Harold D. Paddock v. Florence Paddock

This appeal was initiated from a decree granting a divorce to Florence Paddock from Harold D. Paddock and from various provisions thereof allotting property rights to her. The decree was passed by the. District Court (Third Division) at Anchorage, Alaska, which has jurisdiction in divorce as this Court has jurisdiction on appeal therefrom.

The divorce suit was begun by the wife, and the husband answered charging misconduct on the part of the wife and prayed on his part for divorce also. The charges relied upon in this counter claim read as follows:

When the trial was reached, plaintiff produced evidence as to incompatibility of the parties, which established prima facie that the fault therefor lay largely with the husband. Evidence as to property rights was also submitted by her. Plaintiff rested and defendant testified as to the property rights, but made no effort to controvert the case of plaintiff for divorce and introduced no testimony or evidence tending to sustain the lurid charges of his counterclaim for divorce. Mr. Kay, counsel for the husband, then said, “Defense rests, Your Honor.” Florence Paddock then testified in rebuttal. After some colloquy between court and…