A $20-a-Month Alimony Bill, a Vow to 'Starve Out,' and a Warrant
Frank Heath, a Seventh Avenue line conductor, was wanted on a warrant after his ex-wife said he refused to pay $20 a month and vowed to 'starve out' rather than comply.
Judge Osborn yesterday caused a warrant to be issued for the arrest of Frank Heath, a well-known conductor on the Seventh Avenue line, because he has not paid his former wife, Agnes Heath, $20 a month alimony as ordered by the court. A search was made for him, but he could not be found, and one of Mrs. Heath's lawyers said that he had 'skipped.'
Heath, in an affidavit which was before Judge Osborn and which was the basis for the issuance of the warrant, says that he intended to 'starve out' in order to avoid paying the alimony, having remarked that he would miss a meal a day before he would pay a month's alimony.
Mrs. Heath secured a divorce from Heath on the grounds of cruelty and failure to support.
“He intended to 'starve out' in order to avoid paying the alimony.”
Alimony enforcement was a public spectacle in 1899, with warrants and newspaper copy turning a private divorce into civic drama. Today's debates over child support and contempt of court still wrestle with the same question: what happens when a former spouse simply refuses to pay?
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