Ensler v. Ensler

Decision Date24 June 1887
Citation33 N.W. 384,72 Iowa 159
PartiesENSLER v. ENSLER.
CourtIowa Supreme Court

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

Appeal from circuit court, Dubuque county.

This is an action for a divorce. There was a decree for the plaintiff for a divorce, and for the sum of $450 alimony. The defendant appeals from the order requiring him to pay the alimony.E. McCeney and W. G. Joerns, for appellant.

J. C. Longueville, for appellee.

ROTHROCK, J.

The claim for divorce is grounded upon cruel and inhuman treatment. The specifications are that the defendant assaulted the plaintiff and beat her; that he produced one or more abortions upon her; and that he subjected her to excessive sexual intercourse. The parties were married in the year 1882, and lived together until 1885. The plaintiff is about 40 years of age, and the defendant is about 68 years old. The defendant had some seven or eight children by a former marriage. Some of these children were minors, aged from twelve years upward. The defendant owns a half lot, with a dwelling-house situated thereon. The property is not worth to exceed $1,500. This, with one or two hundred dollars, constitutes all of his estate. He is by occupation a carpenter and cabinet-maker. At the time of his marriage he earned from seven to nine dollars a week. In 1884 he broke his arm, and since that time he has earned from three to five dollars a week. He is ruptured in two places, and is unable to earn full wages.

The evidence does not, in our opinion, warrant a decree of divorce. We do not propose to set it out here. It is enough to require us to read its disgusting details. Nearly every complaint made by the plaintiff in her testimony is either refuted by more than one witness, or is manifestly untrue because physically impossible to be true. But, as no appeal has been taken from the decree for divorce, that must be allowed to stand. The order for the payment of alimony will be reversed. The record shows that plaintiff was allowed $100 temporary alimony, which has been paid. With this she must be content. Reversed.

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3 cases
  • Clark v. Clark
    • United States
    • Minnesota Supreme Court
    • 24 Febrero 1911
    ... ... Shirey, 87 Ark. 175, 112 S.W ... 369; Stevens v. Stevens, 49 Mich. 504, 13 N.W. 835; ... Tumbleson v. Tumbleson, 79 Ind. 558; Ensler v ... Ensler, 72 Iowa 159, 33 N.W. 384. None the less we feel ... constrained to hold, on the facts disclosed, that the award ... was not ... ...
  • Clarke v. Clarke
    • United States
    • Minnesota Supreme Court
    • 24 Febrero 1911
    ...v. Shirey, 87 Ark. 175, 112 S. W. 369;Stevens v. Stevens, 49 Mich. 504, 13 N. W. 835;Tumbleson v. Tumbleson, 79 Ind. 558;Ensler v. Ensler, 72 Iowa, 159, 33 N. W. 384. None the less we feel constrained to hold, on the facts disclosed, that the award was not sufficiently large. If, on a new t......
  • Clark v. Clark
    • United States
    • Minnesota Supreme Court
    • 24 Febrero 1911
    ...v. Shirey, 87 Ark. 175, 112 S. W. 369; Stevens v. Stevens, 49 Mich. 504, 13 N. W. 835; Tumbleson v. Tumbleson, 79 Ind. 558 Ensler v. Ensler, 72 Iowa, 159, 33 N. W. 384. None the less we feel constrained to hold, on the facts disclosed, that the award was not sufficiently large. If, on a new......

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