Winslow v. Winslow

JOHNSON, J.,

pro tem.

— This is an appeal by defendant from an interlocutory decree of divorce granted to plaintiff on the ground of wilful neglect.

The parties were married in Chicago in 1887, and for some years prior to 1916 they had been making their home in Milwaukee, though Mrs. Winslow had been in the habit of spending the winters near Los Angeles, where she had sisters and could be near a daughter attending Pomona College. In September, 1916, with the consent of defendant, who provided the traveling expenses for his wife and daughter, they journeyed to California; and neither Mr. nor Mrs. Winslow regarded their separation at the time as permanent, though a letter written in August, 1916, by defendant to inquire about a house for his wife in Pasadena indicated that defendant expected the wife to be with the daughter in California for the next four years. At the time of Mrs. Winslow’s departure in September, 1916, the defendant was employed by an insurance company and earned $200 a month. That employment ceased not long after the wife left Milwaukee, and for about a year defendant found employment only at irregular intervals and his earnings were small. In November, 1918, however, he obtained regular employment as a salesman with the Aladdin Products Company, afterward merged into the Channel Chemical Company, with which his employment continued to the time of the trial. In 1919 his average earnings were $400 a month, and they increased in 1920 and again in 1921. It was stipulated that from 1918' defendant was in receipt of sufficient income to provide properly for his wife, but that he did not make contributions sufficient for her necessities. Certain checks which he sent were dishonored for lack of sufficient funds in bank ; and as neither party kept an accurate account of remittances, they do not agree as to the totals. But even if credit be

[517]

given defendant for all that he claims to have supplied, the total from 1916 to 1920 did not exceed about $900. Plaintiff testified that in the year 1919 she received from defendant only about $20, and that no money was received by her in 1920 except the sum of $40 in July; and that between that time and the commencement of the action, on December 16, 1921, she received nothing at all. Plaintiff had help from her sister, who provided her with a home in which were a few additional apartments, the rents from which were applied to plaintiff’s use.