Ruggles

Appellant brought an action for separate maintenance, and respondent filed a cross-complaint in which he prayed for a divorce on the grounds of wilful desertion and extreme cruelty. The trial court found in favor of respondent on the cross-complaint, and judgment was entered accordingly.

The parties, both of whom were about 70 years of age at the time of the trial, were married February 6,1926. They lived for a few years in New York where respondent was promoting the manufacture of a device which he had invented. He was unable to raise the necessary money for this purpose, and the parties moved to Wisconsin where they lived on a farm owned by respondent’s mother. His mother died in 1941, and respondent received $2,000 from her estate which he gave to appellant. Shortly thereafter she told him she was going to California to live. She removed the household furniture from the farm, stored it under her name, and later disposed of it. When appellant left Wisconsin she said to respondent, “I am sorry I ever knew anyone named Ruggles, and that includes you.”

The parties have not had marital relations or lived together since appellant came to California in 1942. Respondent came here a…