“15-Year-Old Husband In Montreal Court,” Kingston Daily Standard. September 5, 1919. Page 01. --- Is Charged by His 19-Year-Old Wife With Non-Support --- Montreal, Sept. 5. - There was a touch of romance in the police court when a fifteen-year-old husband appeared on a charge of non-support laid by his nineteen-year-old wife, and the case was dismissed. Judge Lanctot, who presided, thinking that the accused was a fit subject for the juvenile court.
According to what was stated before the court by counsel of both sides, as no evidence was heard, it appears that in April last, Rene Jutras, fifteen year-old, met the woman while emerging from a moving picture house, and invited her to witness another performance with him. The invitation was accepted, the couple became infatuated with each other, and after a few days of courtship, Rene Jutras and the girl, Lina Gatien, eloped. They took a train to Quebec, where, after a stay of two weeks they were married by a priest of St. Roch’s parish. The honeymoon was short and the young couple soon had to return to Montreal.
On their arrival there, the young husband was summoned before the juvenile court, on a charge laid by his mother. He appeared before Judge Choquet, who, on being given the evidence that a regular marriage had taken place, advised the mother to put up with it.
Then Rene Jutras went to his mother’s shelter and took to making bread, as he was a baker by trade. This arrangement did not agree with the young woman, who had also to go back to her parents. The result was that a complaint for non-support was laid, which led to the appearance in court today of the fifteen-year old husband, before Judge Lanctot.
