| Show THE SALTUS SUIT The Novelist Has Something to Say About It He Comes Out Very Clean From a System of Spying Practised Upon HImHis Wifes Obedience Commended Specialto TilE HEHALD Examiner Dispatch NEW YORK Jan 2S0n December 10 1SS9 Mrs Edgar Saltus wife of the novelist novel-ist brought suit of absolute divorce alleging leging a statutory offense and naming as corespondent a young lady friend of the household and one of its frequent inmates She is the daughter of Mr William GReed G-Reed a wellknown and wealthy businessman business-man of New York and ho is of course known to nearly every reader of contemporaneous contem-poraneous American novels For a year nothing has been heard of the case It appears ap-pears howeyer it has been passing through the regular legal stages nnd that numerous hearings have been had before Referee Theodore Conolly j It was stated at the beginning of the suit that Mr Saltus had made a confession of his guilt and had fled to Europe A few days after the publication of the summons Mr Saltus returned to this city Ho denied he had made a confession of any kind nature or description He stated he had gone abroad on a purely business matter The proceedings before the referee have been held in camera but Mr Saltus discussed dis-cussed his defense and other features of the case today with that freedom which Is charged is the one quality of his novels beginning be-ginning thus I was taken ill in Londony he saJd and the fact of my Illness was cablea to the newspapers here As I subsequently learned the initial proceedings were then begun I took the next ship home Tosay that I was surprised at Mrs Saltus action is to put it mildly We parted on the best possible terms When I returned Mrs Saltus wrote me a pretty note in which she said it was all her fathers doing and as for herself she fancied would bo happier hap-pier as a bachelor It was considerate of Mrs Saltus to put it that way and I could not but admire her taste awl tact at the same time As her father had selected as corespondents two entirely innocent young ladies of unblemished reputation it was my duty to interpose an answer deny i I ing the alleeations of the comnlaint nnd I want the action tried Edgar Saltus did not have long to wait Referee Theodore Conolly was appointed to take testimony and his former servants appeared before the referee They testified testi-fied that during the time they were in the home of the Sdltuses they wero employed by one of the plaintiffs relatives to keep a diary of his movements to read his letters listen at keyholes to preserve scraps of any correspondence they could gather or pur loin and whenever ho received a visit exercise watchfulness and vigilance This state of things it appeared had been going o n for over a year and a half during which the novelist was presumably too much absorbed ab-sorbed in his own plots to notice tho one at his elbow In spite of this vigilance and in spite too of the fact that Saltus is notoriously one of the most reckless and indifferent of menthe men-the servants who were engaged in spotting him were unable to testify to auythincr r relevant thesuit for divorce When tho testimony was taken ho igain started for London and there occupied himself in writing a life of Christ which is soon to be published In conversation with friends recently he said If it had not been for this divorce suit I could not have written it It taught me what charity and forgiveness really are I havent a grievance to my name against Mrs Saltus I admit I think it was illadvised for her to sue me by pub lication particularly when a cablegram would have answered as well It is not a thing I would like a sister of mine to do or a daughter either But as she says as it was her fathers wish it is impossible for me not to command her obedience |
