Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-12-24
NINE DIVORCES
IN SO MINUTES
WEIGHT OF MARITAL WOE IS
TOO HEAVY
RECORD BROKEN IN SUPERIOR
COURT
While Eighteen Persons Are Being
Legally Separated, Same Num-
Der Obtain Licenses
to Wed

Infelicity's mill, with its stories of
marital discomfort, unhappiness, deser-
ton and cruelty was well oiled yester-
day, and while the grain of disenchant-
ment was ground out perhaps coarsely
it was fine enough to prove to the sat
isfaction of the superior court that the
life together of nine couples was unen-
durable.
Never before, it is claimed, have so
many divorce DEGREES been granted in
the local courts in so short a time as
were given yesterday when nine legal
separations were ordered within one
hour and nine minutes.
The weight of unhappiness on matri-
monials scale was evenly balanced by
the number of marriage licensed issued
during the same time, when nine
couples were launched on the uncertain
sea of married life.
First in Four Minutes
1t occupied only four minutes to call
and examine the witnesses and grant a
decree in the case of Mary l.. c. Smith,
who charged her husband, Solomon c.
Smith, with desertion. This, it is be-
lieved, establishes a precedent as to
time. Mrs. Smith said her husband
asked her fer carfare one morning in
April. He complained when she re-
1uSGu " give INN lllOlO llle1il q AllNANA
of the so cents in the familyS eX-
chequer, and departed never to return.
The hearing of the suit of Charles L.
Jones against his wife, Gertrude Jones,
took up seven minutes. Mrs. Jones, ac-
cording to her husband, deserted her in
1903, four years after their marriage.
A decree was granted.
The same time as in the preceding
case was taken up when the suit of
Emma ]. Lynn against Robert H. Lynn
was heard. Mrs. Lynn said she and
her husband were running a small shop
at Santa Monica last year. Lynn
stepped out of the little store one day,
saying he would return in a few min
utes. Since then she has not seen him.
She was given decree.
Ten Minutes for This
Ten minutes time was occupied in
the next two cases, DEGREES being
granted in both instances. Maud Bea-
mon charged her husband, Lyons T.
Beamon, with desertion. Mrs. Beamon
was 10 years of age when she married
and had known Beamon only four
months, she said. In August 1905, little
more than a year after the ceremony,
he took her to the home of her parents
and told them he could keep her no
longer. II think when she marries
again it would be better If she knew the
man a little longer" the court told the
young woman's mother, who was wit
ness.
Valentine Stocks, who married Ida
Stocks in October, 1901 said they came
to Los Angeles three years ago. The
wife returned to her Michigan home on
visit and when he sent for her she
refused to come.
Says He Threatened Her
Maude e. Watts told the court her
husband, Oliver M. Watts, threatened
to cut her throat in June. He had been
addicted to the use of intoxicants for
sixteen years, she said. A decree was
granted after hearing lasting twelve
minutes.
This was also the time occupied in
disposing of the case of Mary. A. Burns
against Robert D. Burns. Mrs. Burns
said herself and husband entered into
an agreement to separate September 2,
1885, By the terms of this agreement
she was to return to him in six months
If he offered her home. She appeared
at the appointed time, but the hus-
band showed no desire to again live
with her. A decree was granted on the
ground of failure to provide.
Mrs Sarah Mccoy, who was granted
a decree after a 13-minute hearing of
her case, said she came to Los Angeles
on a visit three years ago. When she
returned to Denver she discovered her
husband, w. o. Mccoy, had sold their
home and gone to his home in Quincy
Ill. She followed him there, but he re-
fused to again live with her, and she
came back to Los Angeles.
Mary L. Goldsby said her husband,
Claude Goldsby, took a peculiar pleasure
in beating her. After each castigation
he would disappear, remaining away
two or three months. Finally he adj
ministered a particularly severe beat
ing and never returned. A decree was
granted.