Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1912-05-13
COURT HOLDS THAT MRS. TURPlN
WAS NOT WIFE OF HOTEL
OWNER.
NEVER RECOGNIZED WIDOW
AS COMMON LAW WIFE
Mother Of Turpin Fought Efforts Of
Alleged Widow to Share in $250,000
Estate-Caxe in Court Two Years
Finally Decided-other News of the
State.

Dubuque, May 13.-Judge Benson in
the district court Saturday handed
down q long awaited decision in the
sensational case Of Marylee Smith
Turpin VS. the estate of the late F. NJ.
Turpin. in a suit for the Widows al
lowance of an estate estimated at
quarter OF a million.
The decision says that the testimony
fails to show that Turpin ever intended
making her his wife. nor did she ever
expect that he would marry her, altho
the couple had lived together. The
court denies the claim of the plain
tiff Turpin owned the Julien hotel at
Dubuque and hostelries in Knoxville
and Atlanta, and was interested in
other enterprises. His home was in
Macon, Ga.
One OF the most tangled and prob
ably the most complicated matrimonial
affair that the courts of Iowa or any
other state in the union have been
called on recently to unrarel is what
has come To be known as the 'Turpin
case. which has been occupying the
attention in the district courtS of Du-
buque county. at various times for al
most two years. 1t is q case in which
one Of the oldest families of Georgia is
concerned and where property esti-
mated to be valued at from 100000 to
$3.50 900 is invol"ed.
The ''rurpin" case vas first heard Of
in the district courts of Dubuque coun-
ty Iowa, on Sept q, 1910, when Mrs
Narylee Turpin filed q petition in the
district court asking for a divorce
from f. VI. Tt,rpin.
Alleged Widow Appears.
In less than two months after the
filing Of the suit in the district court
and before service had been had on the
defendant he died at the home OF rela-
tIves at his former home. at Macon. Ga
On March 3, 1911. the alleged widow
made application in the courts for a
widows allowance. It was resisted by
the mother Of the deceased who alleges
that the woman seeking the allowance
was not the widow of her son, that she
never had been his wife in fact that
he never intended 10 make her his wife.
This case came to trial in the Octo-
Der, 1911, term of the district court.
but all of the evidence was not heard
at that time The case was therefore
continued to the March, 1912. term
when a full hearing was had and the
case submitted to Judge Robert Bon
son.
Alleges They Were Married.
In her suit for divorce the plaintiff
alleged that she and F. NJ Tupin were
married in New York City in Septem-
+hn,-
the Hotel Girard as husband and wife
for some time then, and again in the
spring of 1909. But that suit never
came to trial because Of the death of
the defendant less than two months
after the filing Of tie action
The plaintiff alleges she was called
10 Jacksonville, Fla, by the illness of
a brother. and there for the first time
net +. NJ. Turpin.
Then the climax came in the early
part Of September. 1905. it is alleged
when ne sent her telegram to Macon,
Go. TO come to New York, where they
We're to be married. She made the
trip, met him in Jersey City, went d.
rectly to an office building in New
York City, was married by what she
supposed, she claims, was a civil Of
fcer.
Attempts Suicide.
| III the spring of 1910 at the Majestic
| hotel in Chicago. she claims, the CHI
max came when he told her that they
were not married. that the ceremony
was mock one that he was done with
her etc. Then she tried to commit
suicide by drinking water which had
been poured over matches. The affair
created something Of a sensation in the
| hotel. The house physician was called
and finally saved the life of the won-
an.
! On the part Of the defense it Is not
seriously denied that the plaintiff and
deceased paraded as husband and wife
lat various places and on many occa-
iSions, but it was strenuously denied
that they ever were married, that he
ever intended to marry her or that she
ever had an idea that his intentions
weer such.
The Turpin family is one Of the old
est and most highly respected in the
state Of Georgia. During the trial Of
the case two brothers of the deceased
were in attendance. They are middle
aged men and are connected with the
prominent financial institutions in
Georgia, each being reputed to be worth