Stone v. Stone
| Decision Date | 21 April 1964 |
| Docket Number | 31406,Nos. 31403,s. 31403 |
| Parties | Forrest William STONE, Plaintiff-Appellant (Respondent), v. Dorothea Carla STONE, Defendant-Respondent (Appellant). |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Charles M. Shaw, Clayton, for appellant-respondent.
Greensfelder, Hemker & Wiese, Forrest M. Hemker, Donald S. McDonald, St. Louis, for respondent-appellant.
On August 22, 1961, the plaintiff, Forrest William Stone, filed suit against his wife, Dorothea Carla Stone, seeking a divorce and the custody of the four minor children of the parties. Defendant filed an answer and cross-bill for divorce and custody of the children, and a second count sounding in equity, which prayed that in the event the custody of the children was not determined on plaintiff's petition or defendant's cross-bill, the court award her custody of said children together with a reasonable amount for their support and maintenance. Plaintiff filed a reply in the nature of a general denial to defendant's cross-bill, but filed no pleading to defendant's equitable cross-bill.
After a trial of the issues raised by the pleadings, the Court denied both plaintiff and defendant a divorce, and on defendant's equitable cross-claim granted defendant general custody of the children with an award of $500.00 per month for their support. Plaintiff has appealed from the judgment, and defendant has appealed complaining of that portion of the judgment dismissing her cross-bill for divorce.
Plaintiff, as appellant, has filed a brief in this court, which clearly does not comply with the provisions of Rule 83.05. The main point urged is that under the evidence plaintiff should have been granted a divorce and custody of the children. The transcript contains 908 pages of testimony. In addition, there were numerous exhibits introduced and lodged here with the transcript. The statement part of plaintiff's brief contained approximately 2 1/2 pages, and makes no reference to any of the facts developed at the trial. Were it not for the fact that the welfare of the children is involved, and the further fact that defendant, as respondent, has made a full and complete statement of the facts, we would be disposed to invoke against plaintiff the sanctions authorized for non-compliance with the rules.
Defendant, Dorothea Carla Stone, was born in Bremen, Germany, June 4, 1919. Her parents were Dorothea and Carl Weingaertner. She received a high school education and business school training. In 1946, while residing in Bremen, she met plaintiff, Forrest William Stone. At that time she was employed as a housekeeper for a family of a member of the Armed Forces of the United States, having been assigned to that duty by the Occupation Force. Her task under said assignment was to take care of a baby girl of a family.
Plaintiff, Forrest William Stone, a resident of St. Louis, was employed by the American Express Company in early 1946, and worked in London, Paris, Frankfort, and Bremen, arriving in the latter city some time prior to December 23, 1946. He was employed as a salesman of Knapp Monarch Company around July, 1948, and at the time of trial, June 1962, was National Salesmanager for that company, earning $18,814.78 per year.
Plaintiff and defendant fell in love after they met in Bremen in 1946. Shortly thereafter they engaged in sexual relations, which continued until their marriage. Prior to the marriage and in 1947, defendant became pregnant. An abortion was performed for the reason that plaintiff thought it would not look good if they came to the United States with a baby. Plaintiff obtained the necessary permits for defendant to leave Germany, and arranged for her passage on the Lykes Line. She arrived in New Orleans on June 4, 1948, where plaintiff who had preceded her to the United States, met her. They then proceeded to Pine Bluff, Arkansas, by automobile, where they were married. After the marriage was performed, the parties drove to Little Rock, Arkansas, and on their wedding night of June 8, 1948, according to defendant's testimony, plaintiff flew into a terrible rage and started to choke her and to curse and swear. Defendant ran out of the room, and returned only when plaintiff begged forgiveness. Plaintiff denied that this occurred.
From Little Rock the parties proceeded to Kimmswick, Missouri, and took up residence across the street from the home of plaintiff's parents. Plaintiff testified that within a week or two defendant started to exhibit a temper, which throughout the marriage was accompanied by scratching, fighting, biting, yelling, striking him with a tea glass, cans, a barometer, knives and hammers; that she would not fix his breakfast while living in Kimmswick; that she made disparaging remarks about the United States and refused to become a United States citizen. Defendant denied such conduct and testified that plaintiff was the one who had temper tantrums and inflicted verbal and physical abuse upon her throughout the marriage. These generalities were subsequently particularized by the parties, and were of such a character as to justify a finding of indignities which would warrant the granting of a divorce to either party whose testimony was believed by the trial judge; provided, of course, it could be found that such person was the innocent and injured party.
Within a few months the parties moved to the home of plaintiff's parents, and lived there for a period of eight months. Defendant testified that during that period, plaintiff began telling her he wanted to get rid of her and was going to send her back to Germany; that he called her a 'God damned bitch', 'German filth', a 'cheap tramp', and expressed a desire to throw her out on the highway, where she belonged. On one occasion he ripped off her nightgown and slapped her. Defendant further testified that she heard plaintiff discussing with his parents sending her back to Germany, stating he was going to take the necessary steps toward this end, and in August, 1948, actually took defendant to the Federal Building in St. Louis to get papers to send her back to Germany.
While living with plaintiff's parents, plaintiff started working with his father, who was an employee of Knapp Monarch Company. He traveled as a salesman. Defendant testified that during this period she found contraceptives in plaintiff's shaving kit when he would return from trips, and lipstick stains on his clothing. She also found a woman's handkerchief, but plaintiff denied any improper conduct, explaining the was without a handkerchief and bought one at a dime store.
In June, 1949, the parties moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Plaintiff was then a salesman for Knapp Monarch and worked the City of Milwaukee and surrounding territory. Defendant testified that during the period of their residence in Milwaukee, plaintiff continued to call her a dirty, filthy German pig and expressed himself as not liking to talk to her, saying that she should go back where she came from; that she was a foreigner and not wanted. She said that he complained about the criticized everything defendant did and would fly into terrible tantrums and rages; that he would charge at defendant, taking her by the hair and pulling her down and bumping her against the floor, saying, 'Crawl you dog, crawl in front of me because you are eating my food, I took you out of a war-torn country; you came without a shirt on your back and everything you eat or live off of is mine and my money bought it.' Defendant further testified that plaintiff twisted her arm and legs, referred to her as having big, fat, ugly pig eyes; held cigarettes close to her like he was going to burn defendant's eyes and face; tore off her clothes; stated that a new job and marriage were too much for him and he wanted her to leave; that he had seen a lawyer about a divorce and found the only ground for divorce in Wisconsin was adultery. This conduct was denied by plaintiff.
Defendant found a book belonging to plaintiff containing names of women in it, with their phone numbers. She confronted plaintiff with it and testified that plaintiff said he needed companionship. Plaintiff testified that women whose names were in the book were demonstrators for Knapp Monarch and used to demonstrate the products for Knapp Monarch in retail outlets. Defendant testified that on one occasion when a female person called, plaintiff ripped the wires of the phone off the wall. Plaintiff testified that the call was from a man who spoke with a German accent, and defendant was the one who ripped the phone off the wall. Defendant denied this. Defendant suffered a miscarriage, and while she was hemorrhaging as a result of it, plaintiff ordered her out of the house, but later took her to a doctor.
On March 2, 1950, defendant left plaintiff and brought a separate maintenance suit. This suit was dismissed on March 10, 1950. According to defendant's testimony the suit was dismissed when plaintiff promised that things would be different. Plaintiff denied asking defendant to come back, stating she had said she had made a mistake and requested she be allowed to return.
Plaintiff left defendant on May 15, 1950, and filed a suit for divorce in St. Louis. Defendant thereafter filed a cross-bill in this suit. Prior to the filing of this suit, and after plaintiff had left defendant, a man named Bloom came to defendant's door and told defendant that plaintiff had sent him and said something about a ticket. This man appeared to be about 60 years old. Defendant testified she had been left with only a few dollars, and at the time of Bloom's visit she desired to find plaintiff and was of the opinion she could find him in Rockford, Illinois. Bloom was traveling by automobile from Milwaukee to St. Louis, and defendant rode with him intending to locate her husband in Rockford. Bloom...
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