The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-07-28
VOLUME ".

would not have suited his purpose, for
he was suffering for cash, a commodity
much more appreciable, in his estima-
tiOn, than even unsullied official dig
nifty. So, when it was known that
George Hanson was again within the
boundaries of the State, the statute of
limitations having not yet expired, and
Madge being, as yet, the legal bond
woman of her lord and master, the con-
servators of human justice grew iu-
bilant.
The damage to the dignity and use
fulness of the ex-clerical, ex-official
proboscis was modestly placed, after
an expensive process of litigation, at
five thousand dollars.
True, George Hanson, except as the
legal owner of the patrimOny of his
wife, and legal heir of the anticipated
estate of her minor child, possessed no
property; but the exception named was
an important one, which barristers
could easily appreciate.
In the midst of his hilarity at the
metropolis, the dissipated and poverty
stricken husband had forgotten his
wife's possessions till the writ an
nouncing the suit for damages as above
set forth was served upon him, recall
ing him to a just consideration of a
husbands pecuniary rights.
Taking the alarm at once, but not be-
fore it was too late to stay the present
proceedings, the outraged husband, in
defense of his Moalla property, caused
the publication, far and wide, of the
suhjOined advertisement:
WHEREAS My wife Madge has left my bed
and board without any cause or provOcation
whatsoever; and, whereas, she refuses wifely
obedience in all things; therefore, know all
men by these presents that 1 hereby warn
them not to trust or harbor her on my account
as I will pay no debts of her contracting from
and after this date. GEORGE HANSON.
Madge read the advertisement of her
enforced degradation in calmness.
"Another evidence that women are
supported and protected by men," she
said, dryly.
"What do you propose to do?" asked
her mother, anxiously.
"What can 1 do ?" was the calm re-
ply. 81 never intended to sue for a
divorce, for, above all things, 1 detest
the idea of divorced woman; but self
preservation is the first law of nature,
and 1 will make application, forthwith,
for legal separation from the man to
whom God never Joined me, although
mans laws have bound me to fraud"
ga divorce is dWtuI"' sighed her
mother. 81 never thought a daughter
of mine would come to such Disgrace
"If freedom from hated bondage is a
disgrace, the quicker it comes in that
form the better. I'm ready for it,"
Good reader, we do not care to drag
yOu through the sickening slime of a
modern divorce court. Suffice it to say
that all the horrors of black-faced scan.
dal smirched the daily records. i
Madge had been a fiend incarnate
around whose writhing form the chains
of blacklist crime were justly clanking
she could not have been more thor.
oughly DETAINED. Circumstances thai
contained not even a cOloring of truth
were proven, circumstantially and pos
itively, according to the judgment o
the Court, showing cause why George
Hanson, and not Madge, should be en-,
titled to the first privileges of the di
vOrce for which both had petitioned
though the prayer of the latter haC
been filed first.
Witnesses, protectors of women, upoI
whom Madge, in her lOathing, would
have scorned to lay her finger, swort
positively to her criminal intimacy
with themselves. Out of the mouths o
two or three such witnesses the proof o
her infidelity was established. In vail
Madge's lawyer sought to apply de
murrer, rejoinder, and sub-rejoiuder il
face of obstinate evidence. In vail
was an alibi attempted. Madge's well
known hostility TO every form of vic
passed for naught.
Her paper, signed by the deep-voice,
sheriff, recanting his accusations agains
her character, paper of the existenc
of which the reader is already &C
quainted, was thrown out of the evi
dence, because the worthy who hat
signed it testified that he had done s.
under compulsion.
Sara Perkins could not be prevaile,
upon to testify to her own humiliation
and Madge would not insist that sh
should.
! "You love the poor miscreant, il
spite of his faults, Sara-the create
r fool for it, too-and we will spare yo
the pain of being dragged through tn
inquisitiOn of a cross-examinatiou
r Let me bear my burden alone. 1 an
strong in spirit, and you are not"
] 30, Madge, you are so good ~ erie
Sara, in gratitude. "George Hanso
3 cannot be all bad, either, or be surel
= would not be able to inspire me wit
: such undying love. know you thin
: I'm fool, and don't know but you'll
D right; but, at this moment, 1 would di
3 for that man. His existence is intel
i woven with my very being. 1 cannC
r help it. Some day, when the ev
!. sDirit has pOne ont of him he will sc