Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-04-12

thing In her power to keep discussions OF the
marital dif1culties Of herself and her famous
husbs nd cut Of the papers.
When the absent half of the matrimonial
failure has Signified willingness to do this part,
the success of divorce is practically assured,
the only remaining necessity being to convince
the judge that the divorce-seeker has been the
victim of extreme cruelty or as it is generally
Wcrded, mental cruelty" which is by far the
most popular plea in Nevada. Cruelty" has
many definitions in Reno There was, for IN
stance the fair Songbird who testified that
whenever she sat down at the piano to sing,
her husband left the room. Any one with
musical aspirations will feel that the judge was
right in granting her freedom from such
brute-with of course, handsome alimony.
And there was the woman seeking freedom
from a husband who would not come to her
parties; and the one who could not live any
longer with a man who criticized her bridge
playing; and the thrifty soul Oisted in the New
York Social RegiSter) who complained that since
prohibition had destroyed her husbands wine
business (sicD he had done nothing but loaf
around the house
PUT the male of the species is equally IN
e genious when it comes to thinking up rea-
sons for getting out Of a matrimonial tangle.
One man sued for divorce because his wife was
not interested in his golf scores another be-
cause the dainty miss CT 125 pounds whom he
had married had allowed herself to gain until
she tipped the scales at 24O pounds. Evidently
he cared nothing about accrued values) An
other parsirnonious soul divorced his better half
because she insisted on having q palatial home;
he had taken her to Europe to try to make her
forget the notion, but was ehagrined to find out,
d when they returned, that her memory was bet
ter than he had hoped.
But even the trouble Of thinking up excuses
feeble rs these is thing Of the pastor win
be after May /. According 70 Nevadas new
law even the necessity Of explaining what one
means by cruelty" has been eliminated. A
chivalrous judge must now take it for granted
that when divorce seeker says she has been
treated roughly such is indeed the case, and
no gentleman would ask for details
Before Q divorce action comes up for trial,
if one may dignity the i've minutes Of per
functory question and answer which constitutes
hearing In Reno, the lawyer and his client
have little dress rehearsal. For there Is one
point on which Nevada courts are extremely
particular: The 30 days (soon six weeks) resi-
ience in the State which is required to establish
citizenship Is no empty form, but q grim reality.
Every day Of that time must be spent on its
alkah soil, and there must be witnesses TO
prove it. If the petitioner abSents himself for
as much as "a hours, the length Of time he has
been away is added to his sentence.
One movie actress, it is true, seems to have
been an exception to this rule. After staying
at Minden, small town near Carson, for only
three weeks, protected from curious crowds by
blue goggles and the fact that she was registered
under her right name she was allowed to bring
suit. The fact that she was planning to, and
did, marry debonair star almost Immediately
afterward did not keep her from weeping
copiously during the trial even removing the
blue spectacles in order to do so more freely,
Whether it was the sight Of 50 much feminine
grief that melted the judge, or exactly by what
hocus-pocus the business was accomplished not
even the attorney general Of the State seemed
later able TO determine. But she got her divorce.
For anybody less important than an American
actress, however, the law is unbending, and
suspect that after the general excitement stirred
up by her trial, even national Sweethearts Vim
have to serve their full term Grizzly stories
are told Of divorce pilgrims who have not
realized this fact until It was too late. There Is
the case of the prominent New Yorker who
came to Reno, engaged room, left some bag
gage and then went gallivanting of to Homo
lulu. When he returned at the end Of six
months for his trial 0hat was before the 90-day
law went into ehecD he was coldly informed
that six months in Nevada meant six months in
Nevada. Every day spent away must be
made up.
a ND this is one point on which the judge
seems to forget that he is Q gentleman and
does not take the word Of those who have, in
local parlance, come to Reno "for the cure"
Beilboys, janitOrs, proprietors Of beauty shops
and other bona hde residents pick up neat pin
money serving as local time clocks. Every pro-
specttve divorce takes pains 10 see that some
local resident lays eye on her every day and
can swear TO the fact, receiving SIC to SIS for
the trouble.
Not only must the new resident stay in Me-
Nada for . given length q time; he must
swear that he came Intending to reside there +"
This. however, 81 . widely elastic term, another
point on which the plaintiffs wOcd il accepted
barring Academia One such accident which
hooked for while as II It were going to be fatal
turned out to be hardly more than o bit Of
JOvian hnrnOr. A fair lady whose case was
coming up on Monday went to the station Set.