A STRANGE DIVORCE CASE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 196, 18 August 1900, Page 5 (Supplement)

A STRANGE DIVORCE CASE.

DEATH THE SEQUEL,

One of the most hotly contested divorce suits ever fought has at last been brought to a new issue. Death is the final referee.

The case was docketed In the first place as Mary Doe against John Doe. Despite the extraordinary proceedings taken to ensure- secrecy it leaked out that John Doe was Frederic A. Bell, the Buffalo, U.S.A., millionaire.

The suit has dragged through the courts, both of Pennsylvania and New York, for six years. There have been many sensational, features. On May 22 Frederic Bell died in his magnificent home at Madison, N.J. He left aa estate estimated at £5,000,000.

The divorce iuit is still pe-nding before the United States Supreme Court. If Mrs Bell wins she will get the alimony awarded her in a previous decree and probably her dower interest in her husband's estate.- If the decision is reversed she will still be the legal widow of Frederic A. Bell and entitled to a widow's share In the great fortune of the man who had fought her so bitterly and so persistently for so many years.

Mrs Bell has had an unhappy life. Her husband has been her relentless foe. Why he hated her with such intensity will never be known. Death has laid the seal of silence on his lips. She was a young, beautiful, and vivacious woman when she tmet him. She is now old, sad, and careworn.

Mrs Bell was the youngest child of General Ashabel Gridley, of Bloomlngton, 111., one of the richest and most prominent men in the Middle West. He was a noted lawyer in his time, practising with such men as Lincoln, Swett, Stephens, Logan, and John M. Palmer. When he died he left a fortune of over a million dollars.

Mary Gridley was her father's idol. She was famed for her beauty and her wit. Tall, slender, with violet eyes and masses of softly waving bronze hair, she was

THE BELLE OF HER NATIVE STATE

She was also a brilliant conversationalist, and her sparkling jests were her father's delight.

There was the grandest wedding that Bloomington had ever seen when Mary Gridley married John A. Bruce, of Chicago; General Gridley was very proud of two things—his town and his bonny daughter. He had gone out there when the country was wild and Bloomington a little country village. He had seen it grow into a city of which he was the richest nnd most honoured citizen. Prominent people from all over the country came to the wedding of pretty Mamie Gridley. The Oaks, the palatial home of General Gridley, was the scene of festivities that lasted for a week. The bride, smiling through her tears, went away pursued by the usual number of old shoes and a most unusual quantity of rice. But these good-luck missiles proved useless. It became rumoured that Mrs Bruce's married life was unhappy. One day she came back to her father's house alone. "I have come to stay," she told her friends. A divorce resulted, and she returned her maiden name. She was again Mary Gridley and st'll young a>nd beautiful when she met Frederic A. Bell. His wooing was brief and impetuous. He was rich, and he was unaccustomed to having his wish denied. This t'me there was n. very quiet ceremony at the Oaks, and Mary Gridley became the wife of Frederic Bell, the rich New Yorker. He was president of the Bell-Lewis mining company and of the Buffalo Elevator Company, a>nd owned many valuable properties throughout the States. Everyone in Bloomington rejoiced and said: "At last Mary Gridley will be happy." But again CUPID TRICKED HER. The Bells went to live in Buffalo. At first everything went well. They had a handsome home. They entertained sumptuously and became social factors. In ISB2 General Gridley fell 111 and died. His daughter hurried to his bedside. When she came back to Buffalo she found her home dismantled and closed, her possessions stored in a. stable. Her husband refused to receive her. The door of the house was locked against her. Mrs Bell returned to Bloomingtou and then went abroad. She never Hved with her husband again. Twelve years later she brought suit for divorce. After this action had begun Mr Bell secured a divorce from his wife In .the Court of Common Pleas in Jefferson County, Pa. Desertion was the ground.

The referee in the suit brought by Mrs Bell held that this decree obtained by Mr Bell could mot stand, as he was not properly a resident of Pennsylvania at the time. Mrs Clinton, who acted as referee, found trfat Mrs Bell was entitled to an absolute divorce, and recommended that she be allowed £GOO a year alimony.

The sensational .feature of the trial was the testimony of Edward M. Bell, the actor, a cousin of Frederic Bell. He was a former member of Palmer's company and widely known in exclusive social circles of Buffalo. He claimed to be the co-respondent in the case. He stated that the time of the misconduct was between May 28 and June 8, ISS2.

But Mrs Bell had kept a diary. It now served her in good stead.. She had made entr'es with great fidelity all her life. Every little unimportant Incident was recorded there. And by this diary she was able to prove conclusively that she' went to her home In Bloomlngton on May 22, 1882, a>nd did not return to Buffalo until June 10. Her honour was vindicated. A few nights later Edward Bell was found in h's room at the Genesee Hotel in Niagara suffering from an overdose of morphine. On the table were two letters he had just written—one addressed to his cousin Fred, the other to his cousin's wife. PHYSICIANS SUCCEEDED IN SAVING HIS LIFE. What was In those two letters was never known. Ed. Bell was the leading man In Palmer's company when "Lady Wlndermere's Fan" was produced. He came on the stage one night intoxicated, and the audience hissed him. He was discharged by Mr Palmer, but afterwards reinstated, It was said, through the intercession of Mrs .Grover Cleveland. Before her marriage to the President of the United States he had been a promising law student and a clever amateur actor, and In those days was a friend of Miss Frances Folsom. Since that divorce suit but little' has been heard of Edward Bell. There was also the other woman who figured In the suit. Her name was Mrs Martin. She was the prettiest clerk in one of the Buffalo dry goods stores when Frederic Bell met her. He became infatuated with her. He gave her everything that money could buy. , She was the only person in the world who had any Influence with the stern, silent millionaire. He was as putty in her hands. For a time he gave her a home In the aristocratic section of Irving Place, but the scandal of It aroused the neighbourhood, and the propertyowners banded together and bought the house. Bell quarrelled with her, violently and frequently, but his anger soon melted. She was the one creature who was sure of his forgiveness and his tenderness.

The referee found him guilty of mlseonfluct with her. The fact that she was brought Into' the matter was -one of his

greatest grievances and added implacable bitterness to his conduct of the suit. After the referee's report in the divorce suit had been tunned in, Frederic A. Bell took the case to the Court'of. Appeals'of the State of New York. Agaim Mrs Bell was victorious. But her husband refused to acknowledge himself beaten. ; , "I will fight her as long as I live," Be declared. He was as good as his word. When he died he had taken the case to the Supreme Court, where It now is. Mrs Bell has never received any alimony. She is a rich woman in her own right. It is not for money but for her good name that she has battled for six years unceasingly.

At last the great divorce suit is, for him who pressed it so bitterly, at an end.