So the Giddy Society Bride Did HerFiveYearsPenance,And
—In Spite of the Judge's Harsh
Rebuke, She Bounced Right Back
Into Court to Renew the
Fight for
i
Her
Divorce
At L.cft: Circuit
Jude* Chari** L.
Aaron*, of
Milwaukee. Ha
Faaora Fla# Year*’
r*nnaac* for Tho**
Waarjr of tha
Marriag* Ti*.
SURVIVALS OF A MARITAL WRECK
Mr*. Alice Moody with Her Two Lovely Children, Margaret, When She Was
Four Y ear. Old, and Betty, at the Age of Seven. Thi. Photo Wa» Taken Two
Year* Ago While the Mother Waa Serving Her "Penance.”
BACK in 1925 Alice and Frederick
Moody, prominent in Milwau
kee’s .younger social set, were
sent out of a courtroom to do five
years’ “penance’’ after one^of the-most
unusual divorce battles in the city's
history.
It was a case whose record was sat-.
Prated with charges and counter
charges of misconduct, of gin parties,
midnight bathing sorties and other
hilariously unconventional frolics. But
Instead of granting a divorce to Alice,
Circuit Judge Charles L. Aarons direc
ted at the couple this judicial blast:
“Let those who have shown thcm
telves to be utterly incompetent to ap
preciate the sancity of the marriage re
lation go through five years of pen
ance. Perhaps in the fulness of time
they may come to the realization that
to assume the great responsibility of
husband and wife the highest qualifi
cations of character are essential.’’
Just the other day Alice Moody came
back into the court after her five years
of penance. But it was not to acknow
ledge the wisdom of the judge’s de
cision. It was to seek exactly what she
had been denied five years before—
divorce!
This time there seemed every likeli
hood that she would get it, too. For
since she and her husband had been
living apart for a long time, the statute
covering voluntary separation as
grounds for divorce was expected to
bring her victory.,
Yet there were many, who recalled
the startling climax of that divorce
trial in 1925, who believed that Alice
Moody would be chastened in spirit
and that she and her husband would
become reconciled. On the other hand,
the story of their romance and their
adventure into marriage provided
many doubts. That story, as unfolded
in the divorce court, was briefly as
follows:
Alice, the niece of one of Mil
waukee’s industrial leaders, and Fred
erick Moody, also a member of a prom
inent family, traveled in what they ad
mitted was an extremely gay set.
Moody, only 20, was a freshman at
the University of Wisconsin, where he
was preparing for a career as an en
gineer. Alice was rounding out a
course in kindergarten teaching at the
same university.
WHAT THIS JUDGE SAfl) ABOUT DIVORCE
IN denying a divorce to Mrs. Alice Moody five jeers ago, Circuit
Judge Charles L. Aarons, of Milwaukee, made this remarkable
statement:
£j Let those who have shown themselves to be utterly incompetent
to appreciate the sanctity of the marriage relation go through five years
ot penitence. Perhaps in the fulness of time they may cdtne to the
realization that to assume the great responsibility of husband and wife
the highest qualifications of character are "essential.
"Each party in this divorce suit entertained the idea that the
remedy lay in the divorce court, which they thought would promptly
sever the weary conventional tie and send them on their way rejoicing,
to make new experiments in the matrimonial field. Both seemed
imbued with the thought that gratification of their physical senses was
the dominant purpose of their existence.
"The recital of their recent years disclosed so much to condemn
and so little to approve that I prefer to draw the mantle of silence over
the unsavory details. Both have ample grounds tor divorce, but a party
asking for divorce must come into court with clean hands.
"Where both have committed a matrimonial offense, so that the
conduct of each, dissociated from the other, warrants a divorce in favor
of the other, this court will grant the prayer ot neither.
"Parties to divorce actions should not labor under the delusion .hat
when they have shown themselves to be utterly incompetent to appreci
ate the sanctity of the marriage relation that the court will assist them
to form new alliances which may be equally disastrous. To permit
those who have shown themselves to be total failures as husbands
- and wives to marry again would be a serious detriment to the welfare
of society.
They fell in love with each other
after a fraternity party. The court
ship was a whirlwind in its brevity. On
a certain moonlight night in June,
1919, Fred and Alice hastily decided to
desert the halls of learning and elope.
They were married that night in Wau
kegan, 111.
For four years they lived together.
So far as their friends knew they were
happy. Some even said they appeared
to be “too happy.” They lived with
Alice’s grandmother in luxurious
quarters. These were frequently con
verted into a gathering place for their
boy and girl friends—with drinks flow
ing freely.
Two beautiful children were born,
Hetty, who is now nine years old, and
Margaret, now seven. But in spite of
the responsibilities of parenthood the
§ay young Moodys continued with
leir parties.
At last came the collapse. It was
after a roadhouse party. According to
his trial testimony Fred hiddiimself in
Why Frustrated Children Slash and Beat Themselves
HER IMAGINATION HURT
Pretty 18-Yaar-Old Viol* Nelson Holt
Confessed She Slashed and Bound
Herself to Convince Her Family That
thugs Had Attacker Her. But All She
Got For Her Pains Was a Spanking.
PSYCHOLOGISTS who delve into
the baffling depths of the adoles
cent mind are busy these days
trying to analyze the strange case of
16-year-old Clifford Campbell.
He was quickly convicted of second
degree murder in Vancouver, Wash.,
recently after confessing that he had
blown up the farmhouse 'where he
i worked and caused the death of his
I benefactors, Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin
j A. Northrup. The reason, he said, was
1 that he thought if his benefactors were
l injured they, would be dependent upon
him, instead of him being dependent
on them!
\ This is only one of a number of
similar cases where young boys and
j girls, on the borderline between child
J hood and maturity, have expressed
1 themselves in unexpectedly violent
\ ways—although they were otherwise
i normal. What is particularly of in
terest to the psychologists and psy
chiatrists is that in most of these cases
their deeds are due to a ju
ra venile sense of frustration.
Young Campbell, while at
tending school, was also a chore
boy on the Northrup farm.
They were fond of him and he
loved them. He did not want
to leave them. On two oc
casions he overheard them dis
cussing hint. They* decided that
when school was over they
would have to let him go. But
the strange fancy that by
slightly injuring the Northrups
he might-make them depend
SHE WANTED SYMPATHY
But Instead Virginia Malloy, 15, Got
Only Suspicion When She Claimed She
Had Been Beaten and Bound in a
Los Angeles Park, Where She Was
Discovered. This Photo Was Taken
After She Finally Broke Down and
Admitted She Had Tortured Herself.
ent upon him took hold oP the
boy’s mind. It became an obsession.
He was quite aware that1 in the
Northrup woodshed, adjoining the farm
house, there was stored some dynamite,
used for clearing stumps off the farm
so that the soil coaid be tilled. One
night, just before the midnight hour,
the nearby countryside was rocked by
a terrific explosion. It shattered the
farmhouse into a thousand pieces and
tore the bodies of its sleeping elderly
couple into fragments. The only mem
ber of the household who escaped was'
young Campbell.
At first authorities believed his story
that be had been out driving home
strayed cows when the accident oc
curred. But later they suspected him.
He was arrested and confessed. The
judge who presided at his trial sen:
tenced Clifford to twenty years in
prison.
Another strange case of frustration
was that of Viola Nelson Holt, pretty
eighteen-year-old brunette choir singer.
She wanted to escape the dullness of
the farm where she lived in northwest
ern Minnesota. Her ambition was
to go to the city.
So to convince her family that she
was in danger while living on the
• farm, she slashed her face and body
I with a penknife and then threw her
DIDN’T WANT TO LEAVE
Clifford Campbell, 16, Whoa* DUtortad
Sane# Caused Him to Blow Up a Farm
house, Killing His Benefactors.
self into a ditch. Two men passing by
found her and the story she told was
of having been seized by men who de
manded $30,000 on pain of death.
All that Viola got for her trouble—
and imagination—was a good spanking.
Still a third case that recently in
terested psychologists was fifteen-year
old Virginia Malloy. Friends found
her in a deserted comer of a Los
Angeles park, her legs bound together
with wire and her hands tied behind
her back with apron strings. Her body
was severely lacerated.
After long questioning she broke
down and confessed it was a hoax. She
had tortured “herself just to appear
heroic and to gain sympathy!
Such cases as these are what make
students of the mind prematurelygray!
the sun parlor of their home
and discovered his wife in
the embrace of another man—
an old friend. Hut Alice had many
counter-charges and these were all
aired when she went into court seek
ing her divorce. *
It was during the trial that the
story of their "fast living*’ came out.
Alice charged ‘‘Fritz*’ with squander
ing money on drink, with telling her
he no longer loved her and she said
that he himself had made the “date"
for her with the man who was found
with her in the sun parlor. She termed
him a “shiftless wastrel,’’ who had
goaded her into drinking hy calling
her a "bum sport.”
He countered by assailing her con
duct, her associations with other men,
her alleged drinking proclivities. He
capped it all by introducing photo
graphs purporting to show Alice be
ing kissed by a Minneapolis physician
while on a house party at exclusive
Lake Minnetonka.
Both fought bitterly because the
custody of the two children was at
stake. The torrid nature of the testi
mony dtid the prominence of the prin
cipals drew packed houses to the trial.
Judge Aarons himself, in commenting
on it, said it seemed to indicate that
a bottle of gin was the Moody family’s
emblem.
At the end of the lengthy proceed
ings, the Judge gave his decision: "Di
vorce denied to both parties!”
But with that decision went a
preachment on hasty marriages that
rebuked both parties for their lack of
moral fibre” and imposed a five-year
"penance” on each of them. That is
to say he specified that they should
reconsider and forbade them to come
into court again seeking divorce until
after the five years had passed.
. Judge Aarons described their mar
nage as a matrimonial spree-, out
of which came two innocent babes, the
THE JUDGE SAID "NO"
A Striking Photographic Study •(
Pretty Mrs. Alice Moody. Denied •
Divorce Five Years Ago, She Is No*
Renewing Her Fight for Freedom.
This Time It Is Expected the Judge
Will Say "Yes.”
products of ill-considered union,” Both
Alice and Fred, he pointed out, enter
tained the idea that the remedy lay in
the divorce court—which they thought
would promptly sever the weary con
ventional lie "and send them on their
way rejoicing."
One of the Judge's most significant
statements in the verdict was this:
"Parties to divorce actions should not
labor under the delusion that when they
have shown themselves to be utterly
incompetent to appreciate the sanctity
of the marriage relation that the court
will assist them to form new alliances
which may be equally disastrous. To
permit those who have shown them
selves to be total failures as husbands
and wives to marry again would be a
serious detriment to the welfare of
society.”
Custody of the two children was
awarded to the young mother. But it
was with the warning that the judge
would not hesitate to change the
custody if her conduct warranted it.
Alice was placed under a $2,000 bond
to keep the children within the State
of Wisconsin.
The case wag practically forgotten
untd just the other day. Then Alice
Moody started her divorce proceedings
mol"e- She has not been living
with her husband and he, it is said, will
n°t contest the proceedings.
Th* .?**rs °f Penance and the re
sponsibilities of motherhood have had
a chastening effect on Alice. She is
twenty-nine years old now,' and quiet
and she devotes all her time to her
children So far as she is concerned
that matrimonial spree” the judge re
ferred to is over for ever J * re
“Sinus Trouble,”
What It Is and How
_It Is Treated
By hhllBLnl JL. HfcHSCHE>SOH>
(Physician and Surgeon)
THE sinuses are cavities in the
skull situated above the eyes, be
tween them and below them.
These cavities all communicate with
the nasal passages and are likewise
lined with delicate mucous tissue: The
sinuses are like little rooms whicli
open into one long hall, the nasal
passage.
Sinuses do not become bothersome
until a "cold” is caught When a
"cold” develops, the nose becomes in
fected with bacteria and the walls be
come swollen as a result of the inflam
mation set up. Very frequently the
infection travels into one of the rooms
or sinuses and causes a similar dis
turbance. When the walls of the
sinuses become swollen they encroach
upon the opening so that the "door”
tiA that particular room becomes par
tially or completely shut. This means
that the bacteria can now do greater
harm than ever because not only is the
room warm and moist which aids in the
multiplication of these germs, but natu
ral ventilation has stopped.
Nature hastens to the rescue. A
fluid forms within the sinus in increas
ing quantities. This pressure n»ay be
Coiptifbt.
1st »m at loan JTeaturt tt*nict. lac., GiMt BtlUla Hlgcu lmncfl
This Drawing Sn.i»» ihc Location ol she
Large Sinu*o« (the shaded Portions
Marked X) Within the Skull.
to flow out^nfoThenwil pLiSeCtMd
Sb'.ho0;.'/,'r,s«“
flufd «H d fal1, the presence of the
nmd and pus exerts painful nressur*
enced^nofiiM68 *ile discomfort experi
headd’aeh^«/ *lther * Persi*tent fore
nead ache or a sense of fullness and
pain on one side of the face Ec the
state i? eVehef '? sought in this
her-nm«f dl?e*se« the condition may
become chronic and last for many
months or years. It would then be
come necessary in order to give any
degree of relief to resort to surgical
measures, the purpose of which would
^i° !n arge the openings or to install
new doors, so to speak, in the af
ected sinus. Naturally, the final re
sult cannot approach the perfection of
perff.ct. he“Hh. Too much
of the delicate lining has already been
destroyed by disease and the function
of the sinus lost to some extent. How
ever, unless the sinus is opened either
by medical or surgical means, the con
dition not only remains troubelsome
but complications can arise. Such com
plications are brain abscesses, mas
toiditis, rheumatism, and leakage of
the heart.