The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-05-21
PERJURY CHARGES
IN BESS DIVORCE
Noted Matrimonial Mixup Said
to Have Been Perforated
With Lies.
DIVORCE MATINEE HELD
PARADE OF MARITAL WOES
BEFORE JUDGE MORSE.

Tears choked the voices Of plain
tiffs and defendants, occasional laugh
ter rang through the court room as
the wheels of justice ground Slowly
but none the less surely in Judge Z.
w. Morse's tribunal at the weekly d.
Vorce matinee yesterday afternoon
Charges of perjury flew thick and
fast at one juncture. when Judge
Morse was informed that he had been
lied to by Mrs. Alice Elnora BeSS When
she secured a decree recently; ana
little golden-haired, blue-eyed chill
dren played 2 heartrending part IN
the dramas that were enacted Wnen
marriage ties were severed
The perjury charge came in the
case of Mrs. Bess against Robert Ed
ward Bess. Some time ago the wife
secured an interlocutory decree from
Judge Morse on the ground Of non
support and a few weeks ago the
Judge granted a final decree, but II
was not entered, because Immediately
afterward the court was informed that
seventeen affidavits had been secured
by the husband, who had not ap-
peared in court, refuting the wife's
charges.
Declares Court Was Deceived.
Upon representation of attorneys
jured evidence had been presented to
the court when Mrs. Bess obtained
her decree, Judge Morse ordered the
case reopened and another hearing SET
for Thursday, June 16.
The attorneys represented that the
court had been deceived by the evil
dence, and that Mrs. Bess had in
formed her husband she did not in
tend to press the suit for divorce.
,t2f II is aI1ECH6
the husband did not appear in court.
because he did not suppose the case
was going to trial. The next he knew
the interlocutory decree had been
granted.
It was represented by Mr.. Bess'
lawyers that his several children have
been scattered about in various fami-
lies throughout the city, and that Mr..
Bess desires them united.
The Child Comes On.
an that is most potent in the argu-
ments of those opposed to divorce was
summed up in the case of Mrs. Marie
Bruning against Henry Bruning, when
little Rosa Bruning, aged 3, crowded
into the witness chair with her moth
er and stared wonderingly about her
while her mother related how her nus
band had failed to support her slid
had left her, and of how she had had
TO shift for herself and make a living
for the beautiful tot by her side
The humor-such as it is-Of the
divorce industry went out of the court
room Ike a suddenly extinguished
light when Mrs. Bruning began her
story. Punctuating it at frequent in
tervals were the sunny smiles of
Baby Rosa, who gleefully regarded
the judge and coquettishly waved her
tiny hand at the attorneys.
Secures Her Decree.
Mrs. Bruning secured a divorce. She
said she had lived In Salt Lake eight
years. and that her husband aban-
dOned her several years ago. Mrs.
Charles Wesson testified that Mrs
Bruning always had been a dutiful
wife. The story of the desertion was
that Bruning told his wife one after
room that he had secured a new job
Then he left her. That was all, and
Judge Morse ordered the decree, and
gave Rosa into her mothers keeping
Rosa, still thinking it all a joke
laughed merrily and kissed her moth
er as she clambered down out OF the
witness box.
Interpreter in Action.
When Frederick Samuelson. aged
6s. took the stand TO tell of alleged
abuses on the part of his wife. the
crowd in the court room-composed
largely of women-tittered Mr.. Sam
uelson spoke in broken English, and
recounted wrongs he said he had been
compelled to put up with. He secured
a decree.
Samuelson declared his wife was
very cruel that she often called him
a ''devil'' and a scorpion" and that
frequently he had been compelled to
call IN neighbors to help preserve the
peace.
A neighbor testified. through an in
terpreter. that Mrs. Samuelson had
used foul language and that he had
been summoned by the long-suffering
husband to help quiet her Mrs. Sam
uelson, who is 40, once hit her spouse,
he affirmed, so that his glasses were
bent Also at times he was obliged to
cook his own mush,'' he said.
Offers Smallpox AIibi.
Frequently Wiping his eyes with
a generOus-sized blue bandana Land
kerchief, Charles Hames answered the
charges of his wife Nellie that he had
been cruel, and vicious and mean
and then some. The big handkerchief
was Brought into play ever and anon
Mrs. Aames. he says. called him vile
names and declared he was too old for
her, and that she had made a mistake
In marrying him at all
Judge Morse was about to continue
the case one week and issue a sum
mons for Mrs. Hames to appear. when
IT was announced that she was at
hand, and she took the stand and ad-
mitted that she was sorry she had
married Hames and that he was ''too
DID,
Mrs. Hames previously had filed
A n q