Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-10-17
A ROMANCE IN THE ROUGH,

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-Mdrgatet johnson, in Vide Audke.
-
A ROMANCE IN TILE ROUGH.
Jabez Jowlary was brought before the
magistrate charged with committing a
violent assault on his wife, Edith Jow-
larry, by striking her in the public street
on the previous evening. The prosecu-
trix, a quiet-looking, steady-like young
woman, deposed that she was returning
home from a visit to a friend, when her
husband, the prisoner in the dock,
whom she had not seen for several
months, suddenly appeared before her,
and. throwing one of his arms round
her neck, squeezed it so as to occasion
her great pain, while at the same mo-
ment he inflicted on her breast a vio-
lent blow with the elbow of his other
arm, causing her to faint. A police
man gave corroborative testimony.
he saw the woman sink to the ground,
and saw the prisoner lift her off the
pavement to doorstep, where he would
have left her, but he was detained until
Che p%rosecutrix recovered consciousness,
when she gave him into custody.
Asked what he had to say in reply to
the charge, prisoner blandly requested
the opinion Of the court as to whether
he looked the sort of maj who would
purposcly inflict an injury to any
woman. let alone his own lawful wife.
Had his face at the moment of his ask
ing the strange question borne an
expression of sneering or rudeness, it
would probably have aggravated his
offense in the eyes of his worship on the
bench, but since he apparently spoke
in perfect sincerity, the general feeling
wa II of wonder that he could be 50
Misunderstanding and unaware of it;
for he was a man seemingly, at least,
Swice as old as the female he was ac-
eused of assaulting, powerfully built
and plain-looking, with an injured nose,
the massive under jaw of a pugilist, a
grisly beard of many days growth, and
q pair of enormous fists which were
fairly in view a he leaned with his
arms folded on the ledge of the dock.
His inquiry eliciting no response, the
prisoner proceeded to explain how the
''little mistake" had arisen. He had
not seen his wife, he said, for more
than two months, and happening to I'M
expectedly run against her, in . man.
ner of speaking, his natural impulse
was to take her in his arms and kiss
her. If he had done so somewhat
roughly it must be set down to the
strength of his affection for her, and
not to any intention on his part to
hurt. Yet what he had done was to
place his arm round her waist, which
he supposed as her lawful husband he
had a right to do; and if while doing
so, his other elbow knocked against her
chest, he was w of it. As to
her fainting, it probably was occasioned
by the sudden shock of unexpectedly
meeting him. 'Hask her." said the
prisoner, ''if, when she has had time to
reflect on it, whether she doesn't think
that my account of this little affair is the
right one?" Questioned by the magis-
trstc as to whether she had any doubt
that the assault was intentional, she re-
piled that she had no doubt at all.
'-'Was he in the habit of ill-using her?"
s.No, he had I've raised his hand to
hcr before" .'Hask her why she in
sists on living apart from me-" sug-
gested Jabez Jowlary, upon which the
prosecutrix falteringly remarked: 81
do not wish to press the charge against
him" Fixing his eyes on her, with a
queer twitching of the muscles of his
mouth, the prisoner, with much hid
den meaning, made answer: Good
Lord! l should hope not" Dis
charged with a caution.
The wife's relenting, however, did
not bring about reconciliation between
them. A cab vas in waiting for her at
the door Of the court, but, although he
followed her out, he made no attempt
to accompany her when a policeman es-
corted her to the vehicle, while she,
studiously avoiding looking at him,
kept her veil down, and was driven
away. The constable who had given
evidence waited until the clerk Of the
court had marked his 'time card''-a
card showing the. hour the man arrived
at and left the court-and then he
joined the late prisoner, who seemed to
be waiting for him. Having been pre-
yiously appraised of the curious character
of the case, l had already exchanged a
few words with the officer in question,
and, as he was now off duty, there was
no harm in his accepting MI. Jowlary's
offer of a 'glass of something" 'Im
glad to be able to drink it with you, re-
marked the policeman, '.for there's no
mistake about it, it was ten to one on
your being put away for a month at
least cit is shorter odds than that
returned Mr.. Jowlary, with a sudden
accession of ferocity and with his an
der jaw looking squarer from his speak
ing with his teeth set close together,
s'on my being put away for good and