| Henry M. Flagler Divorced |
| Takes Advantage of Florida Law, Said to Have Been Passed for Him, to Cast off Insane Wife. Miami, Fla, Aug 14 --Henry M. Flagler, the multi-millionaire, has secured a divorce under the new statute which provides that insanity of four years' standing is sufficient ground for a decree. The case was heard in Chambers by Judge Minor S. Jones of the Circuit Court. Ex-Gov Fleming, Mrs. Flagler's guardian ad litem, represented the defendant, but there practically was no defense. The divorce of Henry M. Flagler from his insanc wife is believed by many persons both here and in Florida to be a step preliminary to the marriage of Mr. Flagler to a young society woman of Florida. When the statue under which the divorce was granted was as a bill, introduced in the Florida Legislature, it was charged that it was drawn solely in the interest of Henry M. Flagler, so as to permit him to cast off the insane wife and wed a younger woman. Mrs. Flagler, who was Ida A. Shourds, the daughter of a Philadelphia clergyman was married in 1883. At that time Flagler was not a man of extraordinary wealth. Later, when he became a factor in Standard Oil affairs and was recognized as one of the powers in the world of wealth, Mrs. Flagler began to brood over the fact that there was no child to inherit. This was ever on her mind. Nothing Mr. Flagler could do to draw her out of her melancholia was effective, and in 1897, hopelessly demented, she was committed to the sanitarium of Dr. Carlos F. MacDonald at Pleasantville. Aug 5, 1897, she was declared legally to be insane. |