The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1913-11-21
MARITAL
TALE TOLD
IN COURT
Brown Hill Ellis Matrimo-
NAL Entanglements Are
Unfolded Today in Sensa-
tional Trial in Lake Su
perior Court.

Charles L. Brown, twenty years old,
husband of two wives, went on the
witness stand in Judge Kopelke's
court today in supplementary divorce
proceeding hoping to rid himself of
wife No. 1. Alice Hill Brown, In order
that he might live in peace with his
second wife, Fern Ellis Brown. Wife
No. 1 he says is forty years old. wife
No. is of an age fitting for a senior in
the high school.
In the court room crowded with
habitues sat the two women listening
to Browns story of marital entangle-
ments during the past four years.
When Brown had finished his story.
Judge Kopelke indicated that the testi-
mony submitted by Brown alone was
insufficient to sever the bonds of
matrimony but asked the attorneys for
law on the subject. Attorney Cravens.
J. X. Stinson and Robert McAleer ap-
peared for Brown. Mrs. Brown was
represented by deputy prosecutor Ralph
Ross
On the witness stand Brown stated
that he married his first wife under
duress and threats from her relatives
at a time when he was barely sixteen
years old. guileless and ignorant OF
the ways of the world He testified
that she had made all the arrange
ments for the wedding which she said
was performed in the parsonage of a
former north side priest in Hammond.
His intimacies with Miss Hill he said
begain in her home where he was a
boarder.
Continuing his story in answer to
the questions from Attorney Cravens
he said he left his wife within the first
week iysfter their. wedding. The csild
which he said WIS horn to her pfeTia- :
turely during this week, died immedi-
ateiy after birth. He next gave an
account of himself at the Naval Train
ing Station north of Chicago.
In December of 1903 THE TIMES re-
ported story of his marriage to Fern
Ellis. A reporter found them at their
home in State street, after a wedding
trip to Cincinnati, they having gone
there from Keposha where they had
been married Brown explained to a
TIMES reporter that he had secured a
divorce from his first wife. by default
Through his attorney he showed the
court that his wife was a nonresident
Of the state. and the law requiring
legal publication of the notice relative
the institution of divorce proceedings
was printed in an obscure corner in a
the law had been complied with and
Judge Lawrence Becker entered a de-
cree granting Brown a divorce with
this proviso however that he might not
marry again within two weeks.
Lack of a uniform divorce law in the
United States gave Brown a loop hole
and few weeks later he married Fern
Ellis in Kenosha. Wife No. l however
did not sit idly by. She appealed to
the states attorneys office, and upon
proper showing, Judge Becker annuiled
the divorce
Wife No. then swore out a warrant
against her husband and Fern Ellis
charging them with living in adultery,
but in anticipation of the proceedings
OF today, this case was nolle pressed.
Judge Kopelke this afternoon de-
cided the case in favor of Mrs Brown
No. / and refused the divorce asked
for by her youthful husband. The lat
ter's marriage to Fern Ellis is there
fore void.