Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1885-08-01
Poor Sullivan.

Public sympathy is warmly enlisted
on the side of that admirable Boston
ian, Mr.. John L. Sullivan. He is now
defendant is divorce suit brought by
Mrs. Sullivan, and it is clear that he is
q greatly abused man. 1t appears
from his testimony that Mrs. Sullivan
is addicted to intoxIcatlon and that
she is guilty of treating her husband
cruellv and inhumany, although he is
one of the kindest and most temperate
of men.
1t has hitherto been supposed that
Mr.. Sullivan himself was in the habit
of getting very drunk. 1t is pleasant
to know on Mr.. Sullivan's authority
that this is untrue. He was nevor
drunk in his life and never drinks to
excess. Owing doubtless to excessive
intellectual labor, and his enemies
willfully confound his sickness with
drunkenness. On the well-knOwn Oc-
casion when he appeared at Madison
Square garden and informed the as
sembled public that he was too sick to
fight he told the truth, for he had
drunk nothing stronger than brandy,
and would have been able to walk
with ease had not his attack of illness
loosened the joints of his legs. In
spite of Mrs. Sullivan's pretense that
her husband had been accustomed to
knock her down and kick her, he has
always treated her with the utmost
tenderness. In fact, he hardly needed
to deny his wifc's absurd charge, for
it is we'll known that pugilism is q
manly art, and consequently no pugil-
ist could possibly be guilty of the un-
manly offense of wife-beating.
Tho picture which Mr.. Sullivan
draws of the suffering which he has
undergone at the hands of his wife is
enough to set the blood of brass
monkey boiling. That ferocious woman
has been in the habit of hitting poor
Mr.. Sullivan over the head with bot
ties and heavy pieces of crOckery-
ware. He has evidently lived in ter
rOr of his life. He never knew at
what moment his athletic wife would
intlict physical punishment upon her
poor sick husband. When he went
home late at night from meeting of
the Boston Missionary society or the
Concord School of Philosophy he was
always liable to find Mrs. Sullivan
grimly waiting for HIM with conve-
nicnt missile within reach. 1t being
contrary to the Quaker principles
which were instilled into MIR. Sullivan
in his early youth to resist aggression,
he never resisted Mrs. Sullivan's as
saults, but entreated her with endear.
ing epithets to consider his weakness
and to spare him for the sake of his
aged mother. Sometimes, in the hope
of allaying Mrs. Sullivan's rage, he
would sing hymns, while kneeling at
her feet; but his pathetic appeals were
useless, and his wife would continue
to beat the defcnseiess man until a
good, old lady residing next door
would rush in, snatch poor Mr.. Sulli-
his tears with her apron, would take
him into her own house and console
him with gingerbread and candy. 1t
is true that Mr.. Sullivan did not men,
ton all these details IN his testimony,
but from what he did say we can read
ily imagine the terrible life he must
have led while in the power of Mrs.
Sullivan.
The court will, of course, take meas
ures to protect Mr.. Sullivan. He
should be placed in charge of guar
dian, say some benevolent elderly
lady, who will take care of him and
keep him out of Mrs. Sullivan's reach.
He is an affectiOnate and fragile How
er, and he needs all the tenderness
that his weak and defonseless condi-
ton necessarily inspires in every char
liable heart.-NeU York Times.