The weekly tribune and the Cape County herald. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1914-1918, 1916-12-01
MANY TALES OF
Woe RELATED IN
DIVORCE CASES
Women Accuse Mates OF
Cruelties, DesertiOn and
Unfaithfulness.
ONE SAYS HUSBAND
TOOK SHOT AT HER
Two Men, Who Ask Divorces,
Tell Court SpOuses Ran
Away.

Gambling. abuse, association with
other women, indifference, neglect ana
abandonment are some Of the grounds
on which the petitions for Is divorces
suits filed in the Common Pleas Court
are based. Only in two instances are
men the plaintiffs, and in both cases
they allege desertion.
The largest number of divorces are
asked on the grounds Of i'll treatment,
cursing and abuse in the presence of
children and strangers. In two in
stances gambling is given as the rea-
son for the petition and in several in
stances the petitions are asked on the
grounds of association with other
women.
After 81 years OF married life, Sea-
born 4. Hall, one of the men seeking
Il divorce, says he was married III 1881
and lived happily until year ago,
when she left him. He thinks this az
legged desertiOn after a companionship
of 50 years entitled him to a divorce.
| Another lOng-termed marriage to be
dissolved is that of Doc GOA and his
wife, the petition for the divorce DC
! ing filed by Mrs. Julia Coca. Her al
! legations are that her husband neg
! lected her in preference to other WON
en- and thereby Inundated her and re-
! Elected gravely upon their social stand
| ing. A woman who is charged wit:
wrecking the Coca home is named III
the suit The couple were married IL
1883 and lived happily for more than
! a quarter Of a century.
| Two couple were still to be regard
ed newlyweds when their matrimonial
troubles began. In the petition filed
by J. P. Harr it is alleged that his
wife. Pearl, left him - days after
/ their marriage. They were married
Aug. -, 1915, and on Sept. /, his wife
left him, so the divorce petition reads.
Harr further alleges that he tried to
make up with his wife but failed. She
left him without any apparent reasons,
he says.
After two months of married life,
Mrs. Amelia Green, relates in her pc
tition, she was abandoned by her hus-
band, William Green, who left her
without any means and never made
any pretense of supporting her so thac
she had to make her own living and
had to provide for the little girl bors.
after she had been deserted.
Two months composed the married
life of Mrs. Fannie BOllinger and her
husband. Charles. They were mar
ried in 1911. She alleges in her petit
ton that her husband disappeared
without any reason and left her to
look for her own support.
Mental weakness Of her husband is
the grounds on which Mrs. Mamie
D0erries bases her petition for d.
vorce from Louis w. Doerries. In adj
dition, the petition alleges that he
cursed her, applied vile names to her
in the presence of her children AND
strangers. Besides he had accused her
of being mentally unbalanced and I'M
able to care for the household, so the
petition sets forth.
The divorce petition of Mrs. Myrtle
Herter against P. F. Herter Is based
on the allegation that he was pro-
fessional gambler and a "bOOtlegger.'
He allowed his house to become a
gambling den, the petition alleges, and
a rendezvous for undesirables on Sun |
day. When she complained he threat
cned to eject her, she says, struck her
and abused her in other ways.
Similar accusations are made by
Mrs. Ida May Ferguson in her petition |
for a divorce from her husband, Geo. |
n. Ferguson. She says in the petition
that her husband gambled to excess
and associated with other women. The |
name of one woman is given in the |
petition. She contends that his corr
duct caused her immense mental sur
fering and wrecked their home.
Furious wrath and hatred are the
grounds of Mrs. Dora Vaughn for her
suit against William Vaughn.
Besides he cursed her, struck
her in the presence of her children.
Even the children had to bear the out
bursts of his fury, she related, and
were mistreated like herself. On sew
eral occasions he threatened to kick
her out of the house if she did not
leave voluntarily, which she did after
thr p, years of suffering abuse, she
says. y
Airs. Halle Smith, in her petition
against Robert Smith, alleges that he
to support her and their IN
FAINT child. He remained with her only |