Pooley v. Pooley
| Decision Date | 10 April 1916 |
| Docket Number | 30404 |
| Citation | 157 N.W. 129,178 Iowa 19 |
| Parties | PAULINE E. POOLEY, Appellee, v. WILBUR POOLEY, Appellant |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
REHEARING DENIED SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1916.
Appeal from Greene District Court.--F. M. POWERS, Judge.
ACTION in equity for divorce, on the ground of cruel and inhuman treatment. There was a decree for plaintiff, and defendant appeals.
Affirmed.
Church & McCully and A. D. Howard, for appellant.
W. W Turner and Clark, Byers & Hutchinson, for appellee.
One phase of the troubles arising out of the marriage of these parties was before this court in Pooley v. Dutton, 165 Iowa 745, 147 N.W. 154, a reading of which will, in some respects, afford light upon facts pertinent to the present appeal. As was there shown, the young couple were then living apart. The breach then existing was never healed. This action was begun October 30, 1912, and was pending when the other case was tried. The petition charged the defendant with cruel and inhuman treatment, in the following particulars: by exhibitions of violent temper; by an extremely critical and fault-finding attitude toward the plaintiff, not only when alone together but also in the presence of others; by threatening to kill and injure her; by cursing and reviling her; by false charges of improper and unchaste conduct on her part; by falsely charging her with the crime of abortion; and by numerous other acts persisted in at great length and on frequent occasions, thereby subjecting plaintiff to great distress, humiliation and suffering, to such a degree as to impair her health and endanger her life. By a later pleading, plaintiff charges defendant with desertion without just cause for a period of more than two years. The defendant admits the marriage, but denies all the charges made against him by his wife. The trial court, having heard all the evidence, granted the plaintiff a divorce, with a recovery of alimony in the sum of $ 1,000, and attorneys' fees in the further sum of $ 200, and costs.
As is usual with this class of cases, the questions brought up by the appeal are mainly those of fact. The case was a long time on trial, the witnesses many, and the evidence, exceedingly voluminous. Any attempt to set out the testimony of the several witnesses within the allowable limits of an opinion would, at the very best, be partial and incomplete, and we shall confine our discussion thereof to a brief consideration of its general tendency and effect.
The case is no exception to the rule that, in litigation over family matters, the passions and prejudices of parties and witnesses are quite sure to become so aroused and to so permeate and color the testimony that it is often, if not always, a matter of much doubt and perplexity to determine the real merits of the controversy. It is a very exceptional case of that class where either party can be said to be entirely blameless. It may further be said that in no other class of cases are the personal bearing, attitude and bias of the witnesses of more value in determining their credibility or in weighing their testimony. In this respect, the trial court has such an advantage over an appellate tribunal having nothing but the printed record before it that, where a question to be decided turns upon the veracity of witnesses, we are always inclined, though considering the issues de novo, to accord much weight to that court's views thereon.
The marriage of the parties in this case was the result of a hasty, ill-advised elopement, neither party to which had the experience, training, judgment or good sense to realize the importance of the step thus taken. The marriage had hardly taken place when disillusionment began, and jealousies, quarrels, bickerings, charges and countercharges which could have only one ending, ensued. The unhappy situation was doubtless aggravated by the unwise, not to say foolish, interference of the young wife's mother, whose rose-colored dreams of a brilliant future for her only daughter had been disappointed by what she deemed an undesirable marriage. But whatever may be said as to the exciting causes of their troubles, it is quite clear that the defendant, beginning within a day or two after their marriage, developed a marked disposition to be jealous of his wife, to fly into a passion of anger, and call her to strict account over matters of the most trifling importance. If the wife is to be believed, he began at that early hour of wedded bliss to charge her with consorting and flirting with other men, told her that her mother was not a good woman, threatened to kill her if she ever got a divorce from him, and talked to her of poisons which could be administered without possibility of detection. Later, while plaintiff and defendant were visiting her parents, he declared to her parents that he...
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