St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-05-25
Harry Holcomb and His Wife
Jointly Create a Little
Excitement.
A Disposition in Certain Quar-
tiers to Kick Against Cir
Gus Prohibition.
Programme for Memorial Day
The Libel Law to Be
Tested.
THE DOBBIN DIVORCE.
Who Should Run the House?-A
Husbands EccentricitieS.

Husbands ECC6ntr1CtV1eS.
When court opened yesterday morn
ing the examination of Mr.. Dobbin was
resumed. He stated that what caused
a number of the controversies between
him and his wife was the unreasonable
habit she had of buying little things
without consulting him. When called
upon to specify some of these purchases
Mr.. DObbin said that at one time his
wife bought a pocketboOk, and at
another time a little perfumery, but he
had not burdened his mind with these
little things for. though at one time they
had annoyed him and he had spoken
about them to his wife, he had not
thought them of very great Importance.
Mr.. Dobbin testified that he had sat
up nights to convince his wife that she
was unreasonable i'll thinking him un-
kind, but she, poor woman, did not find
his argument very satisfying, and abSo-
Iutely declined to be convinced that she
was unreasonable. 1t was about this
time that MIR. Dobbin felt SO bad that he
wished he were dead, and talked
seriously to Mrs. Dobbin Of suicide.
What were the books that you OBJ
jected to having Mrs. Dobbin read"
asked Mr.. Brewer, on cross-eXamina
ton.
"Oh! don't know. l did not read
them. looked at the back of them and
saw they were novels, and | thought
they were trashy. They were such
books as E. p. Roe's and Mrs. Holmes
workS?'
You said that you fed all the dogs in
the neighborhood all winter"
"Oh! l spoke of it in a casual way. /
+l,n 20 l,
thrown away. l preferred to give it to
the poor"
You say in your answer that your
wife started out in systematic course
of extravaganza; now what was it that
you objected to your wife'S buying?"
"Oh! well | don't remember exactly.
There were duplicate buckets in the
kitchen, and my wife bought quantity
of silverware which l thought we did
not need"
"Bow much Silverware, Mr.. Dobbin?"
''Oh! think there must have been as
much as SO worth"
You said your wife had peevish and
fretful spells. What seemed to super
induce those spellS?"
Her delicate condition, suppose"
at wasn't anything you said or did?
You think that you were very amiable
and agreeable?"
"Well, sir, tried" replied Mr.. Dob
bin.
Now will come down to the time
that you wished to discharge the nurse.
Your wife was very sick at that timeT
Eyes, sir, and | was very much dis
tressed. l think that at this time she
was able to sit up.''
You wanted to discharge the nurse?"
Eyes, l explained to her that l had
been to considerable expense, that the
doctors bill was very large and | wanted
to know if she could not get along with
out nurse. She did not appear to enter
into the spirit OF my wish to curtail eX
penSeS."
"She was lying down in bed at the
time, was she not?''
Yes, sir. and | went away quite hurt
because she did not enter into the spirit
of what l was saying"
Nov about those gas bills. You
found the gas burning freQuently?"
"Oh! l found it two or three times"
"And you spoke to your wife about
the gas?''
Yes, mentioned it,
"You said that your wife was wasting
the gas purposely?"
"YeS. sir"
Told her the gas company did not
need any help?"
10, SlI.
Your gas bills were not very large
at that time, were they?"
mo, they were very small, but did
not want them to get large"
Did you ever pay gas bill of over
s2?''
II don't suppose did"
Mr.. Brewer then read the gas bills,
which ranged all the way from Sl.4O to
S1.S0
And it was on account of such bills
that you said to your wife she was pur-
pOsely wasting the gas?"
Il made that statement"
Did you not. about the same time.
say that she maliciously cooked the food
poorly?"
II did not say that she did it ma
liciously. l said it was done mali
ciously."
Yes; well, 1 can't preserve these fine
distinctions.''
Drs. Higbee, Jones and Burton were
then called and testified that they had
never known of any cases of miscar-
riage produced by grief. This closed
the testimony and the case was sub
mittQi