It was overruled, and thirty days were given
to file an answer to Sharon's suit. The case in the state court
had then been tried, argued, and submitted thirty days before, but
Miss Hill's counsel were not yet ready to file their answer within
the thirty days given them, and the court extended the time for answer
until December 30th. Six days before that day arrived Judge Sullivan
rendered his decision. At last, on the 30th of December, 1884,
fourteen months after the filing of Sharon's complaint, Sarah Althea's
answer was filed in the federal court, in which, among other things,
she set up the proceedings and decree of the state court, adjudging
the alleged marriage contract to be genuine and legal, and the parties
to be husband and wife, and three days later Sharon filed his
replication. There was at no time any delay or want of diligence on
the part of the plaintiff in prosecuting this suit to final judgment.
On the contrary, as is plainly shown in the record above stated,
the delays were all on the part of the defendant. The taking of the
testimony in the United States Circuit Court commenced on the 12th of
February, 1885, and closed on the 12th of August following.
The struggle in the state court was going on during all the time of
the taking of the testimony in the federal court, and intensified the
excitement attendant thereon.
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