In Re O'Connell

This is a proceeding in habeas corpus. The petitioner was sentenced to a term in the county jail for contempt in failing to obey a temporary mandatory injunction ordering him to vacate his home which he had occupied with his wife for more than ten years past. The application is contested by petitioner’s wife, at whose instance the contempt order was made, and on the hearing both parties put in evidence records of legal proceedings had between the parties extending over a long period of time. The facts herein stated are taken from this record and are not disputed.

The parties were married on February 20, 1912, and lived together as husband and wife in the home property here in controversy until September 7, 1920, when the petitioner was taken to the federal prison at McNeil’s Island to serve a sentence under a judgment of the federal court. On the 9th of August, 1917, about the time this judgment was entered, the petitioner conveyed the property to his wife in trust for the purpose of securing a bail bond for his release pending appeal. On February 28, 1922, while the petitioner was still confined in the federal prison, his wife commenced an action for divorce upon the sole ground…