The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-06-27
Wives Awake to Realization of
Their Wrongs.
SOMETIMES IT is FIXED
Peace Making Attorney Must Be
a Diplomat.
Two Hundred and FOrty-Seven
Divorce Suits in Year.

/ u 4OPEho PCOPAC e~AA~
brought about harvest for the law
yers To the heat wave is laid the
blame for a flood of domestic uprisings
and a scramble for trouble in the
courts of justice.
Lawyers, who keep a weather eye on
/ business always look for a harvest
when the sun gets too hot. While 9TH
er people are clamOring for relief at
any one of q thousand watering re-
sorts, the cunning lawyer hangs his
| feet on his roll top desk, turns on the
electric fan, sends the stenographer
and office BOY to the ball game, and
calmly awaits the arrival of the grieve0
husband or wife. They never fail to
come.
Not all of these tales of sorrow and
suffering ever reach the courts or are
told to the public. For, be 1t said for
the shrewd lawyer, it is not always
/ wise to bring suit. Sometimes a COM
promise is more satisfactory-not only
! to the SOrrOWfng One-but to the law
yer as we'll Only yesterday a frail lit
1 tie woman dragged her troubles to the
office of a well known attorney. After
/ a so minute recital, the clever attorney
called the dereict husband over the
phone Hubby made a hurry-up trip TO
the law office. After another so minutes
the lawyer suggested hubby send the
/ overworked WHEY to the springs II
was agreed. Then there was a happy
recOnciliation-right in that law office.
/ The attorney deity extracted $50 from
out to buy a quarters worth of fresh
cigars. What was the use of starting
trouble? Settle it.
| In the last II months PAT petitions for
divorce have been filed in the Shawnee
| county district court. But lawyers say
that doesn't start to tell the story. Any
number of cases have been settled by
| the attorneys and the wise ones say
! that anywhere from 500 to 900 actions
for separation have been seriously con
sidered and reached the point where
attorneys were employed. The greater
part of the trouble, it is claimed, can
be traced to the hot, torrid weather.
Big sum in AIimony.
OF the 247 suits which were actually
filed, perhaps % per cent were for ali
mony. The tear dimmed eyes of IN
| happy wives have been at least tenn
porarily dried the last year by the pay
ment of more than 81, 900 900 in alimony
| by the local courts. Not all of the
money was paid in large Jumps and in
many cases it was doled out in judg-
ments for monthly payments for main
tenance of wife or child.
| Another feature of the hot weather
complaint is the fact that it has not
| affected any particular section of the
city or any class of citizens. Capitalists,
merchants, ministers, doctors bankers
Il
SterS and persons without prescribed
occupation have felt the indirect effects
Of Old SOILS protracted smile at mother
earth. One by one these persons have
| walked lightly to the monday lunch
only to find a note from the sheriffs
office informing them that suit has
been filed for divorce.
Out in the west end a woman last
week told her troubles She is the
wife in a home where the husband
q To q oSa act wi,
has done the family wash. cooked the
meals and mended the clothes. But
the hot weather got on her nerves last
week and she wanted relief. Her woes
and trials had never mounted so high
before, although for years she had
same little hardships. At the lawyers
office the woman tearfulIy recalled the
sighting remarks of by-gone days. She
remembered the little inattentions and
the hasty words. So there is a divorce
proceeding pending in that little home
Summer Time of BroOding.
Thus it goes. Lawyers say that per-
sons brood more in the summer time.
The blood rushes to their brains and
in hasty moment a person of ap-
parently cool reasoning imagines a
wrong, an injustice. Once started, the
mania continues. Like the SNOWFALL,
it gathers strength the farther it rolls.
Then it occurs to the person of i'm
agined wrong that they should have
relief They recall that the courts of
justice were created for lust such cases
as their own. An hour later, perhaps,
that same person who the day before
smiled on all the world, is hurting
stories of abuse and mistreatment at
some calm, sympathetic lawyer. The
next day another suit is filed.
Most of these cases come from the
women. Just why it is thus, even the
lawyers are not sure. Perhaps it is
because the wife sees less of the big
outside world. Perhaps it is because
she converses less with other persons
Perhaps it is because she naturally
broods more than her companion. Per-
haps it is because she is more nerv-
Gus, high strung and excitable. Any
way, the woman is the &C mpIainant in
much the larger per cent of divorce
cases.
Heat Conducive to Crime.
But the hot weather has not affect
ed domestic affairs alone. There is
more crime and violations of penal
laws in the summer months than when
the snow is on the ground. Perhaps
the same reasons may be ascribed.
Recall a balmy, warm day early last
fall2 1t was the first for several
weeks. Jackson Wright went walking
with his sweetheart. The warm sun
shine and too much liquor got the bet
ter of Wright's otherwise deliberate
mind He murdered his hancee IN cold
/ blood.
only the other night Pat Hogan,
big. jovial, good natured Irishman.
took a few drinks too many. The hot,
sultry night affected Pats brain. With
out the least provocation he murdered
his best friend. Crazed, perhaps from
the liquor. combined with the extreme
heat. Hogan endeavoreI to carry his
campaign of slaughter beyond even his
own acquaintanceS.
Go to the courts tomorrow and look
at the records. They only reflect the
results of the hot weather. Too much
Izunshine has got the better of some
ones reasoning; a crime has been
committed or a happy home destroyed
Then, if you are not convinced, ask