1916: Syracuses men and women were divided over a $10,000 Heart Balm trial – syracuse.com

Any ideas of settling down into normal married life were dashed for Nathan Komar when he returned to Syracuse from his honeymoon on Feb. 4, 1916.

Just as he was about to settle in for his first dinner at home with his new wife, the former Rose Gais, Komar was served with papers by an attorney.

He was being sued for $10,000, roughly $243,000 in todays money, by the indomitable Libbie Kodish, who for the previous five years, had thought she was to become the next Mrs. Nathan Komar.

She told newspapers that Komar had proposed marriage to her in the summer of 1911 when he was 19 and she was 17.

But whenever she pressed him for a wedding date, he told her he was waiting for his economic fortunes to improve. He was earning then just $3.50 a week.

While they waited, they met each others friends, looked at possible wedding venues, and places to live.

But their wedding was never scheduled.

Finally, in September 1915, Kodish demanded that a wedding date be chosen.

He promised her that a wedding would take place before the spring of 1916.

Well, one did. It was just was not with her.

"No siree, I didn't love her." A newspaper sketch of defendant Nathan Komar. Courtesy of World ArchivesCourtesy of World Archives

When Kodish first heard of Komars engagement with Gais, she said she fainted from the shock of it.

Then, she got a lawyer.

The jilted Kodish, which was a favorite adjective for newspaper reporters for her, had hoped to have the papers of her lawsuit delivered during the actual ceremony as a wedding present but the couple married quickly and then left immediately for their honeymoon.

(The Syracuse Herald called their nuptials a hurry-up affair which happened on a Tuesday.)

Libbie Kodishs breach of promise lawsuit, called in Syracuse newspapers at the time as a heart balm suit, was the first of its kind for many years in Onondaga County.

The trial began on May 9, 1916 with jury selection. Supreme Court Judge Leonard Callender Crouch presided.

Interest in the case was high and, during both days of the testimony, crowds completely filled the courtroom.

The public loved to read the salacious testimony between the former lovers and opinions on the case was split along gender lines.

A Herald reporter noticed that men and women had very different ideas about who was right and who was in the wrong.

On one side there was the men:

There were any number of men present. Many of them were married and conversed with each other in regard to what this new woman stuff leads to.

The single men looked a little scared when Kodishs attorney, William Harding, described some gentlemen as fiends in human form and professional heartbreakers.

Women, it was noticed, paid even closer attention to the testimony:

They leaned forward eagerly in the effort to not lose a word. Evidently most of them sympathized with the plaintiff for they said so out and out and hoped shed get good big damages.

One woman was heard to say if her husband was on the jury and didnt bring in a good verdict for that poor girl, hed SEE.

What both sides, and the jury, did see was a master performance by prosecutor Harding, who effectively made an emotional plea on behalf of Libbie Kodish.

For four or five years Nathan courted Libbie and she built up a dream of married bliss, he told the jury. He told her he loved her and would give her a nice home, making a show of affection, and now he says it was all a joke. You cant play with the heartstrings of a woman and then kick her over.

He called Komar a rascal and a reprobate, and said that Libbie should count her lucky stars that she ended up not marrying him.

(The fact the new Mrs. Nathan Komar, Rose Gais, was the daughter of a retired prominent clothing manufacturer in Syracuse, while Kodish was just a poor, working girl, certainly made the case against Komar easier.)

I ask you jurors to treat Libbie like you would your own daughters. For her suffering and troubles, $10,000 is not a cent too much.

Defense attorney Myron Melvin had a much more difficult job.

He argued that his client had never made a promise of marriage.

He asked the jury not to punish Komar for hugging and kissing Kodish, or for taking her out to the movies, theater, and for ice cream all those years.

I think, he told the all-male jury that our experiences as practical men proves that boys and girls at the ages of 17 and 19 will kiss each other put their arms around each other. In this day of enlightenment, there are some that will say that they should not have kissed until after they were married and others will say that they shouldnt kiss at all, on account of germs. But kissing and hugging is no crime.

The real victim of Rose Komar, who was having to suffer through this trial instead of beginning her happy married life.

Headlines from the May 11, 1916 Herald announces the verdict in Syracuse's "Heart Balm" trial. The court room was packed for both days of the trial. Courtesy of World ArchivesCourtesy of World Archives

It is probably little wonder that the jury returned with a verdict in Kodishs favor in less than three hours.

They awarded her $2,500 in damages. Though it was not the full $10,000 she asked for, the award was, the Syracuse Journal reported, one of the largest ever given for a breach of promise in the county.

Nathan Komar did not pay, was briefly jailed, bailed out by his new father-in-law, and then declared bankruptcy.

Libbie Kodish would celebrate her victory with a relaxing trip to Sayre, Pennsylvania in June where she had friends.

There she met another Nathan, a Nathan Staver, who was a prosperous painting contractor and interior decorator in Sayre. They fell in love.

On July 4, 1916, they were married.

I expect to stay right here in Sayre, she told the Syracuse Herald, and I am not a bit interested in anything at all in regard to Mr. Nathan Komar.

The Journal hoped that her victory in court, and in love, would be a warning to other triflers.

Read more

1986: Feeling drowsy? Maybe this history of Upstates Jolt Cola will perk you up!

1921: Socks, macaroni, and lingerie were some of the items to bid on at Syracuses grab bag auction

1931: The hair flew in Waterloo as two rival barbers competed to be crowned New Yorks fastest

1891-1924: Too short to join the fire department, an Auburn man starts his own, joined by his pony, Thelma

Check out our true-crime podcast

An invention from Upstate NY soon became the preferred method of execution across the United States -- the electric chair. In The Condemned, we trace the history of the chair through the stories of five men who were sentenced to death for their crimes. Explore our series here.

This feature is a part of CNY Nostalgia, a section on syracuse.com. Send your ideas and curiosities to Johnathan Croyle at jcroyle@syracuse.com or call 315-427-3958.

More:
1916: Syracuses men and women were divided over a $10,000 Heart Balm trial - syracuse.com