RICH PLAYBOY

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLV, Issue 21154, 29 September 1938, Page 2

RICH PLAYBOY

CONDUCT CONDEMNED "Pampered youth,” and a “drunken playboy.” These words were used by Judge Salvatore Cotillo in the North Carolina Supreme Court when referring to Basil Al! (pi Ryan, 28-year-old grandson of the :opper millionaire, states the News of the World. The Judge ordered Ryan, who is iieir to a £10,000,000 fortune, tc pay alimony of £166 a month to his 21-year-old wife, formerly Martha Barkley, daughter of a commercial traveller, whom he married 'ast November and left the next morning, after ascribing the marriage to “excellent corn whisky." It was stated that Ryan invited the girl to go for a motor ride, and after a moonlight proposal they went to a justice of the peace the same night. Judge Cotillo referred to Ryan going to Europe on a pleasure trip instead of appearing in Court. "The husband,” declared the Judge, "is the scion of a distinguished American family, with a large income which he has never earned. The defendant is, indeed, the counterpart of those little rich girls whose only ambition in life is co tr; to dissipate the fortunes created by their forefathers through the sweat and honest toil cl American people. "The only difference in this case is that the recipient of any financial award will be an American citizen, rather than a broken-down, impoverished member of the so-called nobility. “He married this girl, who had an unfortunate pre-marital experience; then, evidently tiring of her,. left .er penniless. “Then, after filling the public press with stories of being trapped into marriage during a drunken spree, he d’d not have the manhood to face a public trial, hut depa’ted on a pleasure trip to Europe. "The defendant must be taught that American womanhood, na matter in how humble i station ir life, cannot be treated as a chattel anu dropped like : discarded toy by a drunken playboy."