The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-06-25
Matrimonial Journal Marriage
Not Happy One.
Robert Lane of Oakland Wants
Divorce From Wife.
WEDDING An ELOpEMEkT
Husband Says Better Half Ran
Away With Him.
Broom Handle Fight Reviewed
in Court Today.


monial ship is being exhibited to sight
seers in the first division of the dis
trict court today.
Ethel Lane, married for nine years
to Robert Lane, brought suit for d1-
yorce, making numerous allegations
against him as husband. He replied
with a cross petition and answer, re-
vealing the other side Of the family
row. The case is being tried today
before Judge Dana and a crowd of
neighbors from Oakland, Where the
Lanes live.
Neither stated in their respective
petitions that the wedding was the re-
suit of a correspondence that began
after the insertion of an advertise
ment in matrimonial journal But
Lane testified to that on the stand
He also testified that he was wed to
the present Mrs. Lane three months
after his first wife died
ut was an elopement, was it not2"
You eloped with her, didn't you?" de-
manded j. S. Entsminger, Mrs. Lanes
attorney.
mo 1 did not" fired back Lane.
"She eloped with me-"
Mrs. Lane testified that she had
heart trouble. DR.. G. F. Narcotic,
physician for both of them, also testi-
fled that she has heart trouble but
that it is not organic; that 1t is merely
incidental to nervousness Mr.. Ents-
minger was trying to run Lane in
hole and admit that her spells of
heart trouble were due to his mis-
treatment of her.
Hit Him With Broom.
"She had a spell with her heart aft
er you and she had trouble out in your
back yard last Tuesday, didn't She"
asked the attorney.
Eyes, after she had hit me in the
head twice with a broom while I was
trying to get away, she had spell,
he admitted.
And you did not hit her nor aid in
bringing it on?"
"All 1 did was to try to push her
away from me-" said Lane. After
she had hit me twice with the broom
she ran out in the yard and picked up
a clothes prop and swung at me. 1
told her then that if she hit me with
that 1 would knock her - head
off. That's all there was to it"
Did she hit your"
Not after 1 told her that, no." said
| Lane.
One of the exhibits offered was a
photograph of Lane. his wife and their
! little daughter The face of Mrs. Lane
had been obliterated with a pencil.
who scratched out that face ?"
| asked the attorney of Lane.
! q did. When 1 went to Holton and
| found that my wife was up there in a
L
not want anything more to do with
her and while 1 felt that way
| marked her face out of the picture"
Mrs. Lanes attorney, thru various
questions put to Mrs. Lane, has
brought out circumstantial evidence
to the effect that Lane has been loaf
ing more or less the last few years.
He is carpenter. She declared he
| stayed around home and said he
| couldn't work.
| Lane an Invalid.
| When the defense reached that
point, w. E. Atchison, attorney for
Lane, brought out that Lane has been
| subject to spells of partial paralysis
| for several years. He then put DIR.
Narcotic on the stand Dr. Narcotic
testified that Lane is suffering from
| locomotar ataxia and that there have
been times when ne has been incapac-
1tated for work; that he had treated
him at such times.
The defense also put on retail gro
GERS to prove that Lane has supported
his family well. One grocery man
testified that while Lane was at home
the grocery bill for the three ran
about $25 month and dropped down
to about SIG a month when he was
away working.
Mrs Lane charged that Lane is a
gambler. He admitted it on the stand
with certain qualifications.
Isn't it fact" demanded Mrs
|
| gambled and that much of the money
you have used for you and your fam
lily was obtained in that way?"
Lane tried to dodge the direct ques-
ton but the court required a reply.
Yes. it is" he said grudgingIy.
and it is also a fact that she seemed
to like the clothes that money paid
for
81 didn't ask you for that" said
the attorney
Il know it, smiled Lane.
Wife Had Sweetheart?
At various times during his ex-
animation Lane tried to get something
IN about a sweetheart he claims his
wife had in the dim and shadowy
past. He referred to him as Bob
but he admitted he had never seer
him, that he didn't know there was
such person to a certainty and thai
he wasn't sure his wife had ever had
a sweetheart.
All the testimony was completed
today and Judge Dana took the case
under Amusement Some disposition
must be made of the little girl There
!, is also some property in Oakland an6
a lot in North Topeka Lane said he
tried to sell the lot for s25 and failed
so he guessed it was worth abou
SIS.