Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-06-18
POOR SULLIVAN.
That FerocIOus Woman who Has
Made Him a Slave.
New York Times.


FubIlc sympathy is warmly enlisted
on the side of that admirable Boston
ian, Mr.. John L. Sullivan. He is
now defendant in divorce suit,
brought by FRS. Sullivan, and it is
clear that he is greatly abused man.
1t appears from his testimony that
Mrs. Sullivan is addicted to intoxica
ton and that she is guilty of treatiI G
him cruelty and inhumanly, yet he is
one of the kindest and most temper
ate Of Rlen.
It has hitherto been supposed that
Mr.. Sullivan himself was in the habit
Of getting very drunk. It is pleasant
to know on Mr.. Sullivan's authority
that this is untrue. He was never
drunk In his life and never drinks to
excess. Occasionally be falls sick,
owing doubtless to excessive intellect.
ual labor, AID his enemies willfully
confOund his sickness to drunkenness.
On the well-known occasion when he
appeared at the Madison Square gar
den and informed the assembled pub
lie chat 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
bis 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 wife's
absurd charge, for it is well KNOWN
that pugllism is q manly art, and coz
sequently NO pugilisT could possibly be
guilty of the unmanly offense Of wife
beating
The picture which Mr. Sullivan
draws Of the sufferings which he has
undergone at the hands of his wife
is enough to set the blood OF a brass
monkey boiling. That ferocious
woman has been in the habit of
hitting poor Mr.. Sullivan over the
head with bottles and heavy pieces
OF cr0ckerySw He has evidently
lived IN terror OF his life. He never
knew at what moment his athletic
wife would infict physical punish
ment upon her poor sick husband.
When he went home late at night
from a meeting of the Boston Mis-
sionary society or the Concord School
of Philosophy he was always liable to
ind Mrs. Sullivan grimlY waiting f n
him with a convenient missile within
reach. It being contrary to the
Quaker principles which were in
stilled into Mr. Sullivan in his early
youth to resist aggre ssion, he never
resented Mrs. Sulivan's assaults, but
entreated her with endearing 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 MS wife would continue to beat
the defenseiess man until a good old
Lady residing next door would rush
IN, snatch poor Mr.. Sullivan from his
tormentor, and, drying his tears with
her app on, would take him to her
own house and console him with
gingerbread and candy. It is true
that Mr.. Sullivan did not mention all
these details in his testimony, but
from what he did say we can readily
imagine the terrible life he must
have led while IN the power of Mrs.
Sullivan.
The court will, of course, take