The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-09-25
LANE SILENT ABOUT
DUAL WEDDING TALE
Former vice-Chancellor Of
Jersey Had Married Secretly
in Newark.
QUIT BENCH SUDDENLY
Man Giving His Name and
Parentage Took Bride Also
in Stamford, Conn.

ann while he was engaged in the trial
~ case. was the only comment made
yesterday by Joseph Merritt Lane.
formerly vice-Chancellor of New Jersey.
in respect to a two column article con-
..rnlns him published yesterday in the.
New York American and bearing the
.ant,on. High Jersey Jurist In Queer
Matrimonial Mystery"
The article, which gave an account of
AZ Lanes professional life and a pur-
Dor+ed interview with him, was based
nainlv upon the fact that Mr.. Lane
.rried last January Mrs. Geraldine
Garrison Kerr, daughter Of Charles
carrison. Justice of the Supreme Court
=, Nav Jersey, and the allegation that
so,r months after their marriage one
Joseph Lane married Miss Grace Hercht
At Stamford, Conn.
Mr., Lanes comment on the story yes
terday was:
"so much of the Americans story as
0nrnorts 10 be. an interview with me is
taIse. as is also that part of it purport-
,rs IN he an interview with Mrs. Lane.
A. IN the story itself 1 have declined,
ana now decline, to discuss It or any or
,ts features in any manner, shape or
form. If. later / have any statement to
make 1 will prepare 1t and give 1t to
all newspapers alike.
Mr. Lane, who Is 80 years old, for ten
YEARS has been regarded as one of the
most brilliant practitioners at tie New
Jersey bar. He was born and grew up
in Jersey City and was first married
when he was q. The marriage did not,
spparently, survive the test of years.
and in 1918 a decree of divorce was OBJ
In
two children. who now live with their
father.
Second Marriage I'm Secret.
Mr.. Lane married again in New Jer-
sew on January 80 of this year, taking
as his bride Mrs. Kerr. who in addition
10 being the daughter of Justice Garri-
son is a niece of Lindley NJ. Garrison.
formerly Secretary of War. Their mar
rage took place while Mr.. Lane was
vice-Chancellor and none Of their friends
knew Of 1t for six months. They were
married by Police Justice Goettner In
the City Hall in Newark and the mar
riage did not become public knowledge
until last June when a notice of IL APP
peared in the Newark newspapers.
Mr.. Lane was appointed Vice-Chan-
cellor in November. 1916, upon the
death Of Vice Chancellor Howell, and as
ing his appointment signed by 800 of the
best known lawyers in the State. He
was only SO years old then. The Vice
Chancellorship, like the Chancellorship
Of New Jersey, long has been regarded
asa post to which only a lawyer of dis
tngulshed legal gifts and unquestioned
erditlon should be appointed. No man
Of Mr. Lanes age has ever held 1t be-
fore
Yet last June he resigned, giving no
reason and practically over night.
Earlys in that month, within day
or two after the announcement of his
marriage with Mrs. Kerr. woman
walked into the Chancery Court where
he was presiding at the trial of a case
She ordered him to leave the bench
and follow her into his chambers, which
he did adjourning court Immediately
In his chambers there was an interview
between him and the woman, of which
echoes in they woman's voice could be
heard in the corridors. The next day.
TO the establishment. of the whole New
Jersey bar. he resigned his judgeship
and went away on a vacation.
story of q Remarriage.
The american said yesterday, and the
records at Stamford, Conn, confirm the
statement that on April of this year
Joseph Lane and Grace Hercht were
married there by the Rev Clarence II
Frank. The bridegroom gave his age
as IS. his occupation as that OF lawyer
hs birthplace as New Jersey, the name
Of his father as Joseph and the maiden
name of his mother as Emma Cokelet
Joseph Lane and Emma Cokelet are the
correct names Of the parents of the
former Vice-Chancellor.
Information was received also last
right from Matthew H. Kenealy, Pros
cutting Attorney at Stamford, that in
iast June he was requested by young
woman who was then living in New
York to begin a prosecution for bigamy
against man named Joseph Lane
The woman told Mr.. Kenealy that she
ana the man she described as Joseph
Lane had been married in Connecticut,
but that the marriage into which they
entered then was the second marriage
hey had contracted. They had been
married before in Buffalo, N. Y, and
had child, Joseph Lane representing
10 the young woman on their first maT-
rage that he was a divorced man and
only recently had been granted a de-
cree.
Later, she said, they were married
IN connecticut because her husband had
explained TO her that he had discovered
On error in his decree of divorce from
LIS hrst wife, that he had had the error
cured, and that in order to make their
own marriage binding a second cere-
mony was necessary.
The young woman" said Mr.. Kenealy
,ast night, came here with counsel from
NeW York and was most lnsistent that
Degln prosecution for bigamy telling
nie mat she had discovered that before
her husband married her for the second
time he had married a young woman in
new Jersey. She and her lawyer as
serted that their only desire in bringing
CRIMINAL proceedings against the Joseph
lane, u whom they complained was to
set Justice for the child born of the
Buffalo marriage.
Lawyer Asked a Delay,
~ was anxious to prosecute II a grave
INJUSTICE had been done and a crime
.oIliNlIted, but suddenly while had the
Sase under consideration / received a
communication from the woman's lawyer
SsAlhs me to hold up my investigation.
nave not heard from him or his client
since"
me Clergyman who married Joseph
Zane and Grace Hercht was not in
stanford Yesterday, but an inspection of
te marriage license on file at the church
I ', the words please don't pnb-
license. '' 'aoe Vi '1''
Mr.. Lane with the wife he married
go January and the two children of his
Iaro "ie i've in Glen Ridge, N. J. Mrs.
haW