A Handful of Hair and a Hidden Child: Tena Albrecht's Second Divorce Suit
She says her husband tore out her hair, called her names, drank, refused to work, and spirited away their son by "trick and artifice." Now she wants him back — and $25 a month.
Tena Albrecht is tired of her husband, Cornelius Theodore Albrecht, and has applied to the superior court for a divorce, alleging ill-treatment. In her complaint she alleges that Albrecht cruelly assaulted her and tore out a handful of hair, and called her vile names, and told her she was only fit to associate with cows and cattle. Mrs. Albrecht also alleges that her husband is addicted to the excessive use of liquor, and has continued so long that he has become unbearable to live with. She says he is able-bodied, and capable of earning at least $3 per day, but has utterly refused to support her. She accuses him of securing possession of her son Theodore Albrecht, Jr., on May 1, by trick and artifice, and secreting him ever since, and asks that the custody of the child be given her. She also asks for $25 per month alimony, $50 for attorney's fees and her maiden name, Tena Erickson. This is Mrs. Albrecht's second action for divorce, a suit early in the year never having come to trial.
“She accuses him of securing possession of her son Theodore Albrecht, Jr., on May 1, by trick and artifice, and secreting him ever since.”
A century before no-fault divorce, a woman had to prove cruelty, drunkenness and desertion in open court to leave a bad marriage — and even then had to plead for custody of her own child. Tena Albrecht's suit reads like a modern domestic-abuse filing, but the legal deck was stacked against her in ways today's family courts have only partly corrected.
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