The Carolina Spartan, May 31, 1882

Spartanburg, Sept 28. - The validity of a divorce was the issue in a report of a hearing before S. T. Lanham which was filed with the clerk of court yesterday afternoon in the case of W. J. Shirley vs. J. C. Harris. Shirley, who was known to be a widower, married a sister of Harris and sold to Harris a tract of land, for which part cash was paid and a mortgage taken for the remainder. Harris, subsequent to the deal, learned of a divorce secured by Shirley's first wife in Alabama, and there being no renunication of dower, Harris was unwilling to pay the mortgage without the dowere being renounced.

The principal issue in the case was the validity of a divorce which was granted to Shirley's first wife by the court in the state of Alabama September 8, 1890. After the divorce, as it appears from the evidence, the first Mrs. Shirley married again on February 24, 1894, while Shirley came to Spartanburg and married Miss Emma J. Harris in February, 1907. The court says in conclusion:

"The constitution of the United States provides that full (not some) faith and credit shall be given to judicial proceedings of other states. This divorce is therefore to be taken at its face value, and W. J. Shirley was freed by it from the bond of matrimony."