Evening star., 1922-04-27

the members of the bar. the fees to
be assessed as part of the costs
against the parties to the suit"
The report Is signed by the follow
ing: ]. M Duncan, foreman; Frank
T. King, William Desmond, George
<. Brawner. Ben Abramson. Elliott
s. w. Pitts, a member Of the grand
jury, submitted in his own behalf an
individual minority report. He says
that the evidence to his mind leaves
no doubt as to the existence of q d.
back for the past few years, but, he
adds, 1.-The evil is more pronounced
and has grown to an alarming ex-
tent in the past two years, due. in
part. / believe, to the conditions incl
dent to the war. period, when there
condition is not only confined to our
own community, but also to the two
counties in Maryland adjacent to the
District of Columbia"
!, According to Mr.. Pitts, the evidence
SHOWS emphatically there was no corr
ruption connected with the court or
any Of the attorneys practicing be.
fore this county, and I am convinced
of the integrity of the Judge Of this
court beyond every possible doubt
Mr.. Pitts further says: while there
may appear to be some reasonable
cases examined by the grand jury. yet
am convinced that none of the in
dfctments will stand the test of the
courts. and, therefore. am unwilling
to bring in nylindictments against
any individuals.S The vital question
In the divorce evil Is the question
Of domictle."
Further. he says.NIt appears there
~ q in NJ
sional witnesses as to domicile. and
all. Of these witnesses were examined
by the grand jury with one exception,
said exceptions being Mrs. Mary L.
Baggett. who refused to appear by
advice .of and the esiar law
the grand juryA 1t is rather signif-
can't however. \ that this witness
should refuse to appear. as this wit
ness testified in a large number Of
cases. end. according to her own
sworn statement. she had living at
same time, in ten-room house,
which was. of course, absurd and un-
reasonable and could not have been
physically possible"
He further says: 'It also appears
that the firm of Davis & Budwesky
used this professional witness in an
unusually large number of cases, and
these attorneys should have known
that It was physical impossibility
for SO many of their clients to reside
in a ten-room house at one and the
same time. and were, therefore, either
Indifferent to the requirements OF the
law or deliberately imposed upon the
court"
Continuing, his report says: at fur
ther. appears that the judge OF the
court used the same witness IN thir-
ty-six Of his own cases before his ele-
n
th4 bench his attention was directed
to the fact that this witness was be-
ing used too frequently in divorce
cases before his court. and that, not
withstanding this warning. the court
issued DEGREES in approximately sew
testified as to domicile. and believe
that. the court was derelfct in Its
duty to permit these cases to pass, as
the court should have known that 1t
was physical impossibility for so
many people to reside in a ten-room
house at ,one and the same time"
? Finds Attorneys Imposed Upon.
His report further says: 1T appears
that there have been loose and care
in. by most of the attorneys engaged
in the divorce practice, and 1 believe
that this is largely due to the fact
that the attorneys have been imposed
upon by their clients"
; Concluding his report, he says: Il
further believe that by reason of the
publicity and the fact that the evil
has been SO forcibly brought to the
attention of the court and the bar
Of our city the evil has already
been remedied. and with due diligence
on the part OF the court and the bar,
our laws are sufficient to correct
the evil, and as evidence of this
fact call the attention of the court
to the small number of divorce cases
entered since the publicity was
started"
Ogden Also Files Report.
Kenneth W. Ogden. in his supple
mental report. says. in part: TT has
been found difficult on the part of the
undersigned juror to determine exact
ly what constitutes the evil alleged to
have attributed to the divorce condi-
tions, and am unwilling to subscribe
to the statements contained in the
last paragraph of the said general
report and to those purported to have
been made by various persons within
the past several months that the evil
consists in the quantity of cases, nor
in the methods by which the said
divorces were obtained, but. in my
opinion, the abnormal increase in i'll
advised and hurried marriages which
finally result in the application for
relief constitutes the real evil.