Le Mars Daily Sentinel: Friday, April 9, 1926

UPPER COURT IN REVERSAL
Rev. John Hill Now Finds He Has Too Many Wives
VERDICT IS SET ASIDE
Says Not Sufficient Grounds For a Divorce

The Iowa Supreme court Tuesday nullified the divorce granted the
Rev. John E. Hill, of Merrill, although the Methodist minister has married
again and is living in California with his second wife.

She is the former Mrs. Lillian Stinton, a widow who had been
unsuccessfully sued for $50,000 for alienation of the Rev. Mr. Hill's
affection by the first Mrs. Hill. The latter's petition for separate
maintenance was disallowed by the supreme court. Mrs. Hill is living in
Sioux City.

The supreme court held that there was insufficient grounds to
warrant a divorce and the opinion asserted that there was nothing to connect
Mrs. Stinton with any of the marital difficulties of the principals.

"Divorces," the court said, "shall not be granted for the mere
asking or as an accommodation. Incompatibility of temper, peevishness,
quarrelsomeness and needless meddlesomeness are not enough."

Rev. J.E. Hill secured a divorce from his wife in a trial which
aroused great interest in the Plymouth county district court here last May.
Mr. Hill lost no time in securing another mate being married at Lake Andes,
S. Dak., to Mrs. Lillian Stinton, a wealthy widow residing in Merrill. This
is Mr. Hill's third matrimonial venture.

Rev. Mr. Hill's first venture in matrimony was dissolved when
his marriage to a girl was annulled because the bride's age had been given
incorrectly when the couple purchased a license.

Gained Notoriety

Rev. J.E. Hill, his wife, Anna Hill, and Mrs. Lillian Stinton
entered the limelight of publicity about two years ago when their troubles
began to be aired and set the town of Merrill and vicinity agog.

Mrs. Anna Hill sued Mrs. Lillian Stinton for alienating the
affections of her reverend husband and also for $25,000 damages. The case
was tried in the district court here at the November term 1924, and was
sensational in the extreme attracting large crowds throughout the trial to
the courtroom and much attention in this and ajoining states. The jury in
this case returned a verdict in favor of Lillian Stinton.

One Wife Too Many

According to one legal luminary, the Rev. J.E. Hill is a
bigamist. He points out that when a divorce suit is appealed from the lower
court to the supreme court the granting of the divorce virtually is an
abeyance until the upper court rules on the case.