The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1874-12-04
HOW WOMEN ARE PROTECTED By
MEN

AS an evidence of the way in which
women are sometimes treated who are
led to rely implicitly upon men for pro-
lection, we hereby proceed to chronicle
in as brief a manner as possible, that
portion of trial for divorce of which
we were a short time since an eye-wit-
ness in an adjacent Territory.
The plaintiff was modest, unassum-
ing woman, in plain, dark purple dress
and linen collar, without other orna-
ment than her smoothly combed and
lustrous hair, which was put back from
her face and classically coiled at the
back of her shapely and well-balaneed
head. This woman had been for many
years the wife of farmer who was some
twenty wears her senior, and was the
mother of five living children. Her
toiI-yorn hands gave evidence Of hard
usage, and her plain and neat attire be-
tokened taste and thrift. Her husband
sat between his attorneys at one end OF
a long table, at the opposite end OF
which she was stationed beside her
lawyer, while a perfect cloud of wit
nesses half filed the spacious court
room. The Judge, a gentleman Of high
standing as jurist and humanitarian,
sat in his legal chair, paying courteous
attention to the evidence.
Witnesses for the plaintiff were for
the most part men and women who
lived upon adjacent ranches, and who
had only known the husband and wife
as q somewhat antagonistic couple. One
or two witnesses who were called for
plaintiff were in the employ of her hus-
band, and it would have been amusing,
if the case had not been so serious, to
note the "forgetfulnessn one of them
exhibited of "pistol scene," in which
plaintiff had appealed to him for aid at
a time when her legal PROTECTOR had
drawn a bead upon her protected"
countenance.
AS rebuttlng testimony, the lady's
lawyer (who was defending the money
less woman against her wealthy hus-
band without prospect of fee or reward),
demanded that her daughter, a little girl
of eleven, he brought in by an order of
the Court. With the exception of the
defendants hired witnesses, almost
everybody was moved to tears when the
child was brought up TO be sworn. To
witness the mothers poorly-restrained
agony was heart-rending spectacle.
The child frankly testified to the pistol
affray, and also to the fact that her
father had forbidden her to enjoy the
of her mother. His Honor
decided that there was no gospel, and,
under his Jurisdiction, there should be
no recognized law to keep a minor child
away from the embraces of its mother.
How our mother-soul bowed down in
respectful homage before that grand de-
eisionl
Then a cloud Of witnesses for the de-
fense was called. And such menl Rag
ged, dirty, ignorant, suspicious, low
minded Williams, whom the husband had
employed about the farm because he
could get them cheap, and whom he
now engaged, in his high capacity OF
woman protector, to prove criminal
charges against the mother of his chill
dren in order that he might legally rob
her of both children and alimony.
We were compelled TO leave the city
before the conclusion of the trial, and
have not yet learned the final decision
Of the Judge, butI we hope that His
Honor will grant the mother the custody
of her children, and sufficient income
from the estate to support them comfort
ably.
But are all women protected by men ?
Are they not very often at the mercy of
bad husbands ? Does not the law recog-
nize the husband and wife as one, and
that one, the husband? And, if the
Judge were not more righteous than the
law would that woman have any show
Of protection from the wrath of her rep
resentative head? Yet women are
gravely told that they have every pro-
lection that they need; that it is mans
duty to prevent even the winds of
heaven from visiting woman roughly,
and that all women are supported and
protected by men, and therefore women
have no need of financial rights.
When will the world learn wisdom I?
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