The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-02-06
Nicholson
Bill Would
End Racket
Only America and Eng
land COuntenance Heart
Balm Suits.
By DOROTHY DUNBAR BROMLEY
Times special Writer

By DOROTHY DUNBAR BROMLEY
Times special Writer
A TOAST 70 Mrs. Roberta West
II Nicholson. Indiana state repre-
sentative. who has introduced a Dill
which would put an end IN one state
az least TO the heart balm racket.
At present the courts OF this
country are a happy hunting ground
for actresses, dancers. predatory
Divorces and what-have-you. Rich
young men. fatuOus old men. movie
actors and p%rizehghters are the prey
OF the female vultures.
A mans memory Of love" has
nothing on the memories which
these heartbroken beauties dust of
before the court. Last year the
papers announced the marriage Of
Lord Revelstoke. a rich young
Britisher. Thereupon one Angela
Joyce Of Hollywood fled a suit for
breach Of promise. She claims that
Lord r. Che was Boobies 10 her.
''adored her Ike an angel in the
clouds. and that she had been. for
the few brief months she knew him.
in a state OF loves exuberanCe.
one Of England's most famous trial
lawyers viii Try to collect 100000
for her.
Ravens for Adventuresses
It's only in this country and Eng
land that adventuresses can work
the heart balm racket. Such a case
as the above would be laughed cut
Of court by realistic French judges.
In Scandinavia a woman who
breaks an engagement is as much
in danger Of being sued as a man.
A little Danish hair-dreSser who
had Tilted her hance was ordered
bv the court TO reimburse him for
the $500 ne had invested in furni-
ture.
Men jurors in this country r
ready TO be chivalrOUs to a pretty
defendant-at another mans X
pense. Particularly when the other
man is dewlishly handsome and
successful with women.
Seduction under promise Of mar
rage is the usual charge. It's nom
sense. Of course. L have yet TO meet
a woman who was ever SedUced
against her Will. In dismisSing one
such case Supreme Court Justice
Peter Schmuck showed unusual per-
ceptiOn. "A mature. experienced
and WOrldly-Wise woman" he said,
does not implicitly rely on all state
ments made and give her body TO
the ardent sutton"
Men Own Worst Enemies
Men-and men alone-are to
blame for the breach Of promise
racket. They are the judges-they
are the jurors in most cases-and
they are the legislators. I should
like my Overheated correspondent,
DR.. Charles R. Wilmer Of the Ma
tional Sociological League. TO take
notice that I am as much against
the assault on mems p~Ocketbooks
as he.
In 1888 a law was introduced in
the New York Legislature similar to
that Of Mrs. Nicholson. But the
New York County Lawyers AsSocia-
ton vetoed it.. More recently the
associations committee on law re-
form announced 1t is drafting a
new law. Why the delay?
Men like to think Of themselves
as gallant protectors of wOmankind-
II they should pass laws which
really would make women their
equals. their egOes would be de-
hated.
InduIgent Law Breeds Racket
Perhaps one in every 100 breach
OF promise suits has some justI1-
cation. There was a widow out in
Detroit who was Tilted some years
after she had supported a man and
set him up il business. He be
came a real estate magnate and the
eight women and four men on the
jury gave her a huge consolation
prize OF $3.50. 900. They went rather
far. The widow should have had
her money back with interest. But
I would not have given her heart
balm.
ANY man who thinks a man is 60
ing to marry her when he puts off
the happy day year after year is
living in a FOOLS paradise. I don't
believe the law should protect wOm-
en- against their own foolhardineSs.
So long as the law is indulgent
our courts will be full Of gold dig
gers. Racketeering Is not confined