The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-02-02
WIDOW WANTED . SECRET WEDDING
 TO AGED FLAME
Letter From Mrs. De BOu- chelle Proposed Announce ing It After Her Divorce
VALIDITY OF DECREE
 TO BE ARGUED TODAY
Candler's Lawyers Term Cor respOndence Of Plaintiff As
 Pursuit Letters

Pursuit Letters
 ATLANTA, Ga, Feb. 1.-(By As sociated Press. .)-Trial of the $500, 1000 breach of promise suit brought by Mrs. Onezima de Bouchelle against Asa C.. Candler, ST., today developed into a battle of letters in the United States district court here.
 Attorneys for the Atlanta millionaire closed presentation of direct testimony this morning without offering a wit ness and relying upon the evidence ad- duced through the introduction of 32 letters written by Mrs. de Bouchelle to MT. Chandler. In one of them she pro- posed secret marriage to be an- nounced after the divorce proceedings , from her former husband were assured of firm legal status. The plaintiffs counsel immediately opened with re- buttal evidence and fl letters, which she received from Mir. Candler had been read when court adjourned at 2 o'clock for the day.
 The validity of the divorce decree obtained at Reno. New, by Mrs. de Bouchelle from Adolph Rocquet as it
 
 ment to marry Mir. Candler will be argued tomorrow morning in the fed eral court before Judge Samuel H. Sib- ley. This will be the principal feature of the fourth days session of the case.
 Attacks Divorce
 Mrs. de Bouchelle's divorce has been attacked by attorneys for Mr. Candler on the ground that she was not legally domiciled in Nevada at the time the decree was granted. This will be an- other of the legal phases of the case to be reviewed tomorrow morning, be- ginning at 10 o'clock. The jury has been excused until similar hour Mon- day morning when the plaintiff attor- neys will resume the presentation of rebuttal testimony. In reading the let ters today, plaintiffs counsel intimated that their purpose was to offset the con- tention of attorneys for Mir. Candler that Mrs. de Bouchelle was the aggres- sor in cultivating the acquaintanceship which led to the engagement to marry.
 The millionaire's lawyers in reading the letters from the New Orleans so- ciety leader had termed them pursuit letters.'
 X point arose during the morning session over the salutation on the let ters written by Mir. Candler and read to the jury by Albert Howell. Jr., lead ing cousel for Mrs. de Bouchelle as my dear sweetum, after q conference be- tween Judge Sibley and Mir. Howell it was agreed that the salutation should read my dearsw one" That a mis- take had been made due to the indis- tinct character of the hand writing.
 Contends Engagement Invalid
 7kA .l- NI,r Sl.ry lined in an amendment in which Mir. Gamblers lawyers filed to his original answer the day the trial begun This asserted that any engagement to marry Mrs. de Bouchelle was invalid because at the time she was the legally welded wife of Mir. Racquet. The contention was made that she did not establish legal residence ill Reno, New, in ob- taining a divorce from Adolph Racquet.
 The letters read by the defense coun- gel today from Mrs. de Bouchelle to Mir. Candler were addressed to my darling" and signed sweet one" In letter from Reno. New, dated June 21. 1921, and addressed to dearest" says ill part:
 Dearest: am worried sick and all upset by letters l have received from my New Orleans lawyer, MT. Spearing. He writes that Mrs. Holmes has had several interviews with Mir. k. and he will give them no satisfaction whatever. He simply says he has not made up his mind as to what course to pursue. If he contests, 1 shall undoubtedly win, but I hate and abhor the attending publicity. If he ignores the summons, that means Il default decree while now considered legal, everywhere, it has not been accepted in some states, New York for instance, until just about two months ago. In any case, Adolph's at titude means delay and that is what is irritating me most"
 The letter closed with the injunction to keep sweet and write soon and lengthily to your depressed (signed) Sweet One"
 Another letter from Reno on Sep tember II, 1921, to my darling" said, ito he entirely familiar with the dis advantages of the particular kind of , divorce I am going to have, l have asked my lawyer for a written opinion and I am mailing it to you under separ- ate cover. Read it carefully, dear, fore-warned is fore-armed,' and I be- Geve in preparedness, don't you? Afraid Her Husband Would Sue Both
 After an exhaustive persual of the document l think you will agree with me that it would not be safe for us to marry within six months of my divorce as the chances are that MT. k. would be so furious that if we married sooner he would sue you for alienation of my affections and perhaps me for bigamy. Knowing him as l do I know it would be better to let his rage subside and cool off. Besides the court might think be had grounds if we married imme- diately or within too short time for long distance courtship covering a period of six or seven months would scarcely be considered adequate.
 However, six months after would be quite different thing and would give us ground to stand on, because six months is ample time to meet, get acquainted, fall in love, become en- gagged and get married. But 1 have consolation to offer. We could be secretly married ill Los Angeles in October after the convention and not The First National Bank