Reno - a Book of Short Stories and Information Part 15

"Nevada divorces, exactly like the divorces granted in other states, are valid as follows: if the defendant be served in Nevada, in the event he appears in the cause either for contest or voluntarily, for the purpose of submitting to the jurisdiction of the court, the decree is absolute and valid the world over, freeing both parties from the moment it is granted.

"If the defendant be served outside of the state of Nevada, either personally or by publication and mailing, and should not make an appearance in the case, the case goes by default and the decree, which is held valid in most cases as a matter of comity, is seriously questioned in the states of New York, Ma.s.sachusetts and Illinois. Its validity is questioned, however, only in favor of a defendant who is a resident and citizen of the state where its validity is brought into court, that is, a resident of Illinois obtaining a divorce in Nevada by default against a defendant who resides in Illinois, will find that his decree of divorce is valid beyond a question in New York and Ma.s.sachusetts and all other states except Illinois. Likewise, a resident of New York may depart from his home, take up his abode in Nevada, obtain a default decree against a spouse domiciled in New York and may marry again and live in any other state, except in the state of New York. It might be noted here, however, that many hundreds of plaintiffs have obtained default decrees under such circ.u.mstances and have married again, returned to New York state and have lived there without difficulty. Most foreign countries give validity to a Nevada decree.

"Respectfully submitted,

"H. WALTER HUSKEY."

In considering a divorce in Nevada, the traveling expenses are quite an item; therefore I have written to the Traffic Department of the Pennsylvania Railroad System, and in a letter under date of February 6th, 1921, from the Traffic Manager of that company, I am indebted for the following information:

"Regarding tickets, etc., to Reno, Nevada; round-trip tickets are not sold to Reno, but it is possible to purchase a round-trip ticket from New York to San Francisco or Los Angeles, and use it only as far as Reno. (I found that the greatest advantage of this ticket was that one could have a peep at San Francisco and Southern California without any extra cost, as one returns to the East.--Author). This ticket has no validation feature.

"The round-trip ticket bears a limit of nine months and it costs $201.06, plus tax of $16.08, to either San Francisco or Los Angeles.

The one-way fare from New York to Reno is $111.63, plus tax of $8.98."

The roads used in the trip are The Pennsylvania Railroad, Chicago and Northwestern, Union Pacific and Southern Pacific.

Below are suggestions for the best through trains quoted from 1921 time tables:

Daily Service.

Leave New York (Pennsylvania Station) 6:05 P. M., Sat.u.r.day

Arrive Chicago 3:00 P. M., Sunday

Leave Chicago (Union Pacific) 7:10 P. M. Sunday, Overland Express.

Arrive Omaha 9:00 A. M. Monday

Arrive Ogden 1:00 P. M. Tuesday

Leave Ogden (Southern Pacific) 12:30 P. M., Pacific time, Tuesday.

Arrive Reno 3:25 A. M. Wednesday

In conclusion I would desire to express the sincerest heart-felt hope that none of my readers be placed in a position where the only road to follow is: "the Great Divide." However, when there is no way out, no means of reconciliation, no tangible reason for submission to penal servitude for life, the only solution left is to face the truth; to turn one's back upon the past, and face the future!

We revere our ancestors, but the inheritance handed down to us dissolves itself into obligations to the present: our princ.i.p.al obligation to the World today is our duty to the World tomorrow! To posterity: to those to whom "from failing hands we throw the torch...."

As Virgil said: "Nati natorum et qui nascentur ab illis:" our children's children and those who will be born from them.

And in a.s.suming our duty to the World tomorrow, we must start by doing our duty to the World today: ourselves; by righting what is wrong; by blasting the trail through life's mountainous obstacles; and purifying the atmosphere around us and leading the World on to the light that beacons us from beyond.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Renoites as seen by a Reno Cartoonist]

[ Reprint from Reno Freming Gazzette ]

[ Aug. 7 1917 ]

PART 7

SONS OF THE SAGEBRUSH

To write of the "Sons of the Sagebrush" does not necessarily mean that they were born in the Sagebrush, or in the West. I was surprised to find that about seventy-five per cent, of the prominent citizens of Nevada had hailed from almost every State in the Union, from Carolina to California. The Good Book says that the wise men came from the East. From personal observation I should say that many of them settled in the West.

I am told that there are numerous cases in which mothers worry for fear their sons may be led astray by some fascinating "divorcee"; that he may be caught in her "selfish snare" and left with a smashed heart and lost youthful ideals, while the fair lady laughs and leaves; but if you will pardon a bit of slang, I should say that the Western youth is a "pretty wise guy," and that mother need not worry because he can look out for himself! However, "mother's advice" may not always have held good after a mint julep, or a stroll in the moonlight..... Hence the experience.

I do not mean that if a beautiful lady should whisper gently to one of the youthful sons of the Sagebrush: "I am afraid to go home in the dark," the gentleman would ring for a messenger boy as an escort, or call a taxi; and if she sighed for sympathy and a stroll by the Truckee, he would think that she needed a doctor, or a nerve specialist. .... The sons of the Sagebrush are not cold-hearted, nor are they lacking in courtesy of any sort, but to use a Western expression, they possess a large percentage of "horse sense!" Meaning, that they are not wearing their hearts on their sleeves these days....

One of the most interesting and una.s.suming gentlemen I met in the "big little city" was Mr. George Wingfield. I had made up my mind to that effect long before he was introduced to me because I had seen his beautiful home on the banks of the Truckee, and his beautiful bank building on the corner of Second and Virginia streets (the Reno National Bank, which I have described in Part 5), and had visited his ranch, and admired his string of thoroughbred horses and high-cla.s.s stock. I had also been told how this gentleman had made his fortune almost over night, so to speak, during the big gold boom, and I liked him for staying right there and spending the gold in the State whence it came. He did not take his riches and go away, as so many of them have done, but he helped to build a beautiful city, and there it is that he made his home.

I was rather surprised to find that Mr. Wingfield was not a native son, but hailed from Arkansas: also, I was disappointed in this gentleman's appearance, having been told that he was a resident of the West, when the West was really "wild and woolly," and full of gold and other things.... I expected him to be a much older man, and have not quite forgiven him for not being at least six feet six, with cold steel-blue piercing eyes, gray hair at the temples and a face furrowed with strong character lines.

That was the sort of mental picture I had made of him when a friend told me of his experiences in the mining camp during a big strike of the miners. They were shooting up the town in real Western style, and many of them had been heard to swear that they would have Wingfield's life. He might well have taken his departure, but he did not: he was strong and relentless and knew no fear, though I am told he ate his meals in a restaurant where the walls were covered with mirrors, with his back to the wall, and a six-shooter on each side of his plate.

Rather thrilling, to say the least.

So far, Mr. Wingfield has not found it necessary to take advantage of the liberal divorce laws of the State: his beautiful home, charming and accomplished wife, and lovely children account for that.

Somehow Mr. Wingfield's experience in Nevada and the gold mines brings to my mind a poem from Robert W. Service's "Spell of the Yukon," of which I am very fond:

"This is the law of the Yukon, and ever she makes it plain; Send not your foolish and feeble; send me your strong and your sane-- Strong for the red rage of battle; sane, for I harry them sore; Send me men grit for the combat; men who are grit to the core...."

It would be difficult to name a citizen of Nevada more popular with his fellow-men or enjoying to a greater degree the confidence and trust of those with whom he is a.s.sociated than H. J. Gosse, proprietor and manager of the Riverside Hotel of Reno.

The colony has a real friend in H. J. Gosse, who is certainly an exponent of joy, giving optimism to the lonely wanderer who may find himself domiciled under the roof of the Riverside Hotel where the splendid personality of this old pioneer reigns supreme.

Mr. Gosse's parents crossed the plains with an ox-team from New Orleans to California way back in '49. In 1862 the family moved to Silver City, then a lively mining town.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Riverside Hotel, Nevada]

The subject of this sketch went to school in Virginia City and later attended the Golden Gate Academy in Oakland, California. Like other young men, he followed various vocations and in 1896 he purchased the Riverside Hotel, which he has successfully conducted ever since. Under his management the hotel has continued to be the leading hotel in the city, and in 1901 the present large brick structure was erected.

In 1888 Mr. Gosse was united in marriage with Miss Josephine M. Mudd, a native of California. In politics Mr. Gosse is a Republican. He is a member of the Improved Order of Red Men, and has filled all the chairs in the local Tribe and is Past Grand Sachem of the State of Nevada. He is also a Mason, being a member of the lodge chapter, commandery and the shrine. He is an active member of the B.P.O.E. No. 597, of Reno, and was instrumental in organizing the Lodge. In recognition of his services, he has been made an honorary life member and is a member of the Grand Lodge of the United States.

Mr. Gosse's only son was among the first to answer his country's call when the United States entered into the World War in 1917; he died in his country's service a few months later....

No pictures of the picturesque West would be complete which did not depict in the foreground the fine, handsome figure of Nevada's erstwhile "Sentinel in Chief": former State Police Superintendent, Captain J. P. Donnelley.

The Captain and his wife were among the very first friends I made when I arrived in Reno. Since then we have become more and more intimate, and my admiration and appreciation of them both grow keener, if such is possible, the longer I know them.

Almost as interesting as the history of Nevada itself is the excited checkered career of this man, who at an early date left his native State of California where he had risen from the ranks of private to Adjutant of the 10th Battalion Infantry Guards and had sought in preference the dangers and hardships of rugged Nevada. Here he became deputy sheriff and chairman of the Republican Central Committee of Esmeralda County, to succeed Captain c.o.x as Superintendent of the State Police in 1911.

In the same year there was a spurt of unusual liveliness from the Indian quarter. Several white men were killed, and it was Captain Donnelley who was selected to head one of the posses and risk the brunt of the battle. The Captain's sc.r.a.pbook, which he was kind enough to let me look over, revealed many an interesting incident, and one would never think when talking to him that this genial, humorous, kind faced man was every inch a soldier and a hero. The combination strikes me as wonderfully ill.u.s.trative of what real culture and civilization can do for a man. He fights, not for the love of fighting, from a savage hankering after blood, but because it is for the good of humanity in general that he should fight, and therefore that he does well.

A large reward had been offered for the capture of those Indian desperadoes and of the several posses that had been sent out Captain Donnelley and his brave band were the only "lucky devils," and escaped with their scalps.

In appreciation of his fine work the citizens pa.s.sed a resolution to send the following letter to the Captain: