Buttion v. Buttion

Collins, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. This is an appeal by Henry Buttion from a decree dismissing his bill of complaint and ordering him to ³⁰⁷ pay a counsel fee of $50.00 to the solicitor for his wife. The bill of complaint prayed a divorce a vinculo matrimonii from his wife, Marie Buttion, on the grounds of desertion for more than 18 months. His wife, the appellee, filed an answer denying the material allegations of the bill.

Testimony in the cause was taken before the chancellor. The parties were married October 18, 1930, and lived with the wife’s father and mother in Baltimore City after their marriage. The appellant testified that in 1938 he paid $5 as a deposit on the rent of an apartment on Eastern Avenue in Baltimore and purchased furniture and asked his wife to leave her father and mother in order that the parties to this cause could live alone. He says that this furniture was supposed to be sent to this apartment but when he came home from work, his wife told him she had moved the furniture in with her mother and father and she wanted to stay there.

He testified that his wife refused to move to this place and he lost his rent deposit. He further said that in 1940 he rented another apartment in Canton and asked his wife to move there. She told him that she did not want to leave her parents. He says he continued from that time on to try to get her to leave and set up a separate home but she always refused to do so.

He testified that, in the early part of 1944, a Mrs. M. Alice Cañóles had two empty houses and he was going to rent one of them but his wife would not agree to this unless she could take her father and mother along. He said that in May, 1944, he asked her three or four times to move but she still insisted she wanted to stay with her parents. He then took some of his clothes and left but would go back every week and give his wife $10, and on these occasions he would ask her if she was ready to move and she would always say “no.” He says in May of 1944 he secured another place to live, and he and his wife have not lived together as man and wife since that time, because she would not leave her mother and father. He testified at the time of the trial that he had been ³⁰⁸ away from his wife too long and did not think he would ever be satisfied to live with her again.

The sister of the appellant, Mrs. Theresa Foltz, testified that she was very friendly with the appellee in this case, and the appellee admitted to her that her husband had rented several apartments and purchased furniture for her but that she would not move unless her father and mother went with her. On cross examination she admitted that the appellee always said she loved her husband but that she would never leave her parents. The appellee testified that in 1938 appellant told her he had rented an apartment and she asked him to let her see the rent receipt. She was willing to go down and look at the apartment but he never showed it to her nor did she ever see the rent receipt.

She said that the only furniture which was purchased at that time was bedroom furniture which he ordered to be sent to her mother’s home and he did not at that time ask her to leave. She admitted that on several occasions he asked her to leave and had he secured an apartment she would have been willing to go with him, but that he never took her to see any apartments and did not give her the street or number of any apartment he had rented. She testified that had her husband prepared a place for her she would have gone with him. She denied that she told.

Mrs. Foltz that she would not leave her mother and father. She testified that after her husband left in 1944, when he came in to get his clothes, which he would take away little by little each week, she asked him why he was taking them out. He said that he was never coming back to see her any more. She asked him to return and never after that did he ask her to go with him.

The last money he brought her was on April 12, 1944, when he told her that he was not going to give her any more money. She said that she still loved her husband and while he was away from her in 1944 she bought him a diamond ring;, and she has been willing to go with him had be provided a place for her. She denied that he ever told her about renting two houses ³⁰⁹ from Mrs. Cañóles. She admitted that one time she told him that she wanted to stay with her father and mother but that she was willing to go to a separate apartment if he would provide one.

Mrs. M. Alice Cañóles testified that the appellant had worked for her for 13 years and the only time he missed was when he was drinking. She said she had known the parties in this cause during their married life and Marie Buttion was a good wife to her husband. She testified that once in 1941 the appellant told her he would like to rent a house from her and she said she told him he could have it after it was remodeled. She said that when the remodeling was finished and it became time to rent the house the appellant decided he was going