Show Tragedy in Winter of Life J J Saddest of All All Dale Dolly Dolly Dale MRS l iT RS MARY PORTER RICH-GILBERT RICH plaintiff in odd maintenance suit a I S SS Si S i S S S S 'S I She Sees Pathos in One diS of di f Strangest Cases Ever j S Tried Td in In U Utah ta I v 1 S By Dolly Dale t I want to tell you about a a. little old lady I I we went t to see Saturday Sat Sat- II a a bright eyed smiling dear little creature who looked up at at me from her invalids invalid's bed 2 JS as guilelessly as a child while she she told me about one of the strangest strang strang- est cases ever haard in a Utah court S S. S I went to see lieI bet het partly out o of or curl curl- When len I came 0 away wa I was ashamed for Cor m myself 8 and I had a great big bI- sob struggling lIng In my throat There was so much that was pathetic so 50 much that seemed like fiction not riot Ilk like lIkA the doings of men and women who HC oe and nd breathe S e experiences sometimes make K Continued on page page paga 6 TRAGEDY IN WINTER VINTER SADDEST OF ALL ALL- 1 DOM DOLLY DALE 55 I Continued from a page 6 1 L me wonder at the tragedies of or life lire two In the winter of Here Ure were people their existence at an age where peace and quiet gleamed as RS the Uie greatest of worldly luxuries The public was as delving delv dh ing into the warm arm sacred love of or their youth They hold sweet memories of it somehow It-somehow somehow I believe e that rr does But But But- Taken to Grandmas Room With all the conflicting evidence In m my head hlad trying vainly to tabulate the details I rang the bell belt at the Craig apartments A rosy cheeked girl In iii her teens answered the bell and took me to grandmas room roomS down a long basement corridor I found an old lady In bed bed bed-an an old lad lady with cheeks like a russet apple the brightest blue eyes in the world and hair whiter than the pillow on Ott which she lay a lay a very vital and energetic energetic energetic ener ener- getic old lad lady for all that her limbs were vere so helpless New Kinds of Optimism She smiled Nearly a year of or this she said indicating the state of her body In response re to my unspoken I dont don't have query But But brightly brightly to lie He like this all aU the time as time as if i dear me ml I should have form formed 1 the no notion notion notion no- no tion that she was complaining Sometimes Sometimes Sometimes Some times the they put me In the thc chair but I Iam Iam Iam am always glad to get back to bed again ag I wondered at the optimism that could be happy to sit up and then happy to go back to bed again I Ih h hardly understood It And this then was Mary Porter Rich lUch But let me go back to some orthe of or the facts Baldly BaldI In itt unimaginative hegal le legal legal le- le gal phraseology the case is listed as Rich versus J Rich and Is on trial In Inthe inthe inthe the Salt Lake district court The lit littIe little lit lit- tie tle old lady Is suing E. E E. E Rich think Rich think of oC it She's 73 now now for for separate maintenance In these days of age and Invalidism she wants help help from from the theman theman theman man she says says sh she married three forty-three years ago far tar awa away in England and for the sake of or whose children she went to another man Agree as to Marriage Both the little old lady and the old man are agreed on one point that he was married to a Mary Porter in 1863 He says that he does not know if It this Mrs Mary Iary Porter Rich is the woman he married They lived together for five years four tour children two children two boys and two girls girls came came and Rich came cameto cameto cameto to America and nd dropped out of sight Rich says that the wom woman m he married married mar mar- ried ned got a divorce from him and married married mar mar- ried tied another man Jean Gilbert and that Gilbert has since died The little old lady who calls herself his wife says that to get support for Richs Rich's children n she went to John Gilbert and lived with him ton for twenty-five twenty years She bore bOle him two children But she says she was never divorced from RIchI Rich because the English laws permit de decrees decrees decrees de- de I crees crees only for unfaithfulness and sh she had no 1 proof lOOf I I She Makes Apology S This suit uit would never have come ItI if It irI I hadn't be been n sick so long she apologized apologized apolo apolo- to me The children have been wonderful to to tome me but it Is all ll they can cando cando cando do to take care of themselves That's why I am asking the court ourt to have Mr Rich pa pay me a a. small amount of of money each month He left me alone to take tale care of the girls and boys and to help them take care of ot me in my old age seems about the least he can do There was determination there there- there there- 1 saw it flash lash out of ot her eyes We Ve were approaching the vital subI sub sub- He lie left me with the tour four children I could not she went on Two of them yet walk I sold my best furniture to get his money for tor the passage For five years I worked day and far Into the night to mal make e enough money to feed teed the children waiting always hoping hoping hoping hop hop- ing that the mail would bring me the word that he wanted me to come to the new world and be with him again At Last News Comes He lie wrote me sometimes At the j. j end of or five five- years ears I wrote and de demanded demanded demanded de- de some news When it came I learned that he had married again sf She met met John Gilbert He was a a. widower with four tour children Ire lie of offered offered or- or ferd her his home and protection She fahe accepted She was worn out from hardne hard work worl The struggle was too He ne was the only fath father r my children children children chil- chil dren ever knew said the little old lady to m me the brave chin trembling just the tiniest wee bit And I always little tried to be a mother to his own S ones After Atter Gilbert's Gilberts death t the e family sep- sep arted coming to America one by one Mrs Rich came with her youngest of or this daughter Mrs Minnie Benger city The children knew and often otten talked with their father tather she maintains in contradiction to the assertion of ot his that he did not even know that she the woman he married was Since I have been in bed he has often come to the apartments and brought me flowers though he has never seen me the continued expense of or hospital hospital hos- hos At last pital 4 doctors' doctors and nurses nurses nurses' bills drove the children to asking Rich to give what he de denied denied denied de- de their mother a little tittle of or nied them They were refused Just Suspicion of a Tear It was the suspicion of or a tear that glistened in the blue eyes ces Was it the memory of or those early years of privation that called them forth or orthe orthe orthe the thought of her last years spent In conflict and turmoil instead of or the peace that should crown the remainIng remainIng remain remain- Ing days of ot her three seventy-three years Mrs Irs Mary Mar Porter Rich Gilbert she is hardly sure of ot her name herself herselt la is living with her da daughter SIrs Mrs who is acting In Incapacity incapacity Florence Flornce Hodgins I capacity as housekeeper at the Craig apartments I |