Efforts to untangle an exceedingly complicated situation were made yesterday in the United States Court for China during the course of a hearing before Judge M. J, Helmick in the case of Mr. A. A) Avshalomoff vs. Mrs. Esther Magidson Avshalomoff. The plaintiff, who is a Chinese subject, is seeking a declaratory judgment from the U.S. Court to establish his status and confirm a Chinese divorce as the result of a disinclination on the part of the American passport bureau to grant a visa to himself and his second wife on the grounds of "doubtful morality" arising from the fact that his first wife, an American, has challenged the validity of his divorce.
The passport bureau had based its action, or rather its lack of action, upon' a notification received from the first Mrs, Avshalomoff stating that the plaintiff's divorce in the Chinese court was not valid, and that, therefore, Mr. Avshalomoff was a bigamist.
According to evidence heard in court, Mr. Avshalomoff married an American woman in the United States in 1917. According to laws then in force, Mrs. Avshalomoff became a subject of the former Russian Imperial government, losing at the same time her American citizenship. The couple later came to China and took up residence in North China. Meamwhile two events took place which had an important bearing on the status of the plaintiff and his wife, The Russian. revolution left Avshalomoff and his wife without a country, and laws were passed in 1922 by the United States Government providing that citizens of the United States did not lose their passports by marrying individuals of another nationality. These laws, however, did not immediately affect Mrs Avshalomoff as she had married previous to their adoption.
Separated im 1930
The plaintiff and his wife lived together until 1930. at which time they took up different domiciles, and after that time rarely communicated with one another. According to the evidence of the plaintiff, be learned only through friends and irom a postcard sent him by his son that his wife was going to America in 1937. Without notifying her husband, Mrs, Avshalomoft, upon her arrival in the States, initiated proceedings for repatriation and regained full citizenship on March 7, 1938.
The plaintiff, meanwhile, had applied for a divorce in the Chinese court in Shanghai charging his wife with: desertion. After a notice had been posted outside the door of the courtroom for a specified time and the <harge had been substantiated, Mr. Avshalomoff's decree was made final on June 16, 1938, and he married again.
It was not until some time later when the plaintiff applied for a visa for himself and his second wife that he learned that the American Government was in some doubt as to his marital status. The first Mrs. Avshalomoff, who had kept in touch with American authorities in Shanghai, upon learning that her former husband intended to visit the States with his new wife, sent a cable to Mr. J. B. Sawyer of the American passport office which read, "Citizenship obtained March 17 Avshalomoff bigamist withhold visa positive proof by airmail." The passport office, possessing only Mrs. Avshalomoff's word as to her status, did not actually refuse a visa, but did succeed in procrastinating for such a length of time that the plaintiff finally sought legal advice concerning the matter and eventually brought suit in the US.
Court
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.