Radio Digest (June 1932-Mar 1933)

22 When Rum or Sickness Break the Love Bonds HERE are cases on B y HP record where a man has refused to marry a woman, to whom he is engaged, because of her drunkenness. Quite obviously a woman who drinks intoxicating liquor is much less desirable as a wife than one who does not indulge in that sort of dissipation. No man would care to have a drunken mother for his children, nor to have a drunken wife to ruin his home or his happiness. Nevertheless the law does not treat drunkenness of a woman as an absolute defense to an action brought by her for breach of promise. She may recover some damages but much less than if she refrained from intoxicants. Expressed in another way, drunkenness can be set up to mitigate damages but not to defeat them altogether. For example: Julia Breck became engaged to Edward Waters, whom she had known since they were classmates in high school. The girl worked in an office and Waters himself was an insurance salesman. The young people were accustomed to attend all the neighborhood socials. Waters drove a fast stepping horse and a stylish covered carriage, it being in the days before automobiles. He was accustomed to the moderate use of liquor and soon taught the girl to join him in this dangerous habit. He grew alarmed one night as they were driving home to have the girl become very noisy from drink. As they approached the village square he remonstrated with her, imploring her to be quiet. But she was by this time in such a wild and irresponsible mood that he was obliged for very shame to turn back the way he had come and to drive for a long time in an effort to sober the girl. She had evidently taken more liquor than Waters realized, for as her maudlin state subsided she fell into a drunken lethargy. In this condition he drove her through the village street to her home and was obliged to endure the humiliation of carrying the girl bodily to her own door. He Had Ruined the Girl THE indignant reproaches of her parents were next in order. It ended by Waters pledging to them that he would never again give the girl liquor. He kept his pledge. Not long after the event Julia aynin became intoxicated at a dance GLEASON L. ARCHER, LL. Dean of Suffolk Law School, Boston D. /ULIA was so intoxicated her fiance had to carry her into the house. He broke the engagement. She sued him — and collected. Andrew Schnebly •waited over jour years for his beloved to regain her health so that they could marry. Then he gave up and she did the courting while the jury listened. James Zook lost both father and mother by the white plague. Then his fiance'e became afflicted with the same malady. When it became evident she could not be cured he broke the engagement but the jury sided with the girl. Read these true stories of human drama as they were broadcast by Dean Archer over a large NBC network in the series, "Laws That Safeguard Society," serially in Radio Digest. where some friends, without the knowledge of Waters, had satisfied the girl's awakened appetite for liquor. This embarrassing and disenchanting experience led Waters to keep a strict' watch upon the girl. She herself tried to overcome her weakness for intoxicants, but the months of moderate indulgence with her lover had created too great a craving to be denied. The man soon realized that by his own folly he had ruined the girl and that marriage with her was impossible. He finally broke the engagement. Julia brought suit for breach of promise of marriage. The court declared that in ordinary cases of drunkenness of an engaged woman the defendant might plead that fact as mitigation of damages, but in the case in hand the girl was entitled to heavy damages. By the defendant's own thoughtless conduct he had brought disgrace and shame upon her with no likelihood that she would ever conquer the habit, which in a woman is so much more dangerous than in the case of a man. A SITUATION that sometimes arises to frustrate the marriage of an engaged couple is that one or the other becomes an invalid. The question of a man's duty to his fiancee if she becomes stricken with ill health to the extent that she is unable to marry at the time appointed, with no reasonable prospect of recovery, is a very baffling one. If a man truly loves a woman her invalidism should appeal to the noblest instincts of his nature. There are many cases on record where men have sacrificed happiness and the prospect of parenthood all because the girl of their choice has been stricken with an incurable malady. We all know of such instances of heroic devotion. If a man is married to a woman who falls victim to some wasting disease he is doing no more than his bounden duty. But for a man to marry his invalid, as did the great poet Robert Browning, is an example worthy of all admiration. The law, as I have previously pointed out, takes a very unromantic view of the problems of human mating. A sound body is considered one of the prime requisites of wife or husband. We may therefore expect, so far as the law is concerned, that if either of the parties become physically incapacitated for the duties and obligations of matrimony, and the condition is apparently of a permanent nature, this fact will entitle the other to repudiate the engagement. The Girl Fell III FOR example: In October, 19Q4, Ida M. Travis became engaged to marry Andrew Schnebly. She was then in good health. In February, 1905, however, she became very irritable and worn as though some serious malady were laying hold upon her. The local physician was quite baffled by her trouble but expressed the opinion that something ' was decidedly wrong with her kidneys. In order to secure the best of surgical treatment Miss Travis went to the City of Spokane and entered the hospital for observation and a careful diagnosis. The surgeons decided that she had what is known as a floating kidney. She was operated upon for this ailment, but came through the operation very badly. It was not until September, 1905, that she