82 Neb. 294 | Neb. | 1908
The district court for Dawes county entered a decree granting a divorce to the plaintiff and giving Mm absolute custody of Jennie Blid, the five-year-old child of 'the parties. The decree contains a provision allowing the defendant to visit her child at such times as she may desire during the daytime, and so long as she shall conduct herself in the presence and home of said child in a becoming manner. The court refused to supersede the decree so far as it relates to the custody of the child. Defendant has appealed from this decree, and from a judgment dismissing her cross-bill, in which she asked a divorce and alimony.
The parties were married in Dawes county, Nebraska, in July, 1901. They lived together on plaintiff’s farm until about Christmas of that year, when defendant left the plaintiff and commenced an action for divorce. We gather from the evidence that this action was instigated by defendant’s parents; that her attorney, becoming acquainted with the facts, sent for the husband, and at a meeting between them in the office of the attorney they became reconciled, and again commenced living together. In order to place defendant beyond the reach and influence of her parents, plaintiff removed ■ to Lead, South Dakota, where he was employed by the Homestake Mining .Company. They lived there until December, 1903. On the 16th of that month the plaintiff, on his return from work to his home, found the house deserted. He after-wards ascertained that the defendant’s father and brother-in-law had come to Lead, taken the defendant, her child, and some articles of furniture, and returned with them to their home in Crawford, Dawes county, Nebraska, where defendant commenced a second action for divorce. This action being resisted, defendant abandoned it, when plaintiff commenced an action for divorce in South Dakoto; but, on learning that the court there had no jurisdiction over the child, who was in Nebraska with its
The evidence is undisputed that defendant’s parents, with whom she has been living most of the time since deserting plaintiff, resided in what is known as the “red-light” district in the town of Crawford. It is true that they built their residence when the town was new and before that locality had been surrendered to bawdy houses; and, while they are not responsible for the bad condition of their surroundings, it is nevertheless evident that it is not the proper place in which to bring up the young child of the parties, and this was evidently one of the reasons which prompted the district court to place the child in the custody of the plaintiff. The moral character of the defendant and her father is not seriously questioned, and the attorney for appellant is urgent in his demand that the decree, in so far as it takes from her the custody of her five-year-old child, should be reversed. It is earnestly insisted that the letters purporting to be written
By the Court: For the reasons stated in the foregoing opinion, the judgment of the district court is
Affirmed.