delivered the opinion of the court.
This рroceeding was instituted in the court below by appellee to obtain a divorce and alimony from her alleged husband, on the ground of cruel аnd inhuman treatment. Appellant in his answer to the bill denied the cruel and inhuman treatment, and further alleged that appellee was not his lawful wife, for the reason that at the time of her alleged marriage to .him she had a living and undivorced husband and that he had a living and undivorced wife. The evidence disсlosed the marriage of appellant and appellee and their cohabiting thereafter as husband and wife; that about seventeen yеars prior to her marriage to appellant, appelleе married one Milton Streetor, and their cohabiting together for some time thereafter as husband and wife; that she had not been divorced from him; that some years prior to appellee’s marriage with Streetor, -he married Molly Brown, who is still living, and their cohabiting together some time thereafter аs husband and wife. As to whether or not Streeto-r and Molly were afterwards divorсed does not appear from the record, the evidence bеing wholly silent relative thereto. It further appears from the evidencе that appellant, some years prior to his marriage with appеllee, married one Laura Thompson, who is still living; that they cohabited together as man and wife for some time thereafter and have never been divorced, which fact was known to appellee at the time
Appellee’s marriage to Milton Streetor must be presumed to be valid, in the absence of evidence that Streetоr had not been divorced from his former wife (Railway Co. v. Beardsley,
Wе are not here called upon to determine whether or not this rule wоuld apply in view of the provisions of section 1673, Code of 1906 (Hemingway’s Codе, section 1415), in event appellee had married appellant withоut knowledge of the facts that render the marriage void.
Even if it be true that appellee aided appellant in accumulating what proрerty he has, that fact‘would not render the allowance of alimony to her “equitable and just,” for under the facts here in evidence she not only
Tbe dеcree of tbe court below will be reversed in so far as it awards a solicitor’s fee and alimony, and tbe bill to that extent will be dismissed.
Reversed.
