SELFISH INTENTIONS - K-REx - Kansas State University

active part in the city’s most praiseworthy undertakings.” 91 She worked hard to make their drug
store profitable.
For some unknown reason, Mr. Holtzgang moved to Florida without Bertha in
approximately 1887. 92 On February 7, 1895, Bertha Holtzgang petitioned for divorce in Clay
County District Court. She claimed that Mr. Holtzgang had abandoned her and her daughter
without just cause or provocation. She explained to the court that the couple was married in
Switzerland on May 10, 1868 and since that time she had remained a faithful wife, committed to
the union of their marriage. Once again the boilerplate language required that she establish her
innocence in breaking the marital bond. She asserted that Mr. Holtzgang had ignored his marital
vows by abandoning both his wife and daughter in October of 1887. She alleged that from the
time of his departure Mr. Holtzgang failed to provide for his family.
In the fifth clause of the divorce petition, Mrs. Holtzgang finally reached the crux of her
case. She petitioned for this divorce because she was worried about the couple’s property. Mrs.
Holtzgang explained that she owned property in her name in Kansas, while Mr. Holtzgang
owned property in Florida. 93 The Kansas property in question was significant to Mrs. Holtzgang,
because she needed the couple’s store in order to maintain her financial security. In this case it is
significant that Mrs. Holtzgang pointed specifically to the drug store in part of the divorce
petition, probably because the pharmacy had so clearly been a jointly developed asset with her
husband. Hence part of her request was that the drug store be legally established as belonging to
her.
91 Ibid.
92 The Times, “Holtzgang,” 1 July 1909, 1.
93 Holtzgang v Holtzgang, Clay County District Court, Case No. 4113, State of Kansas.
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