The marital adventures of Adelia and David

Then --- back in the good old days --- as now, the marital and extramarital escapades of celebrities were reported upon extensively and provided considerable entertainment. But newspapers in places like Chariton reported with relish on the adventures of locals, too.

The Herald-Patriot of March 4, 1909, dedicated a detailed front-page paragraph each to six divorces on the docket for trial during the March term of Lucas County District Court. And then there was this, under the headline "Suit for Breach of Promise" ---

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David Bell, a wealthy aged widower of Chariton, is made defendant in a suit for breach of promise brought by Adelia Herman, aged 51 years, also of Chariton. The case will come up in the next term of court which sets here next Monday. The amount sued for is $10,000.

In her petition, the Herman woman alleges that the defendant entered into a promise of marriage with her and, relying on his promise, she informed her acquaintances and made her arrangements for the wedding, and she also refused other offers of marriage which she declares would have been advantageous to her.

Plaintiff alleges "that defendant has since repeatedly and persistently refused to marry her though often requested by plaintiff to do so." She further states that "she is a good housekeeper, and could and would make a good and faithful wife, and that she has but small financial means; that defendant is an old man, more than 70 years of age, and is worth in money and property in an amount exceeding $50,000." 

She further states that because of defendant's failure to marry her she has been made to suffer great humiliation, and that in addition to this she has been damaged greatly in a financial way." Therefore she asks damage in the sum of $10,000.

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David was 75 at the time and Mrs. Herman, actually 52. He was wealthy, as reported, but not a widower. He was estranged from Mrs. Bell, nee Sarah Chambers (1839-1918), but she was very much alive and living in Smith County, Kansas, where three of their four adult sons also lived.

Adelia had three marriages under her belt, all of which had ended in divorce --- first to Albert Parker, by whom she had two adult children; then to John Dismore, whom she divorced in 1902; and finally to Mr. Herman.

The case of Herman vs. Bell did not make it to trial --- David and Adelia settled out of court for an undisclosed sum. She was then sued by her attorney for failure to pay his fees --- and that was settled out of court, too.

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David, whose mental faculties may have been experiencing slippage, ran into trouble a year later, during January of 1910. He had traveled to Knoxville, checked into a hotel, then left the hotel inadequately dressed during the night and nearly froze to death before found wandering around town the next morning.

Badly frostbitten, he was taken charge of by his sons and whisked away to Kansas, where he died on March 10 as the result of a stroke. His remains were returned to Iowa by his sons and buried in the Columbia Cemetery near the graves of three children who had died earlier.

Sarah died in Kansas during 1918 and their sons erected at their respective graves nearly identical and substantial gray granite tombstones, his at Columbia, hers in Kansas.

By 1910, Adelia and John Dismore had reunited and remained together until his death at age 80 on July 6, 1930. Adelia died seven years later, on Aug. 30, 1937. They are buried together in the Chariton Cemetery.