The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-07-16
FOR SAKE OF
HER RIVALS
CHILDREN
Mrs. Cunningham Pledges
Husband to Marry Woman
She Once ~HOrseWhipped.

NEW YORK, July 1s.-An arrest for
non-support, a horsewhipping admins
tered to a rival by an angry wife, n
a sacrifice suit for divorce that W
children may be set Alright in the world,
make up the incidents in the action OF
Mrs. Isabelle S. Cunningham against
her husband. Joseph T. Cunningham.
Facts in the case came to light yes
terday when Robert w. May, counsel
for the wife. moved before Supreme
Justice Scudder. in Brooklyn, to make
absolute the introductory decree grant
ed by Justice Crane three months ago.
Mr.. and Mrs. Cunningham were mar
ried in the Hotel Oxford, In Boston, in
1894. Both are Of prominent New Eng
land families. He had been a member
of the Massachusetts Democratic state
Committee and vas an associate OF
Josiah Quincy, Benjamin F. WEIGH n
p. ]. DAILY. He was the proprietor of
several hotels and wealthy. Mrs. Cum
ningham also was wealthy.
Soon d~issensions developed, and Mr..
Cunningham, according to the testimony
in court. left his wife. Six years ago
she had him arrested in this city and
incarcerated for twenty hours on the
charge of failing to support her.
One day three years age Mrs. Cunning
ham met Miss Lizzie Dempsey, daughter
of a prominent Boston politician. on Full
ton street, in Brooklyn. and slashed her
with a dog whip.
Mrs. Cunningham charged in her suit
for divorce that her husband was living
in a pretty Queen Anne cottage at b6l7
Fifteenth avenue, Borough Park, with
Miss Dempsey, whom he represented to
be his wife, and said the ~neighbors all
understood they were married. There are
two pretty little girls in the house, and
it Is out of regard for these innocents
that Mrs. Cunningham says she determined
to apply to the divorce court.
IT first extracted from Mr.. Cunningham
a promise that he would marry Lizzie
Dempsey for the children's sake" said
Mrs. Cunningham yesterday In her home,
Sc Clifton place, Brooklyn. Cunningham
broke my heart, and for years I could
not think of the, changed condition or
affairs without distress. But l have come
to love the elder girl, who Is sweet and
pretty. and comes to stop with me weeks
at q time. She calls me Aunt Belle.
And so I came to regard 1t my duty
to release Mr.. Cunningham and leave
him free to marry this woman, who. of
course, I cannot help hating. But II is
all for the best. 1 have offered to make
Dorothy, the elder child, who Is nearly
7, my heir. If she is taught to love me. I
also am fond of Katherine, the younger,
who is 8.
'Mr. Cunningham did not defend the
suit for divorce.
Since I have made up my mind to the
step l ave been looking at life differently
and have considered the proposition of re-
marriage. In fact, as soon as I am free
I expect to marry Boynton Van Derveer,
son of the Confederate general. Ferdinand
Van Derveer, who was Supreme Court
judge in Ohio. Mr.. Van Derveer is living
in New York. So,s you see, we may all DO
happy yet on account of this mutual ar
rangement. Miss Dempsey gets a husband.
the two children are set right before the
world. and / may look forward TO a really
congenial life Of matrimony."
Mr.. Cunningham. who Is AZ, is manager
of the National Electric Company, with
Offices in Boston, New York and Phila-
delphia- His New York offices are at Ill
Broadway. In her suit Mrs. Cunningham
declared that he has a salary of $4,000
a year. Mrs. Cunningham is DO, vivacious
and attractive, and Miss Dempsey Is 9s
and very pretty.