The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1922-08-11
DIVORCE Nv CASE IN
COURT so YEARS
ST|LLUNSETILED
Queerest Divorce TangIe ii
Legal History Being
Buffeted About.
az ALEXANDER HERMAN

BY ALEXANDER HERMAN
RIVERSIDE. N. J.. Aug. IL
Lawyers and courts here are try
ing to straighten out the queerest
divorce tangle in legal history.
For thirty yeaJs the marital
troubles of Mr.. and Mrs. Jonat-
han T. Meeker have been buffet
ed about the New Jersey courts,
year after year getting further
from possible settlement.
Action and counter-action has
been brought, charges and coun-
ter-charges have been made, and
with each successive step the
maze has become more involved
once, when settlement seemed
near, the h;ssl OF death entered
the case. 1t remov an official from
life before he could file his records
and the case again was thrown
back into the courts.
-'But if it takes 100 years.
says the wife in the case,
"I'Il keep at it till carry my
She is Mrs. Anna G. Meeker
who lives with her mother on =
farm here. Her determination
alone has kept the case live.
In 1855 she married. Jonathan T.
Meeker, Newark salesman.
Our happiness didn't last long"
she says. within less than a year
we realized we were incompatible.
I came back to mother He went
his way.
For several years they lived
apart without starting court action.
Asks Maintenance
But Mrs. Meeker found the go
ing hard. She needed support So
she filed a suit for separate main
tenance in the court Of chancery.
That was in 1899. She lost the
action.
The husband had the next in
alleging desertion. :.
Mrs. Meeker applied for temper
airy alimony and counsel fees She
receiving SIS week and her lawyer
got S25.
It took the court tow years TO
decide the case. The husbands
petition was dismissed
The score was even. Neither
wife nor husband had been able
to win a point.
Waits seventeen Years
The next move was up to Mrs.
Meel>er. She hesitated a lonZ. long
time-seventeen years, to be ex>
act
But her husband, she says, mean
time had stopped paying. alimony.
Her father and sister had been
killed in an accident. Mrs. Meeker
alone had to suprore her aged
mother.
Il tried to work at my old trade
las bookkeeper,' she says. But
wherever I went, the old story
would come up. 1t was embarrass-
ing. So withdrew to the firm and
decided to devote myself to rails
ing bees and chickens
but was bent on getting the
divorce and settling th> whole I'M
pleasantness."
Death Delays settiemsnt
When the case came up. Meek
er's lawyer sprung a surprise. The
decision Of the court in the old
case had not ben entered on the
records!
n The vice chancellor who render
ed the ruling had died before 1t
was recorded!
Several more years elapsed be-
fore this tangle could be straight
ened out.
Last fall the court ordered the
way be cleared for the new action.
1t decreed Mrs. Meeker was to re
ceive S12 a week alfmony besides
$50 counsel fees.
But the husband, says Mrs.
Me ecker, refused to pay. In March
of this year he was adjudged In
contempt and sentenced to jail:
But he paid up his arrears and
was freed.
Since then his wife charges that
he again stopped payp ent.
So she's taking the matter to
court again with the hope that
some day the case will be settled