Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-11-30


her husbands suit for divorce applied
hold. eve have no need or use for
key-hOle peppers here, was Mr..
Gould's remark when he heard of the
application. Undoubtedly u chief rea-
son for this is that the relation of English
servants toward superiors is rather one OF
servility than of genuine confidence, and
is therefore not calculated to inspire the
loyalty which cannot exist without mu-
tnal trust and regard. AT any rate the
divorce detective in English courts usu-
ally wears the footman' livery or the
nurses cap.
But when British wife has deter
mined that under any circumstances she
will have an absolute divorce. the evil
dence presented is sometimes c0mical.
ALL LONDON LAUGHED
when the imperious aud stately Mrs.
Cochraue accused her husband of five feet
one, and abnormally thin at tnat, of
cruelty in addition TO what the clergy
call scriptual cause. 1t was well for
Mrs. Cochrane's case that her husband
WAS compiaisanf and did not make his
appearance in court; otherwise the affair
would have been too much for the gravity
even of an English judge with IL wig on
This tail and queenly woman whose
physique would have fitted her for q
generalship in the king of Duhomey' 3
corpse of AmazOns, brought testimony
10 show that her mite OF husband had
chased her about the house, assaulted
her with his lists and mPtaphorically
wiped the floor with her. Having also
proved the other and ordinary charge
she got her divorce. Aud now she is
Mrs. COngreve- West.
Another peculiar ease of alleged cru
city was that of Mrs. Catherine Walters,
whose husband is a well-knOwn business
resident of Bristol. Mr.. Walters is con-
siderabIy older than his wife. and is of
religious turn of mind. He insisted
upon long family prayers in the evening
and grace hefore meat, sometimes in his
fervor prolonging the grace until the
viands on the table were too cold to be
palatable. 1t is testified that on
one occasion he started TO say grace and
drifted into revival eXhortutio ad-
dressed to his only audience, his wife
ami the servant, and when reminded
that he was Ut dinner and not at church,
he broke out into trade against the
worldly -mindedness OF his better-half aud
her haukerIng, as he called it, for the
flesh pots OF Egypt. Mrs. Walters con-
fessPd 10 young woman'S healthy ap-
petite Tor the aforesaid flesh pots and
also that she wanted them served hot
She sued not for 81 divorce, but for ju-
dirial separation on the ground OF intol-
cradle cruelty. Mr.. Walters resisted.
After much Illumination the court de-
cIded in her favor. Mr.. Walters ap-
pealed TO Il higher tribunal, aud finally
to the house of the lords. The bishops,
or ecclesiastical lords. do not IS rule
show much interest in civil appeals, but
many of them sat OH this occasion, and
one OF the leading prelates, the late
bishop of Durham, expressed an earnest
OPINION i'll favor of the wife. There was
a reasoua BILE time, he thought, for
GRACE BEFORE MEALS
and that reasonable time had been con-
siderably exceeded by Mr.. Walters, to
the discomfort, il might be SAID the cruel
discomf fort, of his wife. The decision of
the lower tribunals was affirmed anu
Mrs Walters Obtained her separate
and can now take her din
ners without holding revival meeting
before soup.
Mrs. Percy -Wycroft of Tregoze hall,
Wits, was not so fortunate, although
her case was much stronger. Her hus-
band, the honorable Percy Wycroft, a
country squire with u large domain and
many tenants, fell in love with the red
checked daughter of one of his farmers
and actually removed from the hall and
took up his abode at the farmers resi-
dence, leaving his wife, then seriously
iii to the care of the servants. As he
persisted in his course and showed no
signs of repentiHg, Mrs. Percy Wycroft
sought an absolute divorce. Tine proof
of misconduct was conclusive, but the
court held that there had been no
and the divorce was refused.
American women who marry into
English families would do well TO re-
member the above facts. English law
not give them complete release from
Il iaithleSs husband as long rs ne abstains
from what the English law narrowly iu-
terpreis as cruelty. He may waste their
money bv the thousands upon other wo-
men, associate openly ana at all times
with improper characters. If ne does
not beat or kick his wife, he is practi-
callv secure rs her husband with u hus-
band = comprehensive claim TO her prop
ariy. In one prominent instance the
daughter of II wealthy resident OF New
York who married cheap scion OF
Irish nobility had the very furui-
ture of her house seized in London for her
husband IS debts aud she aud her babies
turned out on The streets through his
most reckless dissipation and extrava-
gance. Yet British courts would have
given her no relief aud she had to seek
in her native land the divorce 10 which
she was more than entitled. Such eX-
;reme instances are doubtless rare, As
rare il may he hoped as the experience
Of Miss Virginia Knox of Pittsburg, who
became the Countess de Moutercole.
When she found existence iutolerabie
with this barbarian and was no longer
able or disposed TO minister TO
HIS COSTLY INDULGENCEs,
ne followed her TO America and distri-
Duted in the street circulars containing
ibelous attacks upon her. For this he |
was arrested and jailed and for six |
months had to do some honest labor for |
living. The countess, il she has not al |
eady got divorce from the brute, will |