A JUDGE TO A SALOON-KEEPER.
By The Ram's Horn
A SALOON-KEEPER in Kansas City was suing for divorce in the circuit court, presided over by Judge Park. The wife of the saloon-keeper was in the state asylum for the insane at St. Joseph, taken there as the result of excessive indulgence in drink. Judge Park, in delivering his opinion, said: "The salient facts of this case are that the husband sued the wife for divorce because of excessive intemperance. He married her when she was a mere girl, and soon after their marriage he went into the saloon business, and is in it yet. His testimony was that his wife drank before he married her, and that she loved alcohol so well that she used it in her coffee. The testimony of the witnesses for the wife tends to show that the husband is not entitled to a divorce. He took this young and innocent girl from her father's home and made her his wife. If she was then addicted to drink, he ought not to have been surprised at its development later. If she was not addicted to the excessive use of drink when he married her—and there is strong testimony to show she was not—then the fact that he is in the saloon business tends to show that he is responsible for her fall, and there is strong testimony to show that he is. "When a man is engaged in the business of making drunkards, it doesn't lie in his mouth to complain if the effects of that business come home to him. The divorce is refused, and the bill dismissed."