The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-09-29
Are Women Represented by Men 2

AS an example of misrepresentation
and protection, (and we are sure that
many persons might from their own
observation recite similar one), we
submit the following, furnished by
Judge Henry R. Selden, of the New
York Bar:
An educated and refined woman, who
/ had been many years before deserted by
| her drunken husband, was living in a
small village of Western New York,
securing, by great economy and intense
| labor in fine needle work, the means of
living and of supporting her two daugh-
ters at an academy, the object. of her
| life being to give them such an educa-
| tion as would enable them to become
| teachers, and thus secure to them some
degree of independence when she could
no longer provide for them. The daugh-
ters were good scholars, and were favor
ties in the school so long as their moth
er was able to maintain them there. A
young man, the nephew and clerk of a
wealthy but miserly merchant, became
acquainted with the daughters, and
was especially attentive to the older
one. The uncle disapproved of the con-
duct of his nephew, and failing to con-
the circulation of the vilest ISLANDERS
against mother and daughters. He was
man of wealth and influence. They
were almost unknown. The mother had
but recently come to the village, her
object having been to secure to her
daughters the educational advantages
which the academy afforded. Poverty,
as well as perhaps an eXcusable if not
laudable pride, compelled her to live in
obscurity, and consequently the assault
upon their characters fell upon her and
her daughters with crushing force. Her
employment mainly ceased, her daugh-
ters were of necessity withdrawn from
school, and all were deprived of the
means, from their own exertions, of
sustaining life. Had they been in fact
the harlOts which the miserly scoundrel
represented them to be, they would not
have been so utterly pOwerless to resist
the assault. The mother in her despair
naturally sought legal redress. But
how was it to be obtained? By the law
; the wife's rights were merged in those
of the husband. She had in law no in
dividual existence, and consequently no
action could be brought by her to re-
dress the gTievOus wrong; indeed, ac-
} cOrding to the LdIU she had suffered no
, lUrOnq, but the husband had suffered
all, and was entitled to all the redress.
Where he was the lady did not know
she had not heard from him for many
: years. Her counsel, however, ventured
r to bring an action in her behalf, Joining
, the husbands name with hers as the
law required. When the cause came to
r trial, the defendant made no attempt to
e sustain the charges which he had made,
I we'll knowing they were as groundless
as they were cruel; but he introduced
and proved a release of the cause of ac-
D tion, signed by the husband, Teciting a
q consideration of fifty dollars paid to
him. The defendants counsel had some
difficulty in proving the execution of
the release, and was compelled to intro
s duce as a witness the constable who
= had been employed to find the vagabond
f husband and obtain. his signature. His
testimony disclosed the facts that he
found the husband in the forest in one
: of our northeastern counties, engaged in
2 making shingles, presumably stealing
timber from the public lands and con-
vertiug it into the means of indulging
i his habits of drunkenness), and only
= five dollars of the fifty mentioned in
e the release had in fact been paid. The
! court held, was compelled to hold, that
-, the party injured IN UieU Of the lG1U
had received full compensation for the
s wrOng-and the mother and daughters,
O with no means of redress, were left to
starve. This was the act of the repre-
sentative of the wife and daughters to
3 whom we are referred as a better pro-
r tectOr of their rights than they them
f. selves could be.
J. Had the action proceeded to judgment
n without the interference Of the husband,
= and damages been allowed by the jury,
d the money would have belonged to the
4 husband, and the wife could not have
d touched one cent of it. Had her attor-
h ney paid it to her, it would have been
h at the risk of being again compelled to
d pay it to the drunken husband, had he
n demanded it. Yet is this, and hundreds
Of similar cases, the result of laws which
we are told men frame for the benefit
l. of women. The wrongs here recited
,. though heinous in the men who perpe-
d trated them, were more in the laws
which sustained them and contained
F. nothing for the protection of women.