 Russell blamed the marriage breakup on disagreements over Maria Russell's insistence on a greater editorial role in "Zion's Watch Tower" magazine.A later court judgment noted that he had labelled the marriage "a mistake" three years before the dispute over her editorial ambitions had arisen.Maria Russell filed a suit for legal separation in the Court of Common Pleas at Pittsburgh in June 1903 and three years later filed for divorce under the claim of mental cruelty.