The Washington herald., 1911-10-22
ELOPERS ARE GRIST
POR2DpVORCE7 MILE
Unripe Marriages, Too, Ruf.
file Hymen's Feathers.
LISTEN TO EXPERT UNTANGLER
Forty Per Cent of Districts Run
away Matches Lead to the Court,
Says Lawyer William E. Am
brose-COId Facts Give Shivers
to Little God of Romance.

Most elopements end in divorce de-
crees, and marriages where the husband
or wife is a minor generally turn out
badly, according to the records of the
District courts and the unanimous opin-
ion of lawyers who specialize in marital
legal difficulties. The divorce records
show that 40 per cent of the DEGREES
granted in the District are sequels to
runaway weddings.
Just why it is that hurry-up marriages
don't end well is a mystery even to
those who have made a study of the
question. At a rough estimate eight out
of every ten ventures in matrimony
against the wishes of parents. when
Cupid is too impatient to let the course
of true love try the smoother road, go
TO smash inside of two years.
Attorney William E Ambrose said
last night that he had given consider
able thought to the question, and that
it is only the exceptional eOpement that
leads to matrimonial bliss
Some Expert Testimony.
Forty per cent is a conserva tive esti-
mate" he declared and if the divorce
laws of the District were broader, if 1t
were not.-true- that there is only one
ground for legal separation here, the
percentage would be much higher. I
think about so per cent would be right
for most States"
Col. John r. Young, clerk of the Dis
trict Supreme Court, thought more elope-
ments end we'll here than any place else,
but admitted that the statistics show
most of them go wrong
And that isn't the worst Of it from the
point or view of those romantic people
who get a genuine thrill of pleasure when
they read that some young couple has
kicked over conventionalities and married
on the run Cold, dispassionate facts,
CLEANED from the records, show that of
the remaining 60 per cent of divorces eX-
actly half come at the end of marital
plunges where husband or wife was un-
der twenty-years old. Also. women file
four suits to every one brought by men.
She Takes a Tangent.
Women are more apt to fly off at
tangent and seek separations on trivial
grounds explained Lawyer Ambrose.
And then women have no redress save
in the divorce courts. They must bear
the bFuRt of difficulties at home. and
can't escape from them the way men do.
"A woman has the right to look to a
man for her maintenance, and when he
falls. most of our States give her the
right to divorce him for nonsupport. OF
course that considerably increases the
percentage of suits entered by women.
1T has been my experience" said
M. -Au1brdEe.- II etI1fEzHfnre = fTS-ces are
sought on the grounds of neglect than
on anN other DruQkeaness. nonsup-
port, land cruef'T rrobabIy follow In
that oEder. Of course. this doesn't in
clude ~intdeIity. the only legal ground
for divorce in the District When peo-
pie want to Eei rid of their husbands or
wives on any other grounds they have
to file, suit in another jurisdiction, and
This IS done in. many cases"
Score One for Ma-in-Ia1v.
Incidentally the statis-icians have
eXonerated ''mother-in-Iaw In more
than half Of the suits tried in the Dis
trict the symnathies Of the mothers.
where they were involved. were with
their sons-in-law or daughters-in-law.
When wife files the action, the ia