A Judicial Attempt at Reconciliation
In a divorce proceeding, a local judge steps outside the bounds of the bench to urge a feuding couple to try again.
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.
Judge Clifford yesterday afternoon assumed the role of the matchmaker when the trial of Smith versus Smith came near its close, and sent the young couple out of the court room, promising to begin things over again and try to make each other happy. The trial lasted the greater part of the day, Robert P. Smith firmly stating that he could not possibly live with his wife longer, and Mrs. Daisy H. pleading that the Judge should give them another chance.
“Mrs. Daisy H. pleading that the Judge should give them another chance.”
This informal judicial intervention reflects a different era of family law where courts often acted as moral mediators rather than purely legal arbiters. Today’s divorce proceedings are far more formalized, though the struggle to manage the personal and emotional fallout of marital breakdown remains a constant civic drama.
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