Opinion
06-23-1887
OSBORN v. OSBORN.
H. H. Wainwright, for complainant. W. F. Abbott, for defendant.
Bill for divorce. On rehearing. See 9 Atl. Rep. 698. There was a decree, April 15, 1887, in favor of the plaintiff, the husband, on the ground of the adultery of the wife, which decree was reopened May 17, 1887, to allow the wife to give further testimony.
H. H. Wainwright, for complainant. W. F. Abbott, for defendant.
BIRD, V. C. The additional testimony submitted by Mrs. Osborn, since opening the final decree heretofore made, is not sufficiently satisfactory to overcome the strong conviction I had of her guilt. I opened the cause, that she might supply what the counsel said was an omission on his part,—her denial of any sexual intercourse with Stratton. Her denial was very emphatic, and made with an air of sincerity. I was not a little impressed with her manner. It certainly lent considerable force to her denial. But I must deal with the whole case,—with all the testimony. In addition to what I said in my former conclusions, I feel obliged to say that there is no satisfactory explanation of the visit of Mrs. Osborn to the home of Stratton, in Trenton, when what immediately preceded and followed is also taken into the account. Nor doesanything appear to show why the parties (Mrs. Osborn and Stratton) took so much pains or labor to be together during the year he taught school at Englewood, Bergen county, unless it be that they were more intimate than friends. For at least nine months of that year he went from Englewood to New York, a distance of 15 miles, and thence to Forty-ninth street, in order to board with Mrs. Osborn, leaving his own family—a wife and two children—alone in Trenton. It is unnatural, unreasonable, and highly improbable that he should go to this trouble and expense for the gratification of a friendly sentiment only. I can only believe that he would so utterly abandon his wife and home, and undergo this labor and expense, in the face of the many suspicious circumstances which had already been developed, because of illicit intimacy between him and Mrs. Osborn. These observations are strengthened by the proofs concerning Stratton's short stay in Newark, and speedy return to Mrs. Osborn.
The complainant is entitled to the relief prayed for. I will so advise.