A Queer Divorce Suit

New York, 1895

ABANDONED HIS WIFE FOR A SERVANT GIRL'S LOVE.

Mrs. Muhlenberg of Queens Got $12,000 for Living Expenses and Later $5,000 for Signing a Deed — Assemblyman Vacheron Seeking to Make Divorce Easy.

Justice Gaynor heard a queer divorce case in Long Island City Monday. The case was that of Dorothea F. E. Muhlenberg against George F. W. Muhlenberg.

During the trial defendant admitted his guilt, but said his wife consented. The couple were married in Germany June 13, 1859. On June 13, 1881, the anniversary of the marriage, he told his wife that he was tired of her. Then he settled $12,000 upon her, and went to live with Louise Speith, a servant girl. Up to 1889 he ate at his wife's house, and then he left her entirely. The plaintiff moved to Queens.

When Justice Gaynor asked the defendant if he had left his wife the witness replied that he had, but that she was willing. He explained that he had given her $3,000 since they parted. Mrs. Muhlenberg testified that the $3,000 which she received from her husband Was from the sale of a house in New York. The defendant had sold the house and the servant had signed the deed. When the purchaser discovered the fact he threatened to have Muhlenberg arrested. She signed the deed after she secured one-half of the purchase price.

Justice Gaynor reserved his decision.

Assemblyman Vacheron is a Frenchman. His loose ideas of marriage are exposed editorially by the New York Sun:

"Under the existing law of the state of York, marital infidelity is the only ground for absolute divorce. An effort to change the law, and to permit voluntary divorce under certain circumstances, is now on foot in the legislature, through a bill introduced in the Assembly by Mr. Eugene F. Vacheron of Queens county. The introduction is stated to be "by request," but whose request is not disclosed.

"This measure provides, in substance, that where a husband and wife have been so alienated and estranged from each other as to have lived apart for a continuous period of fifteen years, a divorce may be granted 'in case the husband and wife each voluntarily ask therefor, provided there be no minor children living from their wedlock.'

"Such a law would mean nothing more or less than the introduction of a system of voluntary divorce into our jurisprudence.

"In a few years the period of estrangement necessary as the foundation for such a divorce would be shortened, and presently we should have a statute allowing the absolute dissolution of the marriage tie after a separation not more than one-fifth as long as that contemplated by Mr. Vacheron.

"We do not regard such a change as desirable. On the contrary, we are sure that most thoughtful people will agree with us in objecting most emphatically to any enactment of this kind.

"The Assembly Committee on Codes, to which the bill has been referred, should tear it up and throw it into the waste basket."

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, March 1, 1895, p. 1.

Need Uniform Traffic Laws

1916

Washington, Sept. 22. — Uniform traffic laws in all parts of the country have become imperative, and it is up to the American Automobile association to assume the burden of the task in harmonizing the conflicting statutes of the several states, with particular reference to the city regulations. Through its legislative board the national body of motor car owners is giving renewed attention to the subject.

Ireland Is a Paradise, Says Returned American

1920

Most Prosperous Country in World

NEW YORK, N. Y., Jan. 1. — "I've been from Pekin to Constantinople within the last three years, and I found Paradise in Ireland," said S, S. McClure, publisher, on his return from a three months' visit to Ireland on the Mauretania. He continued:

"Ireland is the most prosperous, comfortable and law-abiding country in the world. The people are well dressed and well housed. One has to read outside papers to learn of the troubles and unsettled conditions there.

"I have nothing to say regarding politics in Ireland, as I went there for the purpose of studying the country's economic side. I found that Irish banks had deposits of more than £100,000,000 and have been forced to form alliances with English banks in order to find an outlet for their money."

May Prosecute Itinerant Drug Dispenser

1914

Broadly speaking, no one who is not a registered pharmacist may sell drugs legally.

Under this provision of the code officers may prosecute the traveling man who is reported to be visiting this city twice a week to sell preparations containing morphine, cocaine or other habit-forming drugs to young men and boys, unless he is a registered pharmacist.

When poisons are sold they must be labeled.

Officers are doing all in their power to check the sale of various preparations called "snow" by the drug victims. Appeals of mothers whose boys are becoming physical wrecks have been made and it is the determination of all the officers to enforce strictly all laws, whether state or interstate, which prohibit the sale of opium, morphine and cocaine.

Many Hideous Wrecks

Police officers and other observant persons give graphic descriptions of the suffering of drug fiends. Many boys and young men are but shadows of their former selves, their bodies are covered with sores where the hypodermic needle has been injected, and they are losing their mental, moral and physical stamina. In many instances the needle wounds have become infected, but this fact does not deter the victims from injecting the morphine or cocaine into other parts of the body.

The craving for strong drink is nothing compared with the craving for drugs after the habit has once been formed, and the chances for cure are very slight.

Because of these deplorable facts — because of the widespread and growing use of drugs — the public is aroused. The people demand the strict enforcement of all present laws and, if they be inadequate, the passage of new provisions which will increase the difficulty of young men to procure the "snow."

—Waterloo Evening Courier, Waterloo, Iowa, Jan. 16, 1914, p. 3.

Does Europe Face the Fate of the Fabled Atlantis?

1916

By Dr. Paul Schlieman
Grandson of the Famous Archeologist and Discoverer of Ancient Troy

The war in Europe has filled the world with horror. There are no wars in the past that can be compared with it. It surpasses by far the greatest calamities that ever have befallen mankind. Yet with all that there is another side to the question. There is a cosmic organism besides the one of the individual. Nature cares nothing for the joys and sorrows of the individual. The reason of nature has no relation to that of the man. The war with all its brutalities must be looked upon as a manifestation of natural forces — a cyclone of nature.

It was just as unavoidable as an earthquake. There was a cosmic reason for it. Every great mind foresaw it. It was necessary to what we call evolution.

Nations and countries, like individuals, have their lives and tragedies. Atlantis was a great continent, inhabited by a powerful and civilized nation when the rest of the world was merged in barbarism. Atlantis colonized Egypt and Central America. When at the zenith of their power the Atlanteans became involved in a war such as has befallen Europe, the whole continent was submerged and sank in the sea. All great calamities of nature follow a certain kind of war. When a social organism is poisoned by a wrong doctrine of life, the sooner it dies the better. Like the civilization of the Atlanteans, this of the Europeans is decadent and doomed. The vitality of every living body depends upon its spiritual not its physical constitution.

As much as we may pity the individual who suffers in such cosmic calamities, still we should be glad of the tempest that cleans nature from human rubbish and decadence. The cosmic will has no mercy upon any individual, because in going against nature the individual ignored the cosmic will. The European war is a gigantic purging process of evolution. The present European war was unavoidable, because the social soul of Europe was sick. Nothing but destruction could end such a sickness. The European disease was best reflected in the art and literature that preceded the war. With every year the paintings grew more abnormal and ugly. The music of the Germans, French and English was all discords and unpleasing noise.

The "culture" of Europe came to a climax of artificialities. The government of Europe became materialistic and militaristic.

On the one hand the Christian church, on the other the naked industrialism undermined the old Culture. The logic that invented the printing press and steam engine could not be reconciled with legendary religion. The Christian church that had been of such influence during the feudal period of social life, lost its grip when industrial civilization was created. Money in the one hand — the Bible in the other — this was the picture of a typical Kulturtraeger of Europe. The fatal paradox was to profess belief in the doctrines of Christianity and to make money at the same time in the way most of that money was made. The contradiction of the two doctrines can be considered as the logical cause of the materialistic education, the logical cause of the lack of spiritual ideals.

Before a fool dies he goes crazy. Europe went crazy before the war. Rome went crazy before her fall. The rubbish of materialistic civilization grew so poisonous that it needed an immediate cleaning up.

The fate of Sodom and Gomorrah has befallen Europe. But this is not all.

I fear that a great cosmic calamity will follow the war, a calamity of the kind that made an end to Atlantis. My reasons for this fear are well founded.

I consider that serious results will follow the concentration of enormous destructive energies on the comparatively narrow battlefield. Never in human history have there been employed such energies. All the thousands of guns and millions of rifles that are used every day represent a large percentage of the gas-producing instruments of the world. This means an abnormal transformation of physical energy into a chemical one. It means millions of cubic yards of an abnormal and violent change of elements. What will be its ultimate effect upon the atmosphere and vegetation no one as yet can tell. It may change the meteorologic balance to such an extent that either arctic colds, tropic heats or excessive rains will affect life seriously. This may result either in failure of crops or in epidemics not known to science.

On the other hand, it is a scientific possibility that the abnormal use of explosives will affect the gravitational and rotational laws of the earth. A microscopic change of the earth's axis would result in gigantic disturbances of nature.

My theory of the vanishing of Atlantis leads me, as it led my grandfather, to the conclusion that the inhabitants of that continent made use of the volcanic destructive powers of earth for a long time. When they abused these powers the great calamity occurred. I fear that the abnormal accumulation of metals around the war districts will cause abnormal events of nature. These metals have been brought together from all parts of the world. It is estimated that the United States alone has shipped more than a million tons of war materials to the warring nations. Much of these are metals, particularly iron, copper and lead. To my estimate the surface of the earth around the war district is fifteen million tons heavier than usual. This excessive weight is produced by metals.

It is not only the weight, but the magnetism of earth that is influenced by the presence of these metals.

When I consider the abnormal use of explosives, the abnormal weight and accumulation of metals in the European war, together with the certain change of the magnetic powers, I can easily understand the insignificant reaction that is needed to bring about a second catastrophe similar to that of Atlantis. The same geologic energy that swallowed Atlantis can swallow also war-ridden Europe. To sink the surface of Europe a few hundred feet means nothing to the ordinary forces of nature.

Man in his pride of invention sneers at nature. The explosives that he employs for destroying his fellow-man are stolen from nature. Defying the laws of nature, man defies and destroys himself. I do not need to speak of the terrible threat from the hastily dug, shallow graves of the millions that are murdered in this war.

The physical and spiritual phenomena of this human struggle point to the conclusion that Europe is facing a continental and cosmic catastrophe.

—The Lincoln Daily Star, Lincoln, NE, Jan. 23, 1916, p. 4, society/fashion section.

Legal Tender — Guidelines for U.S. Money

1907

You Might Think Gold Certificates Are, but They Are Not

"Gold certificates, silver certificates and national bank notes are not legal tender, but both classes of certificates are receivable for all public dues, while national bank notes are receivable for all public dues except on imports and may be paid out by the government for all salaries and other debts and demands owing by the United States to individuals, corporations and associations within the United States," says the treasury department.

"Gold coin is legal tender at its nominal face value for all debts.

"Standard or silver dollars are legal tender at their nominal or face value for all debts, public and private, except where otherwise expressly stipulated in the contract.

"Subsidiary silver is legal tender for amounts not exceeding $10 in any one payment.

"Treasury notes of the act of July 14, 1890, are legal tender for all debts, public and private, except where otherwise expressly stipulated in the contract.

"United States notes (also called greenbacks) are legal tender for all debts, public and private, except duties on imports and interest on the public debt.

"The minor coins of nickel and copper are legal tender to the extent of 25 cents." — Bulls and Bears.

Legislation Needed for Human Vivisection

1902

No sooner had Dr. Russell, the Brooklyn physician who wishes to be vivisected, announced his wishes to the press and medical fraternity than it struck the army of the unemployed that here was the solution of the problem of existence. The very next day in New York City numerous volunteers applied for engagements on the operating table, provided they could make living — or as the case might be — dying wages at it. They admitted they were not scientists; but they were willing to advance the cause of science for a suitable consideration. No reasonable offer refused. If there was anything in it for them, they were ready to be vivisected, gentlemen, or perish in the attempt.

Unfortunately for the new vocation which seemed to be opening up to persons out of other employment, the New York authorities declare that the startling proposition of human vivisection comes under the laws regulating murder, manslaughter and homicide, and cannot, therefore, be put into effect without encountering legal opposition of a zealous and determined character. The repeal of the obnoxious laws seems absolutely necessary before human vivisection can be practiced freely and enthusiastically on the part of either vivisectionists or vivisected.

The lawyers are agreed about that, but the doctors, as usual, are not agreed about anything in particular. Some say that human vivisection is eminently desirable, while others say that they cannot see why they should pay high prices to human subjects when guinea pigs and rabbits are so cheap. As to Dr. Russell himself, however, most physicians and surgeons are agreed that there is one part of him the opening of which would greatly interest them, and that is his brain.

No Autos Sold Here Under Mapp Act, Prohibition

1922

At the trial of a recent liquor case, the question was raised as to the number of cars confiscated by the State under the Mapp Act and the proceeds turned into the state treasury. Under the prohibition law if ardent spirits are found in an automobile the car, if belonging to the person arrested with it is automatically seized and, in the event of an conviction should be sold.

City Sergeant P. H. Boisseau said today that no cars have been sold under the law, although many have been turned over to him through the usual processes of the law. However, the city sergeant cannot sell seized automobiles unless the court issues an order and in every case so far registered, it has been found that the automobiles did not belong to the persons arrested and therefore could not be taken in possession. In many of the cases prior liens were held on the machines while in others the men supposed to own them were able to show that they belonged to other people.

--The Bee, Danville, Virginia, January 5, 1922, page 1.

Intermarriage in 1909, Black and White Together Poses Problems

WHITE AND BLACK.

Not Permitted to Mix In South Dakota —Go to Sioux City to Evade the Law.

Sioux City, Ia., Aug. 9.—In order to escape the penalty of the South Dakota law which prohibits inter-marriage and cohabitation between whites and negroes, James T. Watson, colored, and Miss Marie Dickman, white of Yankton, S. D., came to Sioux City on August 2, secured a license here and were married by Rev. M. G. Newman, pastor of the African Methodist Episcopal church.

On their return to Yankton, however the two were arrested on the charge of illicit cohabitation and August 10 has been set as the day for the hearing. A letter has been received at the office of the clerk of the district court from Joseph Janousek, county attorney of Yankton county, asking if such parties had secured a license and whether they had been married here. Although no return has been filed on the marriage license it has been found that they were married in Sioux City.

The statute under which the arrest was made is a new one and the case has attracted considerable attention at Yankton. The county attorney in his letter requested that some one in the office of the clerk be sent to identify the parties at the trial.

Miss Dickman goes by the name of Goodwin also.

--Weekly State Spirit and Dakota Huronite, Huron, South Dakota, August 19, 1909, page 7.