Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1915-05-18
the bringing Of such an action against

the bringing Of such an action against
him.
"On January 5, 1914, a few hours pre-
ceding the marriage, the defendant
secretly conveyed to his sister, the de
PENDANT Mayme Bryne, the undivided
one-fourth in several pieces of property
of the value of about $4,000. This con
veyance made by a deed in the
usual form, was without a valuable
consideration, and the deed had not
been delivered at the time of the mar.
riage, but was then in possession of
the defendant. The defendant came in.
to the ownership of the above property
by inheritance from his deceased faith.
er and it constitutes all of the property
he owned excepting one lot valued at
$3.50, which he still owns, and small
amount Of personality. The conveyance
was made in contemplation of marri-
age and with the intent to deprive the
plaintiff of the marital rights in the
property conveyed, which she would
obtain by the marriage, and was made
without her knowledge or approval and
was and is fraud upon her"
The court after summing up facts
in regard to the parentage of the child
says, I'm the light of the foregoing de-
cision and consideration the conclusion
is unavoidable that the maternal par.
entage Of the child is not controlling,
but in truth and in fact, exerts no in.
fluence upon the judicial determination
of the right of the defendant to an
annulment of the, marriage
Debarred From Relief.
"It is insisted that as the defendant
married the plaintiff after the prose-
cution for seduction began, he is now
debarred from the relief he demands,
while the defendant insists that the
bringing of that action was only a
link In the chain Of the plaintiffs
fraud and duress the object being to
bring about the marriage, and is there
fore, no bar to his recovery in this
action. Section 4763 of the code Of
Iowa is clear, unequivocal and needs
no construction on that to be definitely
understood If the defendant felt that
the prosecution was bottomed upon
the duress and that he was not guilty
then the court was open to him, on the
trial of that case, to have it investi-
gated Instead of doing so he married
the plaintiff; thereby stopped the
prosecution and then comes into a
court of equity asking to have the mar
rage annuled. The statute contains
no reservation or exception and to
grant relief upon the grounds of du-
ress would be to read into 1t, words
and clauses not there. Marriage, I'M
der such circumstances, is very much
encouraged by the law, not for the
purpose, however, of putting stop to
the prosecutions but to bring the par
ties together in wedlock for humanity's
sake Equity can not lend its aid to
avoid the real intent and purpose of
the law. Neither can it enlarge, dimin-
ish or alter the plain precepts thereof,
but in all respects endeavors to aid in
it's enforcement according to it's ascer-
tanned provision, meaning and intent.
There is one feature of the case
which calls for a finding by prepond-
ernnce of the evidence, whether or not
the plaintiff is the mother of the child
in question. If she Is not then as she
had not, in a manner provided by law.
adopted her, the defendant can not be
required to contribute to the support
of the child. The evidence Is replete
with allegations and contradictions Of
not only the parties themselves, but
some of the most important witnesses
for each side and the record is full of
artif1ce, duplicity, high crimes and mis-
demeanors, fairy tales and brain
storms. To venture an analysis of this
labyrinth would be productive of re-
suits upon which, in its details, no two
reasonable minds would agree. But
the evidence must be the basis Of
the conclusions reached, and to that
end is to be considered in the light of
all of the surrounding circumstances
shown to exist, the condition of the
parties themselves, their desires, un-
dertakings, hopes, ambitions and anti
cipations. The plaintiff who knows all
about it, testified positively that the
child is hers by birth and in this she
is corroborated by many facts and cir
cumstances not disputed and by the
testimony of many witnesses, not to
the fact of the birth itself but to con-
ditions clearly showing that birth