resort to false testimony,
where in their judgment it would assist them in prosecuting a
lawful claim. As I understand the facts of this case, that was
done in this instance."

In another place Judge Sullivan said:

"I have discussed fully, in plain language, the numerous false
devices resorted to by the plaintiff for the purpose of
strengthening her case."

Miss Sarah and her attorneys had now come in sight of the promised
land of Sharon's ample estate. Regular proceedings, however, under
the law, seemed to them too slow; and besides there was the peril of
an adverse decision of the Supreme Court on appeal. They then decided
upon a novel course. Section 137 of the Civil Code of California
provides that while an action for divorce is pending, the court may,
in its discretion, require the husband to pay as alimony any money
necessary to enable the wife to support herself and to prosecute or
defeat the action. The enterprising attorneys, sharing the bold
spirit of their client, and presuming upon the compliance of a judge
who had already done so well by them, went into the court, on the 8th
of January, 1885, and modestly demanded for Sarah Althea, upon the
sole authority of the provision of law above quoted, $10,000 per
month, as the money necessary to enable her to support herself, and
$150,000 for attorneys' fees to prosecute the action. This was to
include back pay for thirty-eight months, making a sum of $380,000,
which added to the $150,000, attorneys' fees, would have made a grand
total of $530,000. This was an attempt, under the color of a
beneficent law, applicable only to actions for divorce, in which the
marriage was not denied, to extort from a man more than one-half
million dollars, for the benefit of a woman, seeking first to
establish a marriage, and then to secure a divorce, in a case in
which no decree had as yet been entered, declaring her to be a wife.
It was not merely seeking the money necessary to support the
plaintiff and prosecute the case; it was a request that the inferior
court should confiscate more than half a million dollars, in
anticipation of a decision of the Supreme Court on appeal. It was as
bold an attempt at spoliation as the commencement of the suit itself.
The Supreme Court of the State had decided that the order of a
Superior Court allowing alimony during the pendency of any action for
divorce is not appealable, but it had not decided that, under the
pre