The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1878-05-16

wife.Beating In England.
COMING home the other day to my
rooms l saw q crowd in the neighbor-
hood of Portland place, and heard the
shrlll voice OF a woman. As / APP
preached the center of attraction, the
owner OF the voice moved away, pro-
testing that she would not accompany
q low-lived vulgar man, clad in cotton
velvet clothes, who was smoking q clay
pipe, and whose language was by
no means choice. The woman was
slender, evidently respectable, and
quite sober, although her excited con-
dition led the crowd to imagine that
she had been drinking. The low-lived
man was her husband, and he was
threatening her that if she did not come
home he would lido for her." 1 need
scarcely to explain that this phrase
meant that he would kill her. She
chung to the iron area railing near
Portland place, and with the utmost
earnestness refused to 20 with him.
=" You've beat me BEFORE" she said,
6 and you'll beat me again. 1 won't
l WON'T won't 60 with YOU"
This painful scene continued for q long
time. No one interfered, and after the
crowd had separated, the brutal hus-
band still stood on the corner, threat
ening the wretched wife. Many peo-
pie laughed at the woman's predica-
ment and appeared to consider it q
good joke. When I entered the house
| found the Contemporary Review for
this month on the reading table. and I
opened it listlessly. My eye fell upon
an article by Frances Power Cobbe, en-
titled "Wife Torture in England" In
this brilliant treatise the noble woman
calls on all Englishmen of chivalrous
instincts to protect women against the
brutality to which they are constantly
exposed in certain classes of society.
The writer, who may be considered an
authority on the subject, says:
withdrawing exists in the upper and
middle classes rather more, l fear, than
is generally recognized. But it rarely
extends to anything beyond an occa-
sional blow or two of q not dangerous
kind. In his apparently most ungov-
ernable rage, the gentleman or trades
man somehow manages to bear in mind
the disgrace he will incur if his out
break be betrayed by his wife's black
eye or broken arm, and he regulates his
kicks and cuffs accordingly" The worst
class of wife-beaters, according to Miss
Cobbe, are Golfers, puddlers, weavers,
shOemakers, stOne-mas0ns, butchers,
smiths, tailors and ordinary laborers.
Having made these statements, the
writer gives few statistics. She says
that in London, in one year, there were
351 brutal assaults on women. Of course
there we're thousands of beatings which
we're not considered of sufficient conse-
quence to be brought before the Police
Courts. In Lancashire 1914 assaults on
wives were punished. In Stafford there
were 113 cases In the West Riding
there were 1852, and in Durham 267.
Curious must it be to a foreigner to
learn that in England there are ''kick-
ing districts" so called; that is, districts
in which husbands are often punished
for bruising their wives almost to death
with their hob-nailed shoes. In the
Black Country the brutality is most con-
spicuous. Under the influence of pow
erty and rude toll the men seem to de-
generate into animals. They treat their
wives as slaves. Miss Cobbe finds that
the women are much to blame. While
she was collecting her information a
gentleman wrote to her from Lanca-
shire: 1.-The women of Lancashire are
awfully fond of bad husbands. 1t has
become quite a truism that our women
are like dogs. The more you beat them
the more they love YOU"
l need hardly say that Miss Cobbe
gives heart-rending list of the atroci-
ties committed by husbands in the la
boring classes on their unhappy wives.
If the woman whom l saw clinging to
the ratings near Portland place had
ever been treated like some Of the poor
women mentioned by Miss Cobbe, l
should expect her to die rather than to
get into her husbands clutches again.
Miss Cobbe suggests, as partial rem
dy for this horrible condition of affairs,
a bill affording to these poor women,
by means easily within their reach, the
same redress which women of the rich
er classes obtain through the Divorce
Court. They should be enabled to OBJ
tain from the Court which sentences
their husbands a protection order,
which should in their case have the
same value as judicial separation.
In addition to this, the custody of the
children should be given to the wife,
and an order should be made for the
husband to pay to the wife such week.
ly sum for her own and her children's
maintenance as the Court may see fit. y
England is just now too much occu'
pied with other things to attend to this,
but surely great and chivalrous Ma
ton cannot forever postpone the con.
sideration of such q scandalous topic
London Cor. Boston Journal.