The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1882-08-17
It Had q Good Effect.
The Ear-Pulling to Which Cincinnati Husband
Subjected His Vile

The Ear-Pulling to Which a Cincinnati Husband
Subjected His Wife.
There has been considerable commo-
ton raised in Cincinnati during the past
two weeks on account of tho publica-
ton Of an incident which happened at
the Grand Opera House two weeks ago,
where an eXaSperated husband led his
wife out by her ear. In fact it caused a
sensation throughout the country, for it
has been the subject Of a great deal of
newspaper comment. and opinions of
every shade have been freely expressed.
The reporter who happened to wit
ness the ''scene'' hunted up the gentle
man and had little chat with him in
reference to the matter.
He was inquired Of whether he had
read the comments in the papers regard
ing his action, and he said he had; that
he had been much amused by them and
had started scrap-book, and hoped
the discussion would continue.
He was then asked whether he re-
gretted what he did. when he said:
mo, do not! 1t has had good eff
feet, not only in my own househald but
in a good many others. 1t has forever
put stop to my wife attending matin-
ees and has called public attention to a
terrible evil. My wife is not the only
woman in Cincinnati who has neglected
her children and her household affairs
to visit matinees once or twice every
week, but there are hundreds of them,
and it is time that husbands and fathers
entered their protest against such prac-
tees, the result of which, in many cases,
has been the disruption of families.
stood it rs long as l could. | bore it
uncomplainingly for years, and only
when | saw that the habit was fastened
upon my wife did | ask her to desist;
and when | found that argument and
entreaty did not avail l threatened to
lead her out by her ear | did not even
do that until | saw that our children
were allowed to roam the streets, meet
ing with serious accidents. Then | got
angry, and though Mrs. Hayes, of
Marysville, who is doubtless very
sweet woman. may not believe it, / then
for the first time in my life used hard
language to my wife. In fact l used
cuss words like the devil; and where is
there man who would not have done
the same under the same provocation?
l would have been a sheep to have al
lowed the occurrence to pass over with
out an effort to stop the practice, and /
only did so as a last resort. | see that
the lady correspondent wanted to know
if there were no men at the Grand that
afternoon, or were they all towards
that they permitted such an outrage.
l tell you would have made it pretty hot
for any man or body of men if they had
attempted to stop me.''
''How does your wife take it?'' we
next inquired.
''Oh, she is getting along nicely. She
never refers to it, and is better than
ever.''
''Did her attendance upon matinees
interfere with her work on other days
than those of matineesp"
81 don't know thatit did, particularly,
but she knew the characters and plot OF
at least hundred plays, and was forever
talking about them. She gave me no
rest in that particular, and was worse
than a stage-struck youth who is etern-
ally quoting from the drama Nearly
every move | made or opinion | ex-
pressed, on any subject, she likened me
to some character she had seen at the
theater. One night l came home and
had th toothache like thunder, and was
walking up and down the sitting-roon
floor with my hand to the jaw, when
| she peeped IN at me, and after looking
moment said: Hello, ''Hamlet," tc
! pull or not to pulp At another time
she was coming home in q street Cal
and engaged in conversation with a
man who said he was q stranger in the
city. When she told me of it depressed
surprise that she would converse with 9
man she did not know. She then went tc
| our bedroom and brought out pillow,
and on handing it to me said: See here
"Othello,n go and rest yourself One
night was in market and saw fellow
selling some sort of liquid for silver
plating, and bought a bottle and
took it home. My wife took it and
called me 'Toodles.' She had every.
body she knew likened to some char
acter in some play, and I tell you 1 got
tired of it"
When the gentleman was talking his
wife was singing out iii the dining-room
and after listening a moment we caught
word or two about ''baby farming
and ''quite alarming" and knew tha
she was going through ''Pinafore. ~
Cincinnati Commercial.