not ap-
pear on the stand, but her written word
may have an important bearing on a
case which menaces the social under
pinnings of army life. Mr.. Taggart
claims the girl as a witness; so does
Mrs. Taggart.
Major Charges Desertion.
In his original prayer for divorce the
major set forth that his wife had de-
serted him and had received the atten-
tions of Capt. Louis Bash, u. S. A.
She came here from San Francisco to
file cross petition for divorce and for
the custody of their two children. She
set forth that in Fort LeavenWorth Tag
q chiffonier as to dislocate her jaw, and
that he beat her repeatedly. She says
that while living in Fort Leavenworth,
at the request of her husband. she at
tended social affair with Capt. Poore
and wife and Lieut. Granville For
1esque. Lieut.. Fortesque is a relative
Of President Roosevelt She said that
when she returned to their home in
company with Capt. Poores Taggart
charged her with being intoxicated, and
when she passed through the door grab
bed her and tore her clothing from her
body
Other Improprieties Alleged.
In the amended petition aggart not only
Yeiterates the charges in which he named
other Instances Of alleged misconduct on
the part of his wife With officers of the U:
8. army, one of them with the rank OF
colonel He wants a divorce on statutory
grounds but names Lieut.. Rither, William
Taggart, Clinton Spencer and Col. Charles
bus barracks, o. He declares that Capt.
Poore and Col Miner conspired to have
him confined in the Fort Leavenworth
hospital on the charges of acute. alcohol
ism. In addition he names Col Miner as
party to relations with his wife that are
held to be grounds for divorce
Some of the alleged acts of misconduct
on the part of Mrs. Taggart, according to
the amended petition, were committed in
Chicago where the couple were married.
Still others are alleged to have been COM
mitted in the home Of his parents; in
home in Orrville. P. l., and elsewhere. In
the Orrville instance the major names one
William Taggart In the home of his
mother in Chicago he declares she received
Clinton Spencer, who is also named in the
instance in which Cincinnati is alleged to
have been the scene.
In Drinking Contests.
He says that in 1896, at Fort Thomas,
Ky, she engaged in a drinking contest in
an army post canteen with one Mrs. Poore
and other women to determine who could
drink the greatest amount of intoxicants.
He says that in the year 1898 he found
her at Matanzas. Cuba, at o'clock in the
morning in a highly intoxicated condition
In a saloon drinking with two men; at
Highland Park, in 1900, while associating
with one Spencer, she became intoxi-
Gated that Spencer carried her upstairs
and put her to bed. At Fort Leavenworth,
while associating with Lieut.. Fortesque,
she became intoxicated with Fortesque and
other men. Maj Taggart declares also
that Mrs. Taggart, with two men and an
other woman, visited resort in San Fran
cisco and witnessed strange conduct upon
the part of women.
He declared that she squandered his
money for liquor and cigarettes and that
she was wont to smoke cigarettes in the
presence of their little ones.
It is stated in the case against Mrs.
Taggart that there are from Is to 20 depo-
sitions. Counsel for her declare that all
but one of these affirm that Mai Taggart
is model husband. Meantime Mrs Tag
CART is not dismayed by the apparent
wealth of testimony against her.