Baird v. Boehner

• Decision Date: 30 June 1887
• Citation: 72 Iowa 318,33 N.W. 694
• Parties: BAIRD v. BOEHNER.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

72 Iowa 318

33 N.W. 694

BAIRD

v.BOEHNER.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

June 30, 1887.

Appeal from circuit court, Mills county.

The petition states that in “June, 1883, the defendant, by artifice and false promises, by false pretense of affection for her, and by false promises of marriage, and other artifice and false promises, did seduce and debauch her, she being at the time an unmarried female of previous chaste character.” The defendant denied the allegations in the petition. Trial by jury, verdict and judgment for the plaintiff, and defendant appeals.Lewis & Young and Watkins & Williams, for appellant.

A. R. Anderson and Stone & Gilleland, for appellee.

SEEVERS, J.

The plaintiff was a witness in her own behalf, and she testified that prior to July, 1882, she became acquainted with the defendant, and that he had visited her frequently at her home, and paid her considerable attention. At the time above stated he took her in a buggy to Glenwood, several miles distant from her home, and there had sexual intercourse with her. Thereupon the defendant pleaded the statute of limitations, and, as this action was not commenced until November, 1884, it is not claimed that if plaintiff was seduced at the time above stated she can recover damages therefor. The plaintiff at the time above stated was about 25 years old, and she testified that the defendant frequently had sexual intercourse with her between July, 1882, and the last of August following. During that time the plaintiff testifies she determined to reform, and for this purpose, at least in part, she went to Kansas, in September, 1882, and remained there until April, 1883, when she returned to her home in Iowa, and she testified that no one had sexual intercourse with her during the time she was absent in Kansas. The court submitted to the jury the question whether the plaintiff had reformed and was of chaste character at the time she claims the second seduction took place, which was in June, 1883. Within a day or two after plaintiff's return from Kansas, defendant called on her, and they took a buggy ride, and in relationthereto, and the subsequent acts and conduct of the parties, the plaintiff testified as follows: “Boehner came Sunday afternoon about 2 o'clock. Asked me to go buggy riding. Told him I would. Went as soon as he got the team. I loved him still. He wanted me to do the same that afternoon as we did before I went away. I told him I did not wish to. Had made resolutions, and wanted to keep them. He pulled up my clothes and felt of my person that afternoon. Told him I did not want him to; that I thought that was as bad as the act itself. He finally stopped when he found I would not give up. Saw him the next Sunday at home. He tried to do the same as before. I did the same as before. Told him it was no use talking; would not give up. He said if I did not go with him he would go with some other girl; that he could get around any of the women. He kept coming to see me, and I told him I did not want him to; said he was coming anyway. After I came back from Kansas saw him almost every Sunday. He told me that he loved me, and called me ‘Dear May’ lots of times. Thought more of me than any other girl he ever saw, because he said he knew I had never been with any other man. * * * We were out riding one Sunday evening, and as we came back we passed one of his houses, and he said: ‘May, that is where you and I are going to live when we get married.’ That was in September, 1883. He said I had a pretty form, and I was very kissable, and had pretty eyes. He said, ‘May, I know you are better than me,’ and when I told him, with the position I had at the time, it was dreadful for me to do as I had done. He says: ‘Oh, the smartest of girls we have are mean.’ He said he loved me better than any one else. He gave reasons for so doing, and said when he was around with other girls he felt different; did not feel as much at home. * * * He said he had a regard for me, because he knew I was a virtuous girl. * * * During the month of June, after my return from Kansas, he told me he loved me, and I thought if I did not give up to him he would marry me. I thought so much of him, He says: ‘If you don't do as I want you to I will go with some other girl.’ I could not bear the thought of his going with any one else. He said if I would do as he wanted me to he would come and see me all the time. In September we went to Sidney. On the way home he says, ‘May, do you think you and I could live happily together?’ and I told him I thought we could; and I says, ‘Len, I will be as true as steel,’ and he says, ‘I know you would,’ and changed the subject. I submitted to him on the last of June, north of town, when we were out buggy riding, about two months after my return from Kansas. Came home last of April, and this was the last day of June. He succeeded in accomplishing his purpose by telling me he would abandon me, and go with some other girl; and if I would submit to him he would stick by me, and would not leave me. I loved him. He said he could go with any woman. Said he had been with girls, and proposed the thing, and ‘Oh, they thought it dreadful at first;’ but he said before he...