The bulletin. (Irwinton, Wilkinson County, Ga.) 191?-19??, November 21, 1913, Image 8

The bulletin., November 21, 1913, Image 8

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Newspaper Page TextNOBLE COUNT IO HAVE CHECK OHJING SUIT American Father-in-Law Seems to Be Up Against a Hard Business Proposition. COSTS MONEY TO HAVE DAUGHTER MARRY TITLE Form of the Ante-Nuptial Settlement, Never Before Made Public, Discov ered in the Case of Count Gulinelli, Who Married Miss Schweizer Os New York—Their Life Is Happy, but Papa Schweizer Has Stopped Paying the Annual Allowance and the Nobleman Threatens to Make Trouble. x NEW YORK.—AII the Schweizers were delighted. Father beamed on everybody; mother went about her daily round o£ shopping and calls with ill-concealed satisfaction. And brother Albert shook hands with himself morning, noon and night. And, of a verity, why not? Wasn’t sister Blanche making the match of the season? To be sure! Here was Signor Conte Oberto Gia como Giovanni Francesco Maria Gu linelli, scion of an ancient Italian fam ily of noble lineage, in love with Miss Schweizer and respectfully asking her hand in marriage of her doting papa. No moth-eaten title his; no encum bered estate! No, indeed; the count had money of his own and a premier position in Italian financial and indus trial circles. He had quite as much to offer as to ask; tbe alliance about to be aranged was advantageous from ev ery American viewpoint, as papa Schweizer well could see. Denial of Romance. Romance? Well, hardly. The mat ter was far too important to allow one's heart to run away with one's head. No, indeed! Why, even the fetching bride-to-be owned up to that. “There is nothing romantic about our marriage,’’ declared Miss Schwei zer, perfectly frankly, and smiling archly as she said it. “It is prosaic. Indeed. I met the count, we became engaged and we will be married — that’s all!” There’s frankness for you. But it may be that Miss Schweizer was more romantic than she thought. Things weren’t quite so commonplace as she tried to make them out, because some people really did see her fall into the handsome count’s arnjs when he step ped off the steamer from Italy, to marry her here in 1902, soon after the death of his father and his suc cession to the title and the estates. But today—no, you’re wrong, this particular international marriage did not turn out unhappily, as you well might have inferred from the matter of-fact announcement of the smart and altogether level-headed bride of a de cade ago —smart and level-headed yet. No, indeed; the count proved himself to be a model of husbands and they are very, very happy in their villa near Bassano, Italy, where three beautiful little children have been born to them as pledges of their affection. But not so fast. Before the marriage, which took place on January 20, 1902, there were certain little formalities which had to be attended to by Joseph Schweizer, the father-in-law-to-be of an Italian count, and Mrs. Ernestine Teresa Schweizer, his wife. Old World Custom. Catch an American papa signing away half his estate for the benefit of a Yankee son-in-law? Not in a thou sand years! But this was quite differ ent, you see. Now, abroad, you know, they have a different way of arrang ing marriages, and Americans, you un derstand, must humor the old world people just a little bit. And what dif ference does a marriage settlement make, anyway, when you love your daughter; and didn’t the Vanderbilts do the same when Miss Consuelo be came the Duchess of Marlborough, and the Goulds when Miss Anna became the Countess de Castellane, and didn’t hundreds of others? A fig for our nar row-minded American customs about meum and teum and all that sort of thing! Well, the upshot of it was the regu lation visit of Papa and Mamma Schweizer to a lawyer’s office in New York just as they would have gone to a notary’s abroad to sign the agree ment for the dot. Mr. Schweizer real ized that It was merely a matter of form to suit the conventions of the Continent, and he gladly affixed his signature to the marriage settlement, as did his wife and his smiling son-in law-to-be, the Count Gulinelli. Precious Document Signed. “There It is in black and white," said Mr. Schweizer rather proudly, as he gazed at the precious document .■which cemented the matrimonial alli ance between his handsome daughter and the foreign nobleman. And Mrs. iSchweizer gave a little gasp of joy as she realized that she was now almost a mother-in-law of a nobleman, as indeed she really was just four days later. No. 10 West Seventieth street, the Schweizer home in New York, was decorated for the event, which was a A The Partners of the Marriage Settlement, Count Gulinelli and His Ameri can Wife, nee Schweizer. double wedding to suit the foreign idea —a civil ceremony by Justice Tru ax of the supreme court and a religi ous ceremony at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament, the Rev. Father Matthew A. Taylor officiating. Only the family and intimate friends were present because of the recent death of the bridegroom’s father, but just the same it was a jolly and very happy wedding party before the young cou ple set off to tour the west prior to their settling down in Europe. And the visit to the lawyer and the document which the trio most concern cerned had signed? Oh, just an agree ment by which Mr. Schweizer bound himself for life to pay'over an annual marriage portion—in this case $2,500 a year on each and every January 20. Quite a nice little reminder every year of the wedding day! Just the Ordinary Thing. And, furthermore, the proud papa of a real countess also bound himself to leave half his fortune to his daughter; or in event of her death, to her chil dren and the count’s. To seal the bar gain Mrs. Schweizer gave pledge that she, too, would adhere to the promises of her husband in case of his death before ’hers. “Nothing out of the ordinary,” ex plained the lawyers. Merely the commonplace marriage settlements customary abroad and quite the proper thing, even if the bride was an American ,girl. Every body happy and quite satisfied and — “What a stunning bride she makes,” and “How handsome the Signor Conte is," and “Do you know, his lineage goes quite as far back as the Cru sades!” So they sailfed away, with proud pa pa waving a fond farewell on the dock, and mamma weeping happy tears, while brother Albert took care of the fruit and the flowers that went into the cabins of the count and his count ess. There was no remonstrating on the part of this wife —the bride of other days, wistful and unhappy because her husband had forgotten their wedding day. He couldn’t possibly forget it. Just as regularly as the new calendar reached January 20, he was forcibly but happily reminded of it by a nice looking check for some twenty five hundred good Yankee dollars, all garn ered in thrifty Ansonia, Conn., where the clocks come from. Mr. Schwei zer, you see, is treasurer of the com pany that makes them, and holds a big portion of the company’s shares, besides —in fact, he is credited with a million or more for his fortune. Money Regularly Paid. Mr. Schweizer was living up to the letter of the agreement. * What if the Signor Conte didn’t need the money? What if he had prospered himself quite nicely, thank you, and hade fair to dou ble what he had inherited? Getting right down to business, $2,500 is $2,- 500 anywhere, and always comes in handy. Besides, the children were getting older and needed more and the Contessa had expensive social obliga tions —but why argue the matter, wasn’t it down in the marriage settle ment in black and white? Ten years flew by and, with the reg ularity of his own clocks, came Mr. Schweizer’s annual $2,500— regularly until a year ago when, of a sudden, payments ceased. There had been trouble in New York and Mrs. Schwei zer was living in Paris now. And the countess had put a stoppage to her annual visits to her father on this side of the Atlantic. What, no check on January 20! The Signor Conte wanted to know? No, not even the scratch of a pen! Oh, THE BULLETIN. IRWINTON, GEORGIA. very well, then to the advocate’s. And Papa Schweizer found himself defend ant in a suit for the amount due, $2,500 in all, up to January 20 last. He hur ried around to his lawyer and demand ed what to do. With him he brought the papers—yes, there was the sum mons and complaint and in plain Eng lish they referred to the marriage set tlement of ten years and more ago and the promise that he wouldn’t break his will. To Sue Papa-in-Law. Papa Schweizer found, too, that the count and his American wife had as signed their joint claim, to Attilio de Chico, who was suing in the Supreme Court of New York, and that the agree ment entered into by the trio of inter ested parties four days before the wed ding was to be “Exhibit A.” Mr. Schweizer promptly denied ev erything in his answer except that his daughter was married to the count. He offered to leave her $25,000 and pay her half of $2,500, or 6,250 francs a year, if they would drop the suit, send ing around another agreement to that effect. “Not for a moment will I consider that,” declared Michael Schneider mann, the Gulinellis’ counsel, of No. 44 Pine street, New York, when he re ceived the new agreement for his cli ents to sign. “We are suing to test the validity of the marriage settle ment, which holds under the New York law, no matter what happens. The marriage itself is sufficient considera tion to make it binding. If this one is not, then all ante-nuptial contracts are void. It is the same sort of an agree ment which all rich men make when their. daughters marry foreigners. And the father cannot now abrogate it by will or in any other way. If it is valid, then he cannot relieve him self of its obligations, and that is what we are suing to find out. “We expect Mr. Schweizer to try to test the legality of the agreement, of course. He pleads that it is now an unnecessary drain upon him, especial ly as his son-in-law is prosperous, but that is no concern of ours. He can not, set aside so lightly as this a for mal ante-nuptial contract, regarded in law as among the most binding of doc uments. Say He Must Settle. “Death itself cannot abrogate such a contract, as many decisions already hold. The count married Miss Schwei zer as he agreed to and now Mr. Schweizer must live up to the end of his bargain, just as he agreed to. “We will win and then Mr. Schwei zer cannot change his will. His daugh ter must get her share of her father’s estate, which is what we want. The count feels that his being well-to-do is no reason why the payments be dis continued or his father-in-law's will be altered to his wife’s disadvantage. The case is on the calendar for trial and the Count and Countess Gulinelli will be here to give their testimony. “And then Mr. Schweizer will find out that he can't make a marriage set tlement and then forget about it when he gets disgruntled. They don’t do things that way abroad, and folks won’t be allowed to do it here.” And so —unless Papa Schweizer re lents —we shall soon see whether or not Yankee fathers must live up to marriage settlements just as foreign fathers have done. —New York Sunday World Magazine. Youthful Winner of High Honor. The youngest winner of the Victoria cross was Drummer Magner, of the Thirty-third Foot, at the assault on Magdala. He was then fourteen years old. Health Certificates First-- ✓ Before Marriage Certificates The question of eugenics is a vital one. Has it ever occurred to you that a life insurance policy is the very best kind of a health certificate? And--it is also a bond that wife and children may riot suffer the humiliation and bitterness of dependence upon rel atives or becoming a public charge af ter the death of the husband and father. His death is certain—only the time is uncertain. It would be a mighty good thing to have a law requiring every person ap plying for a marriage certificate to have a life insurance policy in a standard company. In life insurance you want absolute security at a minimum of net cost. THE PENN MUTUAL LIFE has been serving its policy holders faithful ly and economically for .66 years. It has more insurance in force in Georgia than any other company. PENN MUTUAL LIFE premium rates, less dividends, are lower or guar anteed values higher than those, of any other, standard or any sub-standard company. THE PENN MUTUAL LIFE writes a form of policy to meet every need and to fit every purse. Tell us your ‘ need. We won’t importune you. • Bagley, Willet & Paine General Agents Georgia Life Building Macon, Ga. We help our agents. Members Chamber of Commerce. J. J. RAGAN, Agt \ IRWINTON, GA.