Divorce Decree Overturned in Fraud Allegation
A Colfax couple's marriage dissolution is reopened after the wife claims her husband lied about her whereabouts to secure a default divorce.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The troubles of the Cabbage family are again in court. Last May E. V. Cabbage was granted a divorce from Eva Cabbage by default, the defendant not appearing. Cabbage swore that the whereabouts of his wife were not known to him, and summons was served by publication. Mrs. Cabbage has had the case reopened, alleging fraud, and swears that at the time her husband swore he did not know her whereabouts, she was living in Seattle and her husband well knew it and visited her there. On this showing, Judge Chadwick set aside the former divorce and set the case for trial next Friday. The case promises to be hotly contested and interesting.
“Mrs. Cabbage has had the case reopened, alleging fraud, and swears that at the time her husband swore he did not know her whereabouts she was living in Seattle and her husband well knew it.”
Divorce and process-serving fraud cases remain a staple of family law. Even in 1903, the ability to 'serve by publication' could be weaponized to strip a spouse of their day in court, a tactic still recognizable in modern civil litigation.
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