The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-11-16
AN ATCHIS0N CASE.
The Globe Relates Some Particulars OF
an Interesting Social Scandal 81


people every day. With one exception,
everyone he has heard express an opin-
ion during the past three or four days
1 (and hundreds have expressed an oTHn-
ion), has expressed sympathy for T. r.
Smith. The one exception was a lvo-
man who told the sheriff that she in
tended quitting the Globe, unless II
ceased defending" T. B. Smith
| The people who express sympathy Tor
Smith do not express admiration for
him; they simply believe he cannot pay
the alinony his wife demands; that
he is pennfless and sick, and therefore
should not be in Jail.
There is talk that he will sue the
county for damages, alleging false inn
| prisonment, but this il not possible.
Even If the judge of the district court
has erred in judgment, there is no rem
edS.
People believe Ida K Smith is I'M
duly vindictive toward her former hus-
band. They also believe that Smith
has made an attempt to pay the all
mony awarded her. The Globe yester-
day stated, on the authority of his at
tolneys, that Smith would gladly give
worth probably $2,400, for her $1,000
judgment. Smith stated to a Globe re-
porter last night that he would give
his former wife his interest in the Mis-
souri, farm If this is all he has (and
people seem unanimously of the opinion
that it isl, why should Ida K. Smith,
or her attorneys, refuse II, and insist
on his doing something he cannot pos
sibly do? And the refusal to accept
the Missouri farm, and the present
fierce demand for cash. which Smith
surprising when It Is known that
Smiths equity in the Missouri farm is |
probably worth the amount of the JuCR- |
ment. This condition of affairs leads |
many people to believe that Ida K. !
Smith is really more anxious to keep |
her husband in jail than she IS to get |
the money coming to her, and finally !
settle the old and tiresome quarrel
Pelow is printed an interview with |
T. B. Smith His statement that his |
wifes illness was feigned, is corrob- /
GRATED to this extent; two Atchison /
nurses sent the same word to the Globe /
before Smith made the statement to
reporter. Mrs. Smiths former neigh
bors, almost unanimously say the same
thing. OF the facts we know nothing; |
we mention these circumstances simp-
~ as bearing on case that has be-
came celebrated.
T. b. smiths Story.
A reporter called on T. B. Smith at
the county Jail last night. and talked
with him a half an hour
Some people think I am in jail for
trouble because / married a second
wife too soon after my divorce I was
separated from Ida K. Smith two years
before 1 was divorced from her, and
did not marry my present wife until a
year after my divorce.
Il have just been reading what Ida
K. Smith says about me. She says L
am q QlSSO1ul6 CnaIdCleT+ anu a QIuHk-
ard. Naturally. she says mean things
about me but l cannot dispTove what
she says any more than she can prove
her charges. That is all in the past;
when a man and wife are divorced
there is naturally much bitterness be-
tween them. But as to her charges
that 1 am drunkard and that 1 run
about. I submit my experience with
my present wife, a woman l respect
and love, and who is kind to me.
have been married to her nearly two
years. and during all that time. have
never been out Of the house at night /
without her, except on last election
night, when I was out until ten
o'clock. Ny present wife is a help
meet; she pleases me, and | try to be
good to her. She makes me am
trouble. and do something for her.
Poor woman, she has had a hard time
since marrying me. Ida X Smith
even sold our household goods; house
hold goods that in part belonged to
my present wife, and locked the house
for weeks. If 1 ever get out of Jail.
and recover my health, | intend to
pay ever dollar I owe, including the
alimony I owe Ida K. Smith
But while my life with my present
wife has been very agreeable, and
made me ambitious to do better. my
life with Ida K. Smith was exceedingly
disagreed BILE. For the first few years,
she all right. but as soon as be-
gan to make money, she was seized
with the notion that she must be an
invalid. If / should tell the full story
Of this woman's feigned illness. no one
would believe it, although / can prove
1t by doctors, and by two of the most
reputable women in town; women who
waited on her as nurses. DR. Wallace
of st Joe made affidavit that Ida K. |
Smith, although feigning illness, was a
sound woman physically. For eight
months she pretended she was too Ill
to speak, and wrote her complaints on
tablets. Three times in one month,
was summoned to Colorado, where she
was undergoing treatment When i Al
arrived, there was nothing the matter,
except that she intended changing her
room from one part OF the hotel to an
other. 1 can prove by Dr. Wallace, and
by the nurse who waited on her now a
respected resident of Atchison, that
while pretending to be unable to speak
Il word, she talked as well as anyone
when 1 was absent She was mono
maniac on the subject OF her sickness
/ hired an osteopath to treat her; then
! hired a magnetic healer; then |
hired a doctor in St Joe, a doctor in
Topeka. a doctor in Denver, and three
doctors IN Colorado Springs She even
insisted on my hiring negro doctor
in Atchison, which did. Then Dr.
Wallace told me she was foonng me;
he said I hadn't sense enough to travel
from Atchison to st. joe on the cars,
or 1 could see she was fooling me- She
had made me wait on her like slave
during these years Of pretended illness,
and this deceit SO angered me that
left her. left her; she didn't leave
me- This angered her. and she took
after me; can prove by twenty people
that she has often boosted that she
would never give me a moments peace
And she hasn't She broke me up in
business. and now she has landed me
in JAIL for failure to pay money can
not pay. Ida K Smith IS an educated, !
bright woman, a woman of unusual
force She rules everyone she comes
in contact with