The divorce trial dragged on for eight months, amounting to a stack of legal documentation more than high, consisting of complaints, counter-charges, motions, and depositions from prominent Tucson citizens. Despite witnesses supporting his wife's allegations of abuse, Dr. Handy prevailed and obtained custody of all five children. But the judge ordered him to pay his wife $30 a month in alimony, gave her the family home, and rejected Handy's demand for a new trial. In July 1891, Handy, acting in his mother's name, sued his ex-wife for unlawful detainer of property, trying to force her out of the house that the court had granted her. His suit was dismissed but he went to a second judge and presented a deed that his wife had signed under duress two years previously. Heney represented Mary again and Handy made more death threats. Fearful for his life, Heney began carrying a pistol. Heney's brother Ben, who lived across the street from Handy, began accompanying his brother to and from the office. Ben reported that Handy said he would "take Frank's gun away and kill him with it." Handy hired a former policeman named McCarthy as a bodyguard. On two occasions the four men confronted each other with their guns drawn.