234 Mass. 37 | Mass. | 1919
This is a petition for separate support under R. L. c. 153, § 33, alleging “ cruel and abusive treatment,” that the respondent has deserted the petitioner and refused to supportf
The referee found that the petitioner and the respondent were married in 1894 and in 1910 moved to Sheffield in this Commonwealth; that in 1912 the respondent, after visiting a woman to whom he had formerly been engaged, told his wife that this woman was “his ideal” and “that he wished to try the experiment of living with her;” that this conversation unnerved the petitioner and from that time her health was not good; that shortly after-wards the petitioner found in her husband’s desk copies of letters he had written to this woman (excerpts from which are printed in a footnote
In May, 1916, Turner went to Northfield, Connecticut. About this time Mrs. Turner found among his effects two pictures,— one a water color and the other a pencil sketch, — made by him, v representing the nude figure of the woman to whom he had been engaged; and so drawn, the referee finds, that nothing is left to the imagination. These pictures were placed where Mrs. Turner was almost certain to see them. This was done to alienate her affections and interest and was a part of a scheme'to bring about a separation which he was willing should take place. While the charge of desertion was not supported, it was found that the husband’s failure to write his wife after his removal to Northfield, to provide for her support, or to call on her when he visited Sheffield, “together with all the facts of this case,” indicated an intention to influence her to separate from him. The referee makes no specific finding of cruel and abusive treatment, but he does find the petitioner is living apart from her husband for justifiable cause. There is no finding that the wife condoned the husband’s conduct, but in view of the fact that it was found she was living apart from him for justifiable cause, we must infer that she did not.
We are not called upon to decide whether the words and acts of the husband were sufficient to sustain a libel for divorce for cruel and abusive treatment. See, in this connection, Armstrong v. Armstrong, 229 Mass. 592. Misconduct of the husband, not amounting to cruel and abusive treatment which would entitle the wife to a divorce, might justify her in living apart from him ■ and requiring him to contribute to her support. Lyster v. Lyster, 111 Mass. 327. Watts v. Watts, 160 Mass. 464, 467, 468.
While no physical violence was inflicted on the petitioner and the respondent did not exhibit to her the pictures or the copies of the letters, after he had informed her of his affection for this woman and his desire to live with her, he placed the letters and
The petition is dated November 8, 1916. The respondent contends that the domicil of the parties was in the State of Connecticut on that date. The referee finds that the respondent went to Northfield, Connecticut, in May, 1916, but voted in Sheffield November 7, 1916. Even if the respondent’s domicil were in Connecticut, the conversation and acts relied on to justify the wife in living apart from her husband occurred while he was domiciled in this Commonwealth. Under such circumstances the domicil of the wife does not follow that of the husband, and the Probate Court had jurisdiction of the case. Shaw v. Shaw, 98 Mass. 158. Blackinton v. Blackinton, 141 Mass. 432. Perkins v. Perkins, 225 Mass. 82, 85.
So ordered.
“Because I do not yet know you by the new name or by any name and until I do you shall be for me the ideal I lost so long ago and which I think you realize my present need for. If I am not much mistaken an ideal is as necessary for you as it is to me, and while I may be as far as ever from becoming that ideal I can at least aim that way. I am sure also that you have not yet met your ideal and very likely you have in a measure given up the hope of doing so. If I can inspire you with that hope as you have so quickly inspired me, we shall not have met again in vain. Or we shall not have met again in vain or only for the passing of a few pleasant hours, the memory of which I have both left with you and carry away.
“I am sure of this only, that we speak a common language, that you plainly show me a feeling of kindness, of sympathy, and a desire to help me, and I do not believe you were actuated by any other motive. For the present this is enough and the consequences may take care of themselves. The admission that I had spent four or five days under your roof being the powder train and her questions the lighted match. I spared her all I could but admitted nothing necessary to make the matter plain. We have had a continuous session since Sunday morning and she has passed through the worst stages.
“It has caused her a severe struggle which has not hurt her in the least though she does not realize it naturally. Be a man, Yia, and help me to teach her this lesson that I believe you and I have both learned — to be charitable to the faults of others, to see the good in them, and make the most of it. It is not for you to feel the slightest reproach for any of this whatever happens.