Los Angeles herald., 1907-06-05
BROKEN HEART
BRINGS MAIDEN
GOLDEN S0LACE
Physician Is Assessed
$500
Miss Louise M. BristoW Awarded Judg.
ment Against DR.. Delbert A.
Clark In Breach Of
Promise Case

Fifteen hundred dollars for broken
heart. That amount was awarded Miss
Louise M. Bristow yesterday by Judge
Boardwell in the superior court to heal
her affections, wounded by DR.. Delbert
A. Clark, in breach of promise of
marriage.
Miss Bristow, pretty hairdresser
of Redondo Beach, sued for $4,000, but
Judge Boardwell, before whom the
case was tried without jury, was
evidently of opinion that the supply
of wounded affections is quite equal
to the demand, and not held at a
premium.
Or perhaps he thought that DIR.
Clark was entitled to a generous dis
count from the price demanded by his
erstwhile fiancee because of the lengthy
courtship; nearly five years.
From laying bare the innermost
secrets of her heart, the fair plaintiff
did not shrink. To prove the perfidy
of her recreant suitor she brought into
court huge stacks of his letters, tender
missives of impassioned love, all but
one, and In that one she read that un-
less she would reveal to his sordid
gaze the bank book in which was re-
corded a comfortable balance of $4,000,
he would repudiate all the affectionate
ardor depicted in the others.
1t was after receiving this unlover-
like epistIe that my Own Darling" as
he had addressed her in most of his
letters, decided to see a lawyer.
Loved Her at First Sight
Clad daintily in white, with a gor-
geous hat above her raven-black hair,
and her large black eyes flashing, Miss
Bristow tripped gaily into court and
waited for more than an hour while
her attorneys submitted for the courts
perusal twelve of the love burdened
messages.
Then with downcast eyes and in
plaintive tones she testified to having
met the defendant at San Pedro, after
| first corresponding with him through
the agency of matrimonial bureau.
That DR.. Clark was smitten at frs
sight she was sure.
In fact he hardly waited until the
formal introduction was completed be-
fore he proposed. Together they dined
and after an evening of enraptured
bliss, together they walked to her home
the doctor taking tender leave of her
at the door.
Thereafter, every single day and
sometimes twice a day, would come a
fond remembrance of his love.
Somehow he always managed to side
step an actual marriage, but for nearly
three years the courtship continued,
and progressed, so she thought.
Then one day, while the beatific &C.
stacy of mutual affection was slightly
clouded by bitter memory of their first
quarrel, the ardent doctor disappeared,
and for ten long lonesome months she
neither saw nor heard of him.
lnherits Fortune
During this cheerless period just one
comforting incident was allowed the
lovely Louise. A sympathetic lawyer,
somewhere back in the east, wrote to
tell her that she had inherited a
fortune in the snug sum of $4,000.
In the course Of a few weeks she
CHANGED to meet the lovelorn doctor on
South Spring street, and after the first
glad embrace she related to him in con-
fiding tones the contents of the lawyer s
letter.
Quite. true, it had a wonderful effect
in restoring to her lover his former
state of fond affection.
Once again the daily love letters re-
newed, and unsuspecting she allowed
herself to be wooed anew. Surely, the
matter of her inheriting a trif1ing fifty
thousand had nothing to do with the
renaissance of the DOCTORS passionate
love.
She knew that he loved her for her
self alone, and would still love her
whether she fell heir to $4,000 or even
81, 100000 for that matter.
Refuses to Show Coin
After the money had been received
they spent many joyous hours together,
planning the spending of 1t. Just be-
cause he brought up the subject every
time they met was no reason to sus-
pect him of mercenary motives, and
they were so happy, too.
Despite the doctors earnest en-
treaties, she steadfastly refused to show
him the bank book, but not until she
received that terrible letter was she
convinced of his duplicity, and deter
mined to seek redress in the courts.
The letter is as follows: "Lou-Will
YOU act the fool and wait until marry
some one with money? 1 don't care
- for a pennies woman. Write me
at once. Del"
TO this terrible array of damages
getting evidence, DR.. Clark made a
most perfunctory defense.
On the stand, and in response to a
question by his own counsel, he ad-
mitted that he had contracted to marry
the plaintiff, but declared that it was
expressly stipulated in the betrothal
agreement that Miss Bristow was to
nav him the sum of $4,000, and that
as vet she had refused to do so.
Almost without further argument the
case was submitted, and without de-
Law the decision was rendered.