Show THE GRIFFIN DIVORCE Hearing Before Judge Hiles on the Alimony Question ACCORDING TO HER VERSION HER HUSBAND IS WEALTHY But He Tells Quite a Different Story The Sprinkling Contract With the City Is a Very Poor Paying Affair He Says and Will Net Only 81100 For This Year Most of His Property Mortgaged and Unproductive U The Griffin divorce suit came up before be-fore JudJe lilies yesterday in the district dis-trict court on order for the plaintiff Jacob H Griffin to show cause why he should not pay his wife 250 a month alimony pending the hearing of the suit and also to show cause why Mrs I Griffin should not have the custody of their 9yearold son Harvey P and why the temporary restraining order preventing him from disposing of his property should not be made permanent perma-nent and wIly he should not pay to his wife 2500 as attorney fees to en ahle her to get up her side of the case i Practically all the issues wero left in abeyance except the one regarding alimony ali-mony and attorney fees and almost the entire day vas spent in an endeavor en-deavor to ascertain what Griffins man are so as to determine the amount of alimony which he may reasonably rea-sonably he called upon to pay pending the Inarms of the case Messrs Loof VOl row Loofbourow and F S Richards Rich-ards represented Mr Gnflln while his wifes interest reaosed in the hands I I t Salt Lake county would be required to present her cape properly Her hus baijll she said had real esta < > on Saunders Saun-ders street Omaha worth 4000 and on Twentyfourth and Douglas streets worth 6500 He also had 40 ncns of land near Great Falls Mon valued at J10000 all as far as she knew unin cumberul He alsc hal mining property prop-erty In Itah the value of which the itnesF dul not know He owned a ri idenc Klovinth East ami Ninth South > rEf is and a ranch at Big Cot tonvoc fie latter woith aut 1300 The Ftrett sprinkling plant otvne and operated by Mr Griffin witness aid he had told her was worth 20000 and he also told her that his contract with the city co sprinkle the streets was worth at least 3 000 net a year Witness had no knowledge of what the expense of operating her husbands various business ventures was but she presumed it was large COULDNT LIVE ON 60 A MONTH Crossexamined by Judge Loofbou row the witness said her husband gave her money last March to go home to Iowa with From June 1S96 to March 1897 he gave her 60 a month She told him she could not live on that amount She still resided in the house on Eleventh East street and needed a man to look after the grounds the animals and so forth What attention does the place need queried Judge Loofbourow If youll come down Ill show you said Mrs Griffin But Im not going down and I want you to tell me continued tho lawyer and Mrs Griffin went on to f explain that the grass and the lawn needed attention the weeds were overrunning over-running the place and there were a treat many things around the house which required care Questioned as to the witnesses she needed at the trial she said some wtuld have to be here in person while the depositions of others would serve One witness Miss Foote was in California Cali-fornia and others were in Michigan Arizona and other states It cost 150 I to get Mrs Thurston here from Minneapolis I Minne-apolis and this sum witness father I had paid Depositions by Dr Payne father of I Mrs Griffin were read by Mr Moyle In which the doctor deposed that Griffin Grif-fin had told him that the sprinkling contract with the city amounted to 40000 or 50000 and that he could net easily 5000 a year out oft Dr Payne was in Salt Lake five years ago His profession was making him 1000 a month he deposed MR GRIFFINS VERSION < Mr Griffin then took the stand and testified in reply to Judge Loofbourow that he had never made any such statement as was attributed to him by I I Dr Payne and he had never told Mrs Griffin anything about what he expected ex-pected to make out of the sprinkling contract He owned three pieces of real estate In Omaha which were mortgaged II mort-gaged and yielded not enough revenue to pay the interest and expenses of maintenance and last year he paid out 700 more than the income from this I property The Great Falls property yielded no income and his mining property In Utah consisted only of mining claims on which nothing but assessment work had been done and from his home in this city he derived no benefit since his troubles with his wife commenced prior to which It had been used as a place to board his employees em-ployees His revenue from the city amounted I to 1648 a month which for the seven summer months of the year lost him 300 a month The other five months he made S335S making a net profit for the year of about 1100 Crossexamined by Mr Zane the I witness said the railway people paid him 30 a month for sprinkling How much do you get from the city on the contract each month asked Mr Zane 3U50 Have you any extra contract with the cltr Ye I get S1OS a month for that but 1 it may be 1 stopped at any time itea i How do you get paid In city warrants when I get anything I thing but latterly I have not been getting get-ting paid at all How much a month does it cost to run the sprinkling business It costs more in summer than in winter During the seven summer months I lose nearly COO a month on I the contract To be exact I estimate I to lose 22S0 for these seven months I What about the winter montha I estimate to make 3358 during those five months What do you gain then for the 12 months About 1100 is what I make on the sprinkling contract with the city this year yearHow How much did you make on your sprinkling contract last vcar I I dont know Have you no idea I It was quite a bit more than this I years will be How much was that bit I Probably double what I expect to make this year That would be 200 i Yes about that Dont you keep any books of account I ac-count No I only make estimates How many horses do you use in the I sprinkling business Fiftysix including a saddle horse and my team for driving around I dd oft ro How many men do you employ I Twentyfour What do you pay them J 4 Twenty dollars a month and board each for 21 of them I Is that all the men I There is a foreman at 160 and a j blacksmith at 75 a month What docs it cost to keep the horses Ten dollars a month each for seven months and 3 for five months in winter What other expenses are there In running the business Rent taxes interest and a lot of incidental expenses What tax do you pay on personal property About S175 a year CHANGED HIS BOARDING HOUSE Where are you boarding now Tn Salt Lake Where In Salt Lake At the same place as the men I employ board Did not you live at the Knutsfbrd for a while Yes Yeshat What did you pay there Sixtyfive dollars for room and boardWhat What did you pay for your boys board About Sll for the time he stayed with me at the Knutsford What does your board and room cost you now I pay S a month for a room and my board perhaps costs a little more than the average of the men they cost 10 a month to board The expenses and receipts of running run-ning the sprinkling business footed up according to Mr Griffins statement about as follows EXPENSES 21 men at 20 for 7 months 2910 > 3 men at 25 for 7 months 525 53 horses at 10 for 7 months 3710 1 foreman at 60for months 120 1 blacksmith at 75 for 7 months 525 24 mens board at 10 for 7 months i 1650 g Taxes i 173 i f 96t 5 men at 20 for 5 months 500 8 horses atS for 5 months 320 < 45 horses at 3 for 5 months 673 Board for men 250 Total 11720 RECEIPTS Receipts from city for a year17400 Addition sprinkling Liberty N park 133G Railway sprinkling 43J = Total 19215 There were ether expenses however which Mr Griffin could not enumerate at the moment ADDITIONAL EXPENSES In the afternoon in reply to Judge Loofbourow Mr Griffin said there were quite a number of items of expense in i runnng his business which had not been mentioned In his examination In the forenoon There were several more horses man had been mentioned and a few more men water rates depreciation depre-ciation of the property and other expenses ex-penses Incidental to the business also interest and discounts on city warrants In which he received his pay amounted to Sid a month and 100 a month for shoeing horses and repairing wagons Witness said his property on Saunders Saun-ders street Omaha which he refused 4000 for in 1SS9 was now worth about 1000 His Great Falls property was worth about 1000 and his home in this city was worth about 3500 and there Is an Incumberance of 500 on the I home The title to this property is held by the Deseret National bank I The Cottonwood ranch Is worth 1200 or 1200 and his sprinkling plant Is worth 8000 or 9000 Other Omaha property once worth 20000 is now only worth 10000 and there is an in cumbrance of 7500 on It Crossexamination resumed by Mr Zane witness said he did not think that 10 a month for feeding horses was excessive AN EXPERT WITNESS P B Blackburn examined by Judge Loofbourow said the cost of keeping horses in 1890 was about 1 a day now the cost is about 50 cents a day for feed alone I THE FOREMANS ESTIMATE John Stahl Mr Griffins foreman rq e = ns 1k M l 1 I T iaGlrP W5t 0 LRi3 of Messrs Le Grand Young John M Zane and Oscar W Moyle To begin with Judge Hiles set the trial of the casa on its merits for August Aug-ust 30 and by this early setting all parties ore practically content to leave the case in statu quo as regards all the issues exceat the alimony and Judge Hiles after hearing the evidence took that and the amount of attorney fees under advisement promising a decision de-cision at an early date and by consent of both sides the orc1er restraining Mr Griffin from interfering with his iCes possession of the boy was so modified that Mr Griffin is allowed to see his son two days a week MRS GRIFFIN TESTIFIES Mrs Minnie P Griffin the defendant defend-ant was the first witness called and In reply to Mr Zane she said she had net received any money from her husband hus-band since March 1 last and that her father Dr Payne had been contributing contrib-uting to her support She had no money and was in great need and had had to run bills to enable her to get along and keep things in shape around the residence She also needed money to get up her side of the cage particularly partic-ularly to get witnesses from California Minnesota Arizona Montana Mexico and Tiiinnis also about S3 witnesses In gave estimates of what it cost to un Griffins sprinkling business which in the main corresponded with the figures given by Griffin the total of Stahls estimates es-timates being 1000 less than those of Griffin Mr Griffin valued the sprinkling wagons at 150 each and horses at 40 each SHORT ARGUMENTS Mr F S Richards in opening the arguments said that it was admitted that Mrs Griffin was entitled to alimony ali-mony and attorney fees and the only question was the amount The sum of 250 per month asked for by Mrs Griffins attorneys he considered exorbitant ex-orbitant and taking it into account that she had her home he though that 50 or 60 would be enough and as much as the financial position of Mr Griffin as shown by the evidence warranted O W Moyle argued that 60 a month for Mrs Griffin to support herself and the boy in the style they have been used to was altogether inadequate and 1000 for her law expenses was moderate mod-erate This closed the alimony portion of the case and Judge Hiles took It and the question of attorney fees under advisement stating that he would give a decision at an early date I Then followed a discussion of a motion mo-tion to modify thp inlnrtlnnnrohihI ing Griffin fPmI Interfering with his son now in the custody of Mrs Griffin and his honor ordered that the father be allowed to visit the boy twice a week until the trial of the case at the end of August and it was ordered that the restraining order preventing Griffin Grif-fin from selling the property remain in force until further order of the court I |