Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1922-03-10
JUDGE M()NClJRE
COMPLE;T 2, Is
STAT /
+" AMI NJ IN SHORT
r.av Frank Stuart Is to Make
.,c,aeut II Attempted kebuttal
Irln.er-. .harges

S.rJE>Pi - tHdt eSS
. investigation committee Of the
III Association resumed it's sessions
morning with Judge Robinson
are on the stand. The Judge an
, ed that he wished TO make only
atenent in his direct statement,
n which he would be glad to ans
1y.uuestions the members OF the
IA. .ttee might wish to ask.
@ re Moncure stated that with re-
!, tc the conversation related
be- n himself and Major Cation IN
anr. to dispositions OF Mrs. Bag
gett us to residence, he had announc-
ed at the following term of court that
he would require statements as to the
term of residence of parties seeking
divorce be more explicit-that they
give the dates of residence rathef
than the mere statement that per-
son had resided in Alexandria a Ger
tain number Of months, so that IN case
there seemed to be anything lncon-
sistent about the residence the facts
could be investigated.
Mr.. Cation asked the Judge some
questions with the object OF definite
" fixing the date Of his conversation
with the judge regarding Mrs: Bag
gctt, and stated he was under the I'M
preston that the conversation took
place at least eight months ago, or
longer.
Mr.. Cation referred TO the Judges
4. sl,,t M. baG cold tp
him ne was sorry for Mrs. Baggctt,
and said he wished to correct that I'M
preston, as he had never known or
heard of Mrs. Baggett before, and was
resentful of the situation, and said 1t
wcs the Judge who remarked that he
va sorry for Mrs. Baggett. The judge
re- lied that he understood from the
ca, versation that Mr.. Caton's inter-
*. was for the benefit Of the COM
N, lity; that he called Mrs. Baggett's
..t 1tion to the fact that if there were
as hing wrong about her testimony
ould lead to trouble for her; that
n assured him she would be careful
i'll r statements, and had been so,
at@ hat the judge had confidence in
LaD
Cation asked whether the judge
H. aiken any steps to check up on
..usequent statements Of Mrs. Bag
gett. to which the judge replied he
had not, because of the conversation
he had with her he felt confident she
was telling the truth; that on one oc-
casion an attorney from Washington,
when asked as to the residence Of his
client, stated he was under the I'M
preston the party lived with Mrs.
Baggett; that the Judge sent for Mrs.
Baggett, placed her under oath, and
she informed him the party did not
live with her, and the judge dismissed
the suit. He said the attorney had not
positively stated his client lived with
Mrs. Baggett.
Mr.. Cation said that since the time
of his conversation with the Judge, in
checking up he found that Mrs. Bag
gett had testified in about Is cases,
and asked if the Judge could state
whether. since the time of that conver-
sation, Mrs. Baggett had testified in
4 sufficient number of cases to call to
his mind that perhaps Mr.. Cations
statement had had some truth in it.
The Judge replied that he had never
taken particular notice Of the num-
Der of cases in which Mrs. Baggett
testified; that as a rule number OF
eases would come to his desk on "rule
day" and that the witnesses usually
consisted of the plaintiff, one local
witness and one other; that if the re-
cords are clear, and show that the
case is not contested, the only thing
he can do is to grant the divorce on
the record, and if he did not the case
would be carried to the court Of APP
peals and granted there.
Mr.. Cation stated that in going over
the tabulation of cases handled prior
to the Judges going or the bench, nc
found that of the cases handled by
Judge Moncure's firm, in which Mrs
Baggett testified, for period of about
eight months there was a total OF
81 people shown to be living in her
house; and asked if the judge coulC
tell how many Of these people came tc
hlm by virtue of Mrs. Baggett being
interested, or how many came to hln
hrst and were by him sent to Mrs
baggett. The Judge replied that he
couia not say; that he had known Mrs
baGgett since he first came here, anc
during that time his practice hac
grown from nothing to very large
ono; that the divorce practice was no
the largest part of his business, which
paid him about $4,000 per year. Tha
a great majority of his clients seeking
divorces came to his Office to see him
but occasionally Mrs: Baggett woult
bring person to his office and in
trodnce this person to him, after which
Mrs. Baggett probably would leave
That he had on a very few occasion:
sent people to Mrs. Baggett that h,
knew she kept boarding house ant
that she had good number of di
vorcc seekers living there, but tha