Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-07-25
TIE DIVORCE HABIT
WatsIbay Has An AVeIage of Thidy
 Each Year Since 1901.

0vOrCo courts are the busiest of the hegal institutions in the country and that the same country is going to the dickens on account of the liberality with which courts grant divorces, Waterbury Is not such bad place to live in after all despite the cries of social alarm.
 In view of what local preachers have been saying from time to time about what they called this social evil of divorce, if one were to ask how many divorces have been grant cd in Waterbury since. say. the Feb- ruary term of the superior court 1901. which, by the way, opened on March 8, the average person who reads the newspapers would jump and shout Too numerous to men tion." or Way up in the hundreds. !" This statement, 1t must be said, would be based on what he has heard from local pulpits.
 Anyone going into the hundreds would be away of. Sensationalism betrays the mind and the brain and consequently warps the judgment.
 Since the date mentioned up to the closing of the superior court by Judge Reed on July II there has been granted in the superior court in Wa terbury exactly 160 divorces, which for i've years makes an average of thirty year. That is not very bad in a city whose population five years ago was 60,000, and is considerably over that number now. In all there were 163 divorces applied for and of these the records show that only two were dismissed and one is undecided. These were Benjamin F. Seaman against Mary Seaman, and vice yer. sam, Orson Light against Kate All man Light. and Lathrop against La throp. There were more petitions for divorce granted this month than dur ing any part of the five years records that go to make up this article. There were forty-three applied for, one de- nied, that is the Light vs Light case. This does not include the one pend- flag, Lathrop vs Lathrop, which, per- haps. was the most startling ever heard in the local superior court.
 It Is evident, however, that the number of applications for divorce is gradually but surely increasing. and this is perhaps only natural in the heterogeneous population of 8 city like Waterbury. Still, the parties to these cases were with a slight ex- ception people of English-speaking nationality, and the exceptions were born in the old countries.
 The court year begins with the October term, usually the third Tues day. which is devoted entirely to civil business. But the records that were most convenient began with March 8, 1901. In that month there were Ave divorces granted and apparently the divorce mill stopped working from that date until February 21, 1902, for no records of divorces hav- Ing been allowed appeared until that date. From that date, however. until June 20. 1902. twenty-two divorces were granted. Court opened that year again on November Tand was iin'ses- sion at different times until May 29, 1903, during which period thirty nine divorces were applied for and all were granted.
 That was seventeen more than the year previous. From October g. 1903, until July 12, 1904. when court clos ed for vacation there were granted thirty-one dfvorces. eight less than the year before. In the fall of 1904 court opened on October 21. the third Tuesday, and from that date until June 23, 1905, twenty-six people were released from unpleasant bonds of galling matrimony.
 On October 13. 1905. until July II, 1906. forty-flve cases for divorce were heard and forty-three were granted. One. Light vs Light. was dis missed and the other. Lathrop vs Lathrop, is still undetermined. This makes a, total of cases heard 163, leaving one undecided, two dismissed and 160 granted
 Of these, 163 all told, Judge Shum- way disposed of the largest number. forty. Judge Ralph Wheeler of New London Is next with record of twenty anu tut otuei Juu6So iot- low in this order: Judge Gager of Derby. IS; ex-Judge Elmer of Mid dletown. who retired three years ago. IT; Judge Reed of Stafford Springs. IS; Judge Thayer of Norwich and Judge Robinson of Middletown, 12 each; Judge Case of Hartford, 10: Judge Roraback of Canaan. g, and Judge George w. Wheeler of Bridge port, ..
 The records do not show that di- vorce applicants favor any term of the court more than another for try Ing to get released from the despised one, and though Judge Shumway has the largest record he Is not by any means the lawyers favorite for granting such petitions as divorces. Lawyers have their favorites. how ever, in matters of this kind. still in one term Judge Reed. new judge in the Waterbury superior court. dis posed of more divorce suits In one special and one ordinary term than any other judge on the calendar. And he was most careful. StIll there does not seem to be any particular month or judge or term of the court more than another that is favorable for the granting of divorce suits.
 The large majority of the appli- cants were women and one of them ,ras divorced three times. First from her original husband. then she mar lied again and again got a divorce. vhereupon soon after she married her first husband and he got di- yorce from her.