A Judge’s Weary View on the Divorce Boom
Tacoma’s divorce courts see a steady stream of domestic disputes, leading one judge to question the rising frequency of these legal filings.
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In Judge Huston's court this morning, the divorce case of Mary Barnstern against John Barnstern was called, with the wife citing her husband's alleged habitual drunkenness. During the hearing, Mrs. Barnstern struggled to testify and required a recess. The court record revealed that this was not her first appearance in Pierce County divorce court, as she had previously divorced and remarried multiple times. The evidence presented indicated John Barnstern was a reliable woodchopper who occasionally drank, leading the judge to remark that a man drinking a bottle at home did not constitute habitual drunkenness. Judge Huston expressed clear frustration, noting he was tired of hearing five or six family squabbles a week and suggesting that such differences should be settled at home. The divorce was not granted.
“The court further remarked that he was growing tired of listening to family squabbles at the rate of five or six a week, and thought that people ought to settle their differences at home.”
The judge's exasperation with the volume of domestic legal cases highlights the shifting social contract regarding marriage and public intervention in private lives at the turn of the century.
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