Weekly journal-miner., 1922-03-22
WARM CONTEST
 OVER DIVORCE
Veteran Counsel Battle Back and Forth Over Ground Pre-
 pared by Testimony of Mrs. William Fielder, the Plaintiff
CFrom Fridays Dally)

early drawn III the rlal Ol me d. vorce suit Of Mrs Fielder i'll division III of the superior court yesterday, Iard by adjournment time, the field was strewn with the dead and dying Iquips of opposing counsel, defunct pieces of testimony and shattered legal enterprises, while encamped on the battle-ground were the contending forces about equally strengthened by the minor victories they had won during a hard-fought day.
 Taking leading parts i'll the andy sis of facts and alleged facts sur rounding the William Fielder case, were R. A. McMurchie, counsel in chief for the plaintiff, and r. w. o Sullivan, field marshal of the de- fense forces. Joe Morgan supported his associate and MT. McMurchie was backed by staff including Messrs. Langmade and Lawhon of Phoenix, original counsel for Mrs. Fielder, whose case was removed on a change Iof venue from Maricopa county. Mrs. Fielder was the only witness to be interrogated on the opening day. She recited a story of alleged cruelty, specifically repeating num- bcr of i'll words she said her husband had applied to her. She had gone to live on the Fielder ranch near Hum boldt and had left that ranch. Her mother, who occasionally visited the place, she said, also had been unable to stand the racket" and had taken her departure.
 The cross-eXamination of Mrs. Fielder by Mir. O'Sullivan was con ducted with the utmost care. Never addicted to rapid and minimizing ad- dresses to witnesses he IS conversing with, the attorney drew out his queries ill a most painstaking way. Mrs. Madden, acting as reporter for this court, encountered no difficulty
 in setting down the fairly drawling sentences Of the defense lawyer. On the other hand, the responses of Mrs. Fielder were frequently Of rapid lire order. She testified without em- barrassment and seldom hesitated.
 During the colIoquy between the plaintiff and Mir. O'Sullivan, the, lat ter compounded question that sounded much longer than 1t actual ly was and Mir. McMurchie sounded .one of his objections.
 Ii you please" interrupted Mir. .O'Sulliyan, T hadn't finished my question"
 q beg your pardon, Mir. O'Sul- livan," said the other. Your long pause and that cough--I took them Ito punctuate your sentence"
 At another juncture, Mir. O'Sul- liyan propounded a question some thing like this:
 When you left home, everything was peaceiul-and all that?"
 MT. McMurchie complained of this form of question. T don't like that Hibernian way of putting it: and all that"
 Mrs Fielder would not allow de- fense counsel to get the insinuation that she and her husband had been an affectionate couple, before the jury.
 On your return from Phoenix, you had made up, had you not?' ask cd the big attorney. T mean (seem- ing to search for the best words) [ mean you had, ah, kissed and hug ged?"
 We did not. We seldom did that!"
 Well, is it not fact you and your husband are afiectionate people?"
 He is not Not toward me"
 Again.
 You say that your husband com plained of your running around with other men?"
 "I certainly did not"
 MT. O'Sullivan endeavored to get just what Mrs. Fielder did mean. She specified:
 q said he said I was familiar with other men,"
 Mir. O'Sullivan asked if it were not a fact that husband might have some right to object to his wife even speaking to men the witness had characterized as saloon bums." Mrs. Fielder repeated that the person in question was saloon bum."
 "Now, Mrs. Fielder, is it not fact this whole trouble. between you and ! your husband was caused by your mother--his mother-in-law?"
 The witness cast this supposition utterly away from her. She denied that it was true that her mother had visited with you folks regularly every year while you were living on the ranch"
 She repudiated the assumption that