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Girl Maurice Donnelly Wedded When Near DeathFights for His Estateft5;CEk-oldiirtlt;■Declares His Passing Away Before Filing of * Interlocutory Decree of Annulment Leaves Her His Legal Widow.01fltlo;IcBl! The fact that ifaurlee Donnelly, for-j xnerly of Denver, CoL. died before' the tend of the three months preceding the j filing oGthe interlocutory deree of an-! nulmeijf of his marriage to Miss Helen j Jacobson had expire!! will, present an ; Interesting problem to the courts when s Harry B. Lewis, counsel for Mrs. Don-! nelly, moves to set aside the fiaaTde-Icree which was filed automatically under the new law of New Torto State.Mrs- Donnelly will within *a few days take legal steps to apply for a share •In the estate left by Iter husband, whojhad been pronounced incompetent ty : physicians several months belfte proceedings‘were brought by his father, j Thomas Donnelly, for the annulment of | the marriage. For months she has been In patient In a sanatorium at Lincoln, |Neb., snflering from a severe - nervous j strain.j Maurice Donnelly went from Syracuse to Denver 25 years ago on account jof his health. Soon after enlacing In ! business in the Western city he met ‘Miss Helen Jacobson, an expert stenographer, and a member of a promi-jncnt Jewish family, j They worked in the came offleeg ar.d ]thelx acquaintance ripened Into Irlend-. ship and then- Into love. Jt was under-| stood hr their friends that they were] engaged, but *h*t there was no thought of an immediate marriage.In the course of time. 3tiss Jacobson gave up the faith of her fathers ard embraced that of her fiance. They attended the leading Roman Catholic | church at Denver together.\ 3n th* summer of llOfc Maurice Don-j nelly became 111 bis tlfc was1 despaired of. His pastor was sum-iir.ontd and administered the tet rites jof the church. Within -J hours tic j clergyman was called, again and askedj to perform a marriage ceremony. Miss Jacobson declared that she wished to become the wlf* of her hethrothed so that she could be near him and administer Jo his wants. Immediately aftar the wedding the bridegroom was tak*n to a horpltai. where a fcmg fight for hislife ended in a partial physical recovery.3Ir. Donnelly's brother went- to Denver and as soon as he was able to travel brought him back to Syracuse. -Later he was taken to Cortland to stay with relatives. .Early In 2219 his father. Thomas Donnelly, brought a suit In the Onondaga courts to have the marriage annulled- on the ground that the bridegroom wa*; Incompetent’ at the tinio that it took place.There were many hearings, both In Syracuse and by commissions at Denver and lp Nebraska. A. decision finally was handed 6own by Attorney Richard P. Byrne as referee In favor of the annulment- The confirmation of the report was fought by Mrs.: Donnelly's attorneys, Howard Lewis and Harry B. Lewis, but Justice Dcvendorf signed the decree.Before the three months be?***n the final and Interlocutory decree had expired, Maurice Donnelly died In Cortland. *According to a new State law an Interlocutory decree automatically becomes a final decree If no objections me made within the specified time. No appearance or filing of papers by lawyers la necessary, but the entry is mode on the record books. This wag vjhot happened In the Donnelly case./ Thomas Donnelly, father of Maurice, cook out letters of administration on the estate of his son. which Mrs. Helen Donnelly estimates at 3*5,000. The father has since died and the mother also Js dead. Thomas Donnelly ofCortland, as son. is their heir. ana administrator of tho -estate.Mrs- Helen Donnelly has Instructed Mr. Lewis to appear before County Judge and Surrogate Oeorgo TT. Cham pH n of Cortland and move to have the letters revoked on the ground that she, a# tho widow, has first right to administer. She claims that half of the ''Flats belongs to ter and that the death of her husband before the annulment decroe * automatically became final nullified the annulment, and that she is Maurice Donnelly's lawful widow.s;aiC1s:pC{wS:mtlwStoljai£JSalita;fiJ■)oIIIi *1P«al«Ttit
Newspaper Details
Syracuse Herald
Syracuse, New York, US
Sun, Oct 03, 1920
Page 9
Full Page
Clipped by
Onondaga C.
NY, USA 03 Jan 2019
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