Los Angeles herald., 1910-10-13
MARITAL STORM
JARS IN MELODY
Of LUMMIS SONG
Former Librarians Wife, Now in
San Francisco, DisclOSeS De-
tails of the EStrangement
HUMMlNG BIRDS AND SNAKES
Diary Written in Spanish and
Greek Said to Have Caused
the Disagreement

Into the song of life Of Charles
Fletcher Lummis, musician and scien-
tist, archaeologist, poet and author,
whose reputation as a man Of letters
stretches from Los Angeles to the
academic corners Of New York and
Europe, there has crept, for the second
time the discord of a marital storm.
His wife is at the Hotel Victoria in
San Francisco, having put her trou-
bles into the hands of her attorneys,
Cushing s. Cushing, Of that city,
who, however, refuse to say whether
a complaint for divorce will be filed
within few days.
On account of the social and literary
standing of the couple, their influential
friends have endeavored to keep Sc
cret the details of their separation, but
through the chinks of the walls of
silence there have come forth whis-
pers of strange doings of the littera-
teur; of diary written in Spanish and
Greek wherein are told the tales OF
many loves, and which, having fallen
into the hands of Mrs. Lummis, was
translated and thereupon transformed
into plaintiffs exhibit A.
Mr. Lummis seems to care not. He
sits and thrums his guitar in his home,
200 East Avenue Forty-three, and
sings his love songs to such OF his
friends of the fair sex as are permitted
to hear him. Of the matter of the
divorce he treats airily and POLITICALLY.
and to questions as to the cause Of
the separation of himself and his wife
he wanGers into a scientific mood OF
humming birds and snakes.
"But what have humming birds and
snakes got to do with your divorce
case?" he was asked.
CAUSES BEHIND SEPARATION
"Humming birds and snakes-and-
and--women are all Gods creatures,
quoth he, and then turned once again
to the singing of harvest songs. To
all outward semblance the matri-
monial discord has been lost in the
outburst of a new tune. He twangs
and thrums and strums with the same
zest as of old.
Mrs. Lummis sings not and neither
cares she for snakes nor hummIng
BIRDS The shock following the dis
covery Of the causes which brought
about the separation, it seems, i'm
paired her health. SO Ill is she that
physicians are in continual attend
ance over Ler.
There was little public knowledge of
t'-e coming storm. Lummis is 81 years
of age, a man of honorable dealings,
and the community expected him to
Pass the remainder of his days in his
residence, gathering his beetles and
bugs, collecting collections and ever
and anon leaving the seclusion of
scientific researches to write scathing
letters to the papers forever settling
such mooted questions as the proper
pronunciation of "Portola."
whisper preceded the storm-a
whisper of a dairy said to have been
kept by him, written in Spanish and
Greek. In it are said to be tales OF
other women, other loves. other songs
And while yet the whisper was echolng
around the state, Mrs. Lummls le1t
Los Angeles and, going to San Fran
cisco. intrusted her case to Gushing &
Cushing, attorneys.
Naturally, there was secrecy, put
there was no denial of the trouble.
WIFE EXPRESSES REGRET
1.-THE case is in my hands, and can
not discuss it in any way" said o. X.
Cushing in San Francisco yesterday.
"Have divorce papers yet been
filed?"
mot yet" said Gushing.
He said that he did not know
whether efforts were being made to
reconcile the couple.
Mrs. Lummis, who, during her stay
in San Francisco is living at the VIC
toria, has nothing but regret for the
a life Of exceptional happiness.
,''I have always been a domestic
home-loving woman" she said yester-
day afternoon.
I'm that l have nothing to reproach
myself with. 1 have made my home
as attractive as 1 could, and have lived
merely for my husband and my chill
dren. 1t is not my fault that things
have turned out as they have"
TJT1on1iG tUn nf her
children, Eva, pretty girl of 16, ana
Harry, an interesting chap of 6 years.
The other child, a boy of II, Is with
his father here.
"You can count on it, however that
in case of a divorce, not one of my
children will be left to the care OF Mr.
Lummis," she said, vehemently, sew
eral times. "That l will demand as
my right-and 1 will get 1t, too.
STATEMENT OF MRS. LUMNnS
"The troubles that we have had have
been no fault of mine. have never
been the sort of woman who prefers
outside amusements to the care OF my
nome or my duties in it. / have lived
quietly, have taken care of my chill
dren-one of them q little boy l lost
some years ago-and If things had
zone as 1 wanted them to go, and as
/ did everything to have them go,
would be in my home today, and there
would be no question of separation.
mot only in domestic ways have 1
done my duty" she said. 81 have also
given time and thought to the ad-
yancement of my husbands literary
interests.
"Up to the time I married him in
1891 he had really done very little
along literary lines. He had done some
newspaper work both in the east and
in Los Aneles, but his chief distinc-
tion up to that time rested In the walk
that he took from Cincinnati to Call
fornia, a trip Of S507 miles, which he
made in 143 days.
"At the time met him he had been
writing In Los Angeles and had gone
to New Mexico to live with the In
dians, studying their modes OF living
and their tribal customs, with a view
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