Show THE OGDEN STANDARD EXAMINER —SUNDAY MORNING JANUARY omon ua V- 111 11 ! ffT it with IMs Ofoc! J V'C-- - - :'V- f isto0 J i ' ) - '' Sm I in " -- ' - -- f : V - V - - ibt lis " ¥: riTiWiiiilfriiirtliliMiVWwi-nillitilliii- per-form- ed ' c " By Jack Howell Q vw- "Mr f'-y- -t i'v ' I 'M i B f ' - - "V- t - f r Vw ne half-broth- er i 'Ollllllllllllllllllllllllllilllllllllllllllllllllllllliljlllllllllllljlllli ' T i r -- '" sj 1 n n i ' T vi i s 1 'V- " myyt-- &T4 ch' i story in not impress the court with the ring of truth He was evasive and uncertain and forgetful 1 5 I on matters which he must have had positive and definite information "Mrs' Morse's story likewise is pitifully weak in its main features She waited two years s before commencing her The late Samuel H Morrow of Denver over and ' ' whose estate a bitter and complicated legal battle then' a m o n t h has raged later dismissed it on a' promise of marriage" the same But District Judge promise that she says had been broken many times before Homer D Preston ol ' Mrs Morse had testified that she had started Denver did testify that to sue Morrow on the dependency charges behe had made out Morfore but had dropped action when he promied row's application for a to marry her legally and openly commission in the officers' reserve corps after the TVTORROW'S affaiijs came up a second war and that he had time in county court at Brighton 1 7 miles asked Morrow whether from Denver Judge Henry Bruce Teller prehe was married In the meantime Morrow had died siding "Yes" the judge Ruth Alorrow of Indianola la rvhose assertion that she is Morrow "but leaving an estate valued at $20000 Also quoted Morrow's legal daughter was upheld by a Denver district court the rumors that he had he Texas widow's mil- she is dead now so we lion dollars hidden in some bank's safety de- needn't mention it" whis-fortustill box Ruth's lawyers conposit persisted along with other in gold depos- tended that Morrow was referring to the girl's pers that he had a large acquaintance under the closer tie that binds us T I t I m a Dan m trance mother ilea together" This time friends wefe surprised to hear that Mrs Barger who with four sisters and a writ-teanother girl Ruth' Morjrow 16 of Indianola A LETTER was offered asan exhibit n was asking for a share in the dexowa claimed a snare in Morrow s estate on ceased attorney's estate denied steadfastly that to Ruth's mother in the handwriting of the groundr that he was her father she could remember either writing the letter or Mrs Elizabeth Barger of Aurora Mrs Bar-gfor ithe lemure Miss Morrow She could not reis Morrow's sister Attorneys ever discussing the matter The letter was written claimed that Morrow iad married the girl's wife Des that the call Moines had a war at Iowa where during "Sammy" mother formerly Miss Jessie Younkes while Mrs Barger lived at the time The most sensational chapter of all in this he was in anv officers training campl at San Mrs Barger admitted that the letter was in highly dramatic trial came when Mrs Morse's Calif Diego 'f But nevertheless she denied during tfie World War her handwriting two married daughters Mrs Edith Copeland The girl's mother left the coast city for her and Mrs Harry Baker both of Denver took remembering writing it or having knowledge of home in Iowa when Morrow left the training the facts contained in the letter the stand in their mother's behalf The daughRuth was born while he camp to go overseas It was addressed to Mrs S H Morrow ters said that Morrow married their mother in was at the front Her mother died soon after their presence in a ceremony at which he offand was signed by Mrs Barger with the salMorrow returned to this county after the - Ar' iciated utation "Dear sister" and discussed "Sammy" mistice who had gone overseas to fight as a soldier in According to Mrs Copeland and Mrs No record of the marriage could be found the A E F Baker the strange ceremony was performed in however 1927 at Mrs Morse's little cottage in Aurora "I assure you" the letter read following an Morrow's friends in Denver could not recall invitation to Mrs Morrow to visit Mrs Barger where she lived to be near Fitzsimons General his mentioning the marriage in his Moines of in letters will Des visit "We any enjoy having you Hospital (an army and veterans hospital) to them while he was away us very much and will enjoy renewing our where Morrow was receiving medical attention X935 by EveryWeek Masraiine) (Copyriffht — -- ! Did Lawyer Morrow marry once twice or not at all — and was either of the two girls in court his daughter ? It was a tangled lawsuit complicated by rumors of a third secret wedding and a missing million-dolllegacy " ie ) S IT 'wiv l j 1 930 ? with trial opened June 1 1 Juvenile Judge Robert W Steele of Denver presiding !'' Kami Ar--V-'a- -- action THE L two grown married daughters was even the mother of the young Mar jorie Judge Steele ' found Morrow not guilty "The evidence introduced on material issues of the fact" Judge Steele said "is in such hopeless conflict that the truth cannot be ascertained by any human process "The proof offered that the petitioner Mrs Morse even gave birth to the child is not com- - 1 j - " ex-ar- wmnrea morse lormeny employed ivirs by Morrow as a stenographer in his law offices charged that Morrow was the father of Mar-jorJean who was bom July 7 1927 Court records show that Mrs Morse obtained a divorce from Herman Morse of Aurora (a suburb near Denver) on Jan 19 1927 less than six months before the child was born The trial ended with Judge Steele officially expressing his doubts as to whether Mrs Morse a woman then well past 40 and the mother of v r 1 Morrow's defense did v ar - i'ci7 ar pletely convincing mild problem compared with the complicated Morrow case so bitterly con tested in Colorado courts the past two years A strange marriage ceremony wherein the groom performed the ceremony himself hints of a hidden million-dolllegacy in Texas two young girls unknown to one another presenting testimony that they are the legitimate heirs of Samuel H Morrow one-tim- e prominent Denofficer — these were ver attorney and eome of the highlights in the perplexing case Morrow returned to Denver after service in France with the AEF and resumed a law practice he had left to go to war He entered politics and served one term as district attorney in Adams county adjoining the city and county-o- f Denver But the case really beHe died in 1931 in 1930 following the birth of a persistent gan rumor that while on a business trip to Texas in 1 929 Morrow had met and married a wealthy oil man's widow The rumor said that the widow had died shortly after the hasty marriage and that she left the Denver attorney one million ' dollars in cash The rumor soon became common gossip in Denver Morrow however remained noncommittal and refused to discuss the subject But soon after the story became well spread Morrow's friends were surprised to learn that he had been named defendant in a juvenile court case wherein he was charged with contributing to the dependency of one Mariorie le Mnre then three years : AT jJ' - - ' t vi- -- er" case must have presented a rather tt : - ' xSAaS fe6 S l J - ' me moth- M ' S " 'fxf It' yWv ' Mrs Winifred Morse (left) Morroiv's one-tisecretary tvho tfiarged that she became his wife at a ceremony he himself and that Marjoric Jean Morse (center) Was born of this union At the right is her married daughter Mrs Ediih Copeland rvho supported Mrs ftforse's story' OLOMON'S famous "baby and 1 Y '3 j Aiv "-- i - in " 1 " - b r: ' 1 ' f A V : s V f ?v'i$ KC -- i L mis fv$u '' m S'-''l'- is J3aJbii - HQ - nOJ) I 6 1935 illllllllllllllllOllfllllllllllllllll er "The Judgment of King Solomon — from the famous engraving by Dore "TITRS COPELAND said her mother and the lawyer had been intimate for years since she had worked for him in his Denver law offices - Tn the presence Jo f little Marjorie Jean' who the in crowded courtroom Mrs Copeland was testified "One evening Mr Morrow called my sister Mrs Baken and myself to witness the arrangement he and my mother had made "Mr Morrow said 'Girls I have a wedWe are entering a ding ring here for mother We have been living contract of marriage together for "some time and it doesn't look right "'To have a marriage ceremony performed publicly at this late date would only cause But I am comment and hurt me politically going to take your mother for my lawful wedded wife and she is going to take me for her ( lawful wedded husband' " Mrs Copeland paused then continued in a low even voice "Then he placed the ring on mother's finger and they kissed each other He said that they were as good as legally married — just as much as if they'd been married in public" "TRS COPELAND added that the couple then moved to Denver where they lived openly as man and wife Days passed after the taking of the testimony in this trial before Judge Teller handed down a decision which was not satisfactory to the Morses or to those representing Ruth Morrow The judge was of the opinion that insufficient proof had been offered to show that either Marjorie Jean Morse or Ruth Morrow was Morrow's daughter Judge Teller held that Mrs Morse had not established beyond a doubt that she was the deceased attorney's common-lawife and that Ruth's mother's marriage to Morrow lacked proof But the bitterly-conteste- d fight did:not end for a share of the here Both parties suing attorney's estate appealed the case w in Judge James C StarkIt was weather's court at Brighton last i October The testimony but transferred to Denver the same as that much in trial this' was fered presented in the former trial with the exception that Mrs Barger had since the trial in' 1933 come to believe that after all Ruth Morrow Mrs Barger became' was her brother's child the girl's stoutest champion at this' trial Three weeks after the concluding testimony had been given at the trial Judge Starkweather decision ruling that handed down a 1 Ruth Morrow is the lawful daughter of the late Denver attorney and that the testimony given in Ruth's behalf supports the claim that het mother and Morrow were man and wife Although in Ruth's case Judge Starkweather overruled the county court decision of 1 933 he upheld it in the case of Marjorie Jean Morse and her mother ruling that neither had proven they were legitimate heirs of the attorney" Attorneys for Mrs MoiM said that they ' would appeal the case to Se state supreme 3-pa- court ge f - 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