Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1890-08-14
A GREAT DIVORCE CASE.


the army-gray as a Ladger, and some
people said with a touch of country
blood in him. That, however, cannot be
proved. Mrs. Bronckhorst was not ex-
actly young, though fifteen years young
er than her husband. She was large,
pale, quiet woman, with heavy eyelids
over weak eyes, and hair that turned
red or yellow as the lights fell on it.
Bronckhorst was not nice in any way.
He had no respect for the pretty public
and private lies that make life a little
less nasty than it is His manner tow
ard his wife was coarse. There are
many things, including actual assault
with the clinched fist, that wife will
endure; but seldom wife can bear, as
Mrs Bronckhorst bore, with a long
course of brutal, hard chat, making
light of her weaknesses, her headaches,
her small fits of gayety, her dresses, her
queer little attempts to make herself at
tractiye to her husband when she knows
that she is not what she has been, and,
worst of all, the love that she spends
on her children. That particular sort of
Bronckhorst. suppose that he had first
slipped into it, meaning no harm, in the
honeymoon, when folk find their ordi-
nary stock of endearments run short,
and so go to the other extreme TO express
their feelings. Asimilar impulse makes
a man say, "Hutt, you old beastr' when
a fayorite horse nuzzles his coat front.
/ NH h., of
riage sets in. the form of speech remains,
and. the tenderness having died out,
hurts the wife more than she cares to
say. But Mrs. Bronckhorst was de-
voted to her Teddy" as she called him.
Perhaps that was why he objected to
her. Perhaps-this is only a theory to
account for his infamous behavior later
on-he gave away to the queer, savage
feeling that sometimes takes by the
throat husband twenty years married
when he sees across the table the same
face of his welded wife, and knows
that, rs he has sat facing it. so must he
continue to sit until the day of its death
or his own Most men and all women
know the spasIu. 1t only lasts for three
breaths as rule. must be throw
back to times when men and women
were rather worse than they are now, and
is too unpleasant to be discussed.
Dinner at the Bronckhorsts' was an
infection few men cared to undergo.
Bronckhorst took pleasure in saying
things that made his wife vince. When
their little boy came in at dessert
Bronckhorst used to give him half Il glass
of wine, and naturally enough the poor
little mite got first riotous, next miser-
able and was removed screaming.
Bronckhorst asked if that was the way
Teddy usually behaved, and whether
Mrs. Bronckhorst could not spare some
of her time to teach the 'little beggar
decency." Mrs. Bronckhorst, who loved
the boy more than her own life, tried
not to cry-her spirit seemed to have
been broken by her marriage. Lastly,
Bronckhorst used to say: "There! that'll
do, thatll do. For Gods sake try to
behave like a rational woman. Go in
to the drawing room" Mrs. Bronck-
horst would go, trying to carry it all off
with a smile, and the guest of the even
ing would feel angry and uncomfortable.
After three years of this cheerful life
for Mrs. Bronckhorst had no women
friends to talk to-the station was start
tied by the news that Bronckhorst had
instituted proceedings on the criminal
court against a man named Bel, who
certainly had been rather attentive to
Mrs. Bronckhorst whenever she had ap-
in NIT Of
serve with which Bronckhorst treated
his own dishonor helped us to know that
the evidence against Biel would be en-
tirely circumstantial and native. There
were no letters, but Bronckhorst said
openly that he would rack heaven and
earth until he saw Bel experimenting
the manufacture of carpets in the Cen
trail jail Mrs. Bronckhorst kept entire
ly to her house, and let charitable folks
say what they pleased. Opinions were
divided. Some two-thirds of the sta
ton jumped at once to the conclusion
that Bel was guilty, but a dozen men
who knew and liked him held by him.
Bel was furious and surprised. He de-
MED the whole thing, and vowed that
he would thrash Bronckhorst within an
inch of his life.
No jury, we knew, could convict man
on the criminal count on native evidence
In a land where you can buy murder
charge, including the corpse, all COM
plnte for fifty-four rupees; but Bel did
not care to scrape through by the benefit
of doubt. He wanted the whole thing
cleared; but as he said one night: HE
can prove anything with servants evil
dence and I've only my bare word" This
was about month before the case came
on, and beyond agreeing with Bel we
could do little. All that we could be
sure of was that the native evidence
would be bad enough to blast Biels char
acter for ths rest of his service; for when
native begins perjury he perjures him
self thoroughly. he does not boggle
over details.
Some genius at the end Of the table
whereat the affair was being talked over,
said: Look herel don't believe law
yers are any good. Get man to wire
to Strickland, and beg him to come down
ana pun us through.
Strickland was about hundred and |
eighty miles up the line. He had not |
long been married to Miss Youghal, but |
he scented in the telegram chance Of
return to the old detective work that his