Los Angeles herald., 1907-01-01
ABSENCE OF LOVE
IS NOT CRUELTY
DIVORCE REFUSED TO WIFE OF
GENERAL ROBE
Judge Wilbur Says to Grant separa-
ton on Such Charges Would Be
Recognition Of "TrlaI
Marriage"

Judge Wilbur in department eight Of
the superior court yesterday handed
down a decision denying a decree of
divorce to Mrs. Mary r. Robe of san
Diego. who several weeks ago gave
evidence i'm her petition against Briga-
dier General Charles f. Robe. her hus-
band. from whom she wanted to be
divorced alleging that he had been
cruel TO her.
! The denial of the decree was not n
surprise, for at the time of the trial
of the divorce case II was conceded
that the petitioner had failed to make
a case and the delay to permit the filing
of briefs regarding what constituted
cruelty was not looked upon with
| favor
Judge Wilbur's decision in the case.
however, was unique Mrs. Robe at the
| trial testified that she and General
Robe, who is retired officer, had been
married in Chicago October 3, 1905, and
that she had filed petition for divorce
just one year after the ceremony for
series of humiliations and annoyances
which she alleged constituted cruelty.
Objected to Military Discipline
According to Mrs. Robes statements
her former husband, Charles f. Ken
dali, a well known eastern author. to
whom she had been married twenty
years before his death, did not treat
her as did General Robe. The woman's
chief charge against her husband was
that he conducted his home along mill
tary lines and compelled her to OBJ
serve the same rules he might lay out
for his orderlies.
In Judge Wilbur's decision he takes
up the complaints in order. The first
was that her husband had Inundated
her three weeks after their marriage
by refusing to buy theater tickets to
take her relatives to the theater
In reference to that complaint Judge
Wilbur ruled that no husband ought
to be expected to buy tickets for his
wife's relatives.
Mrs. Robes second complaint was
that several weeks after their mar
riage her husband had taken her to a
hotel and had forgotten to register her
name, simply writing his name on the
register and omitting the land wife"
clause which should have gone there.
IF a divorce could be granted for
cruelty because the husband newly
married. should forget to sign "and
wife after his name to a hotel reg
ister." decided Judge Wilbur, half the
young women in the country would be
entitled to a divorce. for it is COM
mon thing for men to make that mis-
take"
Married an Iceberg
To Mrs. Robes contention that her
husband was cruel to her, that he was
distant and unlovable and expected
her to abide by rules which would have
been accepted as severe even in a mill
tary encampment, Judge Wilbur ruled:
You married an iceberg and now
pOmDlaiO that he is foo cold -
Mrs. Robe further complained that
once while she was walking with Gen.
eral Robe on the street she became
faint and would have fallen had not
her sister helped her. She alleged that
General Robe refused to offer her his
arm on the ground that it was beneath
the dignity of a United States officer
to offer his arm to anyone on the street
Judge Wilbur. who has been a naval
officer, stated in his opinion that he
never heard of such an act lowering the
dignity of an officer, but that in his eX-
perience with divorce cases he had al
ways found that a mans arm, too
often used in different ways, was gen.
orally the source of trouble.
Absence of Love
In summing up the divorce Judge
Wilbur states that it is simply case
of absence of love instead of cruelty,
that the acts set forth in the complaint
showed that courtesy and attention
were lacking, but that it showed alb
sence of love and not cruelty, and that
to sustain such allegations would be
recognizing the trial marriages"
"These people were old when they
married." said Judge Wilbur, in his
decision. land such a marriage after
practically three weeks acquaintance
at their age of life, after they had both
been married before and become set
in their mode of living, was, to say the
least hazardous.
IF l should grant the divorce on
these grounds it would destroy all the
binding force of the marriage contract
and would write into the law the doc
trine some are preaching, that when
love ceases, marriage relations should
ipso facto terminate"