The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-10-31
Her Marital Troubles Aired in
French Court.
Boni Is Said to Have Robbed
and Beaten Her.
HE ALSO PINCHED HER
In Servants Presence 4 Months
After Marriage.
His Love Letters to Other
Women Read In Court.

Paris. Oct. S1=The CasteIlane di-
vorce case was heard this afternoon
between NJ. Henri Ditte. president of
the tribunal of first instance Of the
Siene. Neither the count nor the
countess were present. Maitre Crup-
pi. for the countess, pleaded for a di-
vorce on the documentary evidence
submitted.
On an extended review counsel de-
clared that the countess at the begin
ming OF the suit was not acting under
influence, but solely for the purpose of
ending forever the peril Of the moral
desolation of her household He ex-
planned the marriage contract, by
which the regime of separation OF
property was established from the
very beginning and stated that domes-
tic difficulties are over the question OF
money. Ill treatment soon followed.
the count even striking the plaintiff
oerore the servants. When he reach
ed the question Of inadelity charged
against the count, Maitre Cruppi did
not mention names or even initials de-
signaling the correspondents as
Madame A" Madame B, and so on.
Maitre Cruppi asked that the count
children.
Counsel for the countess spoke for
an hour and a half, and had not fin
1shed when the court took a recess.
Counsels presentation of the case of
the plaintiff constitutes a complete and
pltlrul story, a wreck of her married
life, due primarily to the counts in
ordinate extravaganza. Even in spite
OF their domestic infelicity, the count
ess was too good and scrupulous to be
| gin an actlon Tor divorce until she pos
sessed additional cause. She was onIy
20 when she was married in 1895. ana
Maitre Cruppi asserted, the happiness
or the honeymoon was disturbed on
their arrival in Paris by the counts
demands for money. The countess in
come was then 100000 and the count
allowed her $50 pin money The court
room swas crowded Among those pres
ent were many members of the Ameri-
can colony.
BY 1893 the countess interests" n
Cruppi said, were so heavily. compro-
missed by the counts extravagance thar
It uecessitated famiIy- meeting IN
New York and the appointment of Il
| legal trustee But the difficulties re-
garding money were unceasing. and in
order to obtain funds, the count pawn
ed or sold at ridiculous prices the most
/ costly objects.
When the countess protested the
count abused her in the presence of ser
wants and when she declined to attach
her signature to documents he frequent
J
her. the first time being four month
after their marriage"
In the course Of the pleading NJ Crup-
pi protested against the malicious re
ports in regard to the countess inten-
tions, and announced that she would
leave France for America Immediately
after a divorce is granted her. Recount
ing the counts infidelity the first in
stance cited by counsel was that with
a married woman described as
Madame A" in 1898. The correspou--
dence was conducted through NJ Moret
the counts secretary. The countess ac-
cidentally discovered in the CasteIlane
chauteau a packet of love letters and
when she protested the count struck
her. The countess eventually placed the
letters in the custody Of a lawyer.
NJ Cruppi read passionate extracts
from one cf the letters fixing a rendez-
vous at Dijon. It read:
L am kissing you on the neck DO
you feel it?" and so on. Counsel also
detailed liasons with Madame 3" and
Madame c. whom the count met in
apartments which he rented in different
parts Of Paris
NJ. Cruppi had not finished his presen-
tation Of the case when the hearing was
adjourned until next week.